'Felt sense of anomaly'-type transdiagnostic dissociative experiences in adolescents: Endorsed phenomenology and plausible mechanisms.
JCPP Advances April 4, 2026 Emma Černis, Milan Antonović, Katie Lofthouse et al.
Most adolescents (91.87%) reported at least one dissociative experience, with a mean of 13.00 endorsed items on the ČEFSA scale. The most common experiences were altered sense of agency (82.96%), anomalous experience of the self (76.76%), and altered sense of connection (73.76%). Mediation analysis indicated that affect intolerance in the form of expressive suppression mediated the relationship between dissociation scores at two time points one month apart: greater suppression was associated with greater dissociation one month later. Other tested variables (cognitive appraisals, alexithymia, healthy affect regulation) did not show statistically significant mediation. The authors suggest that a cognitive-behavioural model of dissociation in adults, in which affect intolerance perpetuates dissociation, may also apply in adolescence.