BRIEF REPORT The Dissociative Experiences Taxon Is Related to Fantasy Proneness

Abstract: Some authors have argued that nonpathological dissoci-ation should be distinguished from a taxon form of pathological dissociation, which is indexed by the Dissociative Experiences Scale Taxon (DES-T). We tested to what extent DES-T scores are inde-pendent from fantasy immersion and whether DES-T scores are uniquely related to trauma self-reports. To this end, subsamples of undergraduate students (n 930), healthy adults (n 20), schizo-phrenic patients (n 22), borderline personality disordered patients (n 20), patients with mood disorder without psychosis (n 19), and women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (n 55) completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale and a measure of fantasy immersion. DES-T scores were related to absorption and fantasy immersion to a lesser extent than the original DES. How-ever, the fact that nontrivial percentages within all groups, except for the healthy adults, were classified as taxon members casts doubts on the assumption that DES-T is a reliable index of pathological dissociation. Also, we found that the DES-T was not exclusively related to reports of childhood sexual abuse. Key Words: Dissociative experiences scale taxon, fantasy proneness, childhood sexual abuse, nondissociative disorders