Psychological trauma, mood and social isolation do not explain elevated dissociation in functional neurological disorder (FND)

Blanco, SR, Mitra, S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7620-4809, Howard, CJ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8755-1109 and Sumich, AL ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4333-8442, 2023. Psychological trauma, mood and social isolation do not explain elevated dissociation in functional neurological disorder (FND). Personality and Individual Differences, 202: 111952. ISSN 0191-8869

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Abstract

Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) results in altered motor, sensory and cognitive function in the absence of evident organic disease. It often co-occurs alongside dissociative disorders and dissociation has been found to be high in patients across FND subtypes (particularly in those with Non-Epileptic Attack Disorder; NEADs). However, the presence of dissociation in FND is varied and there are contradictory definitions and suggestions for elevated levels. Here, three studies show that dissociation is a prominent, defining feature of people with FND compared to those who are healthy or have other, similar long-term health conditions, and that this heightened dissociation is not explained by a history of trauma (study 1, N = 121), mood (study 2, N = 589) and is not associated with social isolation/social exclusion (study 3, N = 542). As dissociation appeared to occur in FND in the absence of the usual contributing factors, and as higher levels of dissociation were associated with increased disability and illness impacts, understanding its role is of fundamental importance to developing our understanding of FND. These findings have further applications, beyond the theoretical, in clinical settings and in research; the implications for further research are discussed.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Personality and Individual Differences
Creators:	Blanco, S.R., Mitra, S., Howard, C.J. and Sumich, A.L.
Publisher:	Elsevier BV
Date:	February 2023
Volume:	202
ISSN:	0191-8869
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.paid.2022.111952 DOI 1616368 Other
Rights:	© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	06 Dec 2022 09:20
Last Modified:	06 Dec 2022 09:20
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/47576

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