Dissociative symptoms are associated with reduced neuropsychological performance in patients with recurrent depression and a history of trauma exposure
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BACKGROUND: Although preliminary work suggests that dissociative symptoms may impact neuropsychological performance in trauma-exposed populations, the relation between dissociation and cognitive performance has not been explored in patients with depression. OBJECTIVE: The present study examined dissociative symptoms in relation to neuropsychological performance in participants with a primary diagnosis of recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD) and a history of trauma exposure. METHOD: Twenty-three participants with MDD and 20 healthy controls who did not differ in age, sex, education, or IQ were assessed. In addition to a standardized neuropsychological battery assessing frontotemporally mediated cognitive processes, participants completed clinical measures assessing dissociative symptoms, illness severity, and past history of trauma exposure. RESULTS: Among participants with MDD, greater severity of derealization was associated with reduced performance on measures of delayed visuospatial recall and recognition on a task of verbal memory recognition. In addition, more severe depersonalization was associated with slower processing speed and a response style lending itself toward better performance in a less active environment. CONCLUSIONS: These findings point toward dissociative symptoms as a transdiagnostic factor associated with neuropsychological dysfunction in patients with depression and a history of trauma. Limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.
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In trauma-exposed individuals with MDD, higher levels of depersonalization were associated with worse performance on tasks measuring cognitive flexibility and sustained attention.
“higher levels of depersonalization were associated with worse performance on tasks measuring cognitive flexibilityand sustained attention (Parlar et al., 2016).”
From A review of the relation between dissociation, memory, executive functioning and social cognition in military members and civilians with neuropsychiatric conditions (2016) · cites this paper as Parlar et al., 2016
The Results (Correlations between neuropsychological performance and dissociative and depressive symptoms; page not provided) link higher depersonalization to slower performance on Color Trails Test Part 2, which the Discussion identifies as a measure of mental flexibility. The sustained-attention association does not support worse performance: the Discussion interprets it as better vigilance when stimuli were presented less frequently. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLevels of dissociative symptoms are higher in trauma-exposed individuals with a primary diagnosis of MDD than in healthy controls.
“Recent work from our group has indicated that levels of dissociative symptoms are higher in trauma-exposed individuals with a primary diagnosis of MDD than in healthy controls (Parlar et al., 2016).”
From A review of the relation between dissociation, memory, executive functioning and social cognition in military members and civilians with neuropsychiatric conditions (2016) · cites this paper as Parlar et al., 2016
In trauma-exposed individuals with MDD, higher levels of derealization were related to worse performance on tasks measuring verbal and visual recollective memory.
“higher levels of derealization were related to worse performance on tasks measuring verbal and visual recollective memory”
From A review of the relation between dissociation, memory, executive functioning and social cognition in military members and civilians with neuropsychiatric conditions (2016) · cites this paper as Parlar et al., 2016
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“…with trauma including major depressive disorder (MDD) (Bob et al., 2008; Molina-Serrano et al., 2008; Mula et al., 2007; Sar et al., 2013; Parlar et al., 2016), anxiety disorders (Ball et al., 1997; Marquez et al., 2001; Mula et al., 2007; Sierra et al., 2012), obsessive compulsive…”
InfluentialSelf-citationFrewen, P., Thornley, E., Rabellino, D., & Lanius, R. (2017) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.1080/20008198.2017.1314164 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Self-citationGaudet, C. E., Cook, N. E., Kavanaugh, B. C., Studeny, J., & Holler, K. (2019) · Applied Neuropsychology: Child · doi:10.1080/21622965.2017.1417126 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Parlar, M., Frewen, P. A., Oremus, C., Lanius, R. A., & McKinnon, M. C.
- Affiliations
- St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (CA)
- Western University (CA)
- Homewood Research Institute (CA)
- Corresponding author
- McKinnon, Margaret C.
- Venue
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2016-02-24
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 29061-29061
- ISSN
- 2000-8066 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4770862
- OpenAlex
- W2274658382
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 6.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- dissociation, dissociative symptoms, recurrent major depressive disorder, trauma exposure, neuropsychological performance, derealization, depersonalization, processing speed, transdiagnostic factors, cognitive impairment
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