May 2025
The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES): a flawed measure of dissociation
Developed as a screening tool for dissociation in the 1980s, the DES emphasizes overt, consciously accessible symptoms, includes non-pathological traits like absorption, correlates with fantasy proneness, relies on metaphorical language, and uses an ambiguous percentage-based scale. These limitations result in both underreporting among individuals with trauma-driven structural dissociation and overreporting among those without dissociative disorders. Nonetheless, the DES has become the dominant instrument for measuring dissociation in academic research. For decades, studies have treated DES scores as a valid proxy for dissociation—shaping diagnostic categories, prevalence estimates, and theoretical models—despite the fact that the scale does not reliably capture the trauma-related mechanisms it was designed to assess. This disconnect has introduced significant conceptual confusion into the literature and continues to complicate efforts to define and study dissociation accurately.
diagnosis DID dissociation trauma
32 minutes