Trauma and dissociation in psychiatric outpatients.

Background: We investigated the prevalence of exposure to traumatic events, the prevalence of post-traumatic suffering and dissociative symptoms, and the relationship between type of trauma and dissociation in a large sample of outpatient adults (ages 18-65) seeking treatment at an urban ambulatory mental health clinic in Jerusalem (N = 298).

Method: Study participants completed self-report measures regarding trauma history, post-traumatic symptoms of intrusion and avoidance phenomena, and both psychological and somatic dissociative phenomena.

Results: 98% of our sample reported experiencing at least one lifetime traumatic event, 83% of subjects who completed the Impact of Events Scale reported high levels of intrusion and avoidance symptoms, and 15% of the sample reported high levels of dissociative phenomena.