Original Paper Psychopathology 2002;35:241–248 Psychophysiological Correlates of Peritraumatic Dissociative Responses in Survivors of Life-Threatening Cardiac Events

Accessible online at: www.karger.com/journals/psp Key Words Peritraumatic dissociation W Startle experience W Post-traumatic stress disorder W Cardiovascular disease The psychophysiological startle response pattern associ-ated with peritraumatic dissociation (DISS) was studied in 103 survivors of a life-threatening cardiac event (mean age 61.0 years, SD 13.95). Mean time period since the cardiac event was 37 (79 IQD) months. All patients under-went a psychodiagnostic evaluation (including the Peri-traumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire) and a psychophysiological startle experience which comprised the delivery of 15 acoustic startle trials. Magnitude an