Short Communication Fantasy proneness and cognitive failures as correlates of dissociative experiences

The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) is a widely used instrument for screening dissociative psychopathology. Yet, some authors have argued that dissociation is a poorly defined concept and that the experiences tapped by the DES may well be related to everyday cognitive failures and/or fantasy proneness. To examine this issue, two independent studies were conducted. In study 1, a sample of 77 undergraduate students completed the DES, the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and a fantasy proneness scale (i.e. the Creative Experiences Questionnaire; CEQ). Positive and significant correlations were found between DES, on the one hand, and CFQ and CEQ, on the other hand. Partial correlations showed that both CFQ and CEQ make an unique contribution in predicting DES scores. These findings were replicated in study 2 that also relied on a nonclinical sample (N=51). Taken together, the findings of study 1 and 2 underline the idea that relatively benign phenomena such as cognitive lapses and fantasy proneness drive the dissociative experiences sampled by the DES. This suggests that there are limitations to the DES’s utility as a screening tool for dissociative pathology. # 1999 Elsevie