Traumatic experiences and dissociation in patients with conversion disorder.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between childhood trauma and dissociation in patients of conversion disorder.

METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted in Lahore, Pakistan, from April to December 2016, and comprised female patients aged 18-40 years diagnosed with conversion disorder at three major public hospitals of the city. Urdu version of symptom checklist for conversion disorder, the dissociative experiences scale and traumatic experiences checklist were used to measure study variables. In this paper, Spearman's Rank Order Correlation SPSS 21 was used for data analysis.

RESULTS: Of the 51 subjects, 27(53%) were in the 18-25 year age bracket, Of the total, 36(70%) patients reported emotional neglect, while 30(59%) reported emotional abuse. Also, 14(27%) patients reported physical abuse, while sexual harassment was reported by 33(65%) and sexual abuse by 12(23.5%).A relationship of childhood trauma, emotional abuse and sexual abuse with dissociation was observed (p<0.001 each).

CONCLUSIONS: Emotional and sexual abuse were found to be significant predictors of dissociation, but physical abuse was not.