Unpacking the depersonalization syndrome: an exploratory factor analysis on the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale
Mauricio Sierra, Dawn Baker, Nicholas Medford, Anthony S David
Psychological Medicine October 1, 2005 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291705005325 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Exploratory factor analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 138 |
| Population | Patients diagnosed with depersonalization disorder |
| Key points | Symptoms of depersonalization belong to four distinct but related psychopathological domains: anomalous body experience, emotional numbing, anomalous subjective recall, and alienation from surroundings. |
Abstract
Background. Depersonalization has long been considered a syndrome but there is poor agreement on its constituent symptoms.Method. In order to establish whether different symptoms of depersonalization represent the expression of a single or several underlying dimensions, an exploratory factor analysis on the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS) was carried out on 138 consecutive patients diagnosed with depersonalization disorder.Results. Four well determined factors accounting for 73·3% of the variance were extracted. These were labelled ‘Anomalous Body Experience’; ‘Emotional Numbing’; ‘Anomalous Subjective Recall’ and ‘Alienation from Surroundings’.Conclusions. Symptoms of depersonalization belong to distinct but related psychopathological domains.