Martin J. Dorahy’s research while affiliated with University of Canterbury and other places

Objective: Discontinuities in memory are the hallmark symptoms of most dissociative disorders but are also reported by patients diagnosed with related disorders, including PTSD. Memory discontinuity is most evident in dissociative identity disorder (DID), where patients may report amnesia in 1 identity for information available in other identities (i.e., interidentity amnesia). Studies indicate that even though patients subjectively report interidentity amnesia for material learned in, or pertaining to, another identity, objective findings show evidence of transfer of that material between identities. Subjective reports of dissociative amnesia may be explained by specific dissociation-related metamemory beliefs, which hinder voluntary retrieval, personal acknowledgment, and processing of memories. This study aimed to develop a questionnaire indexing metamemory beliefs related to trait dissociation. Method: Two studies in nonclinical populations provided information about the factor structure (Studies 1 and 2) of the newly developed Dissociation-related Beliefs about Memory Questionnaire (DBMQ). Information was also provided about the construct validity (Studies 2 and 3), and reliability of the scale (all 3 studies) in nonclinical as well as a clinical population. Results: Results indicated sound psychometric properties of a short 16-item DBMQ with subscales assessing Fragmentation, Positive beliefs about amnesia, Lack of self-reference, and Fear of losing control, and correlations specifically with trait dissociation and posttraumatic avoidance symptoms. A sample of DID patients (N = 19) showed increased scores on the DBMQ. Conclusion: The DBMQ provides a short, reliable, and valid tool for indexing dissociation-related metamemory beliefs. These beliefs were associated with trait dissociation and posttraumatic avoidance symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

If heterosexual male victims had been more active in the #MeToo movement, how might they have been judged? Although the #MeToo movement has been regarded as an historic milestone for women who were victimized by men in positions of power, participation in the movement by male victims has been noticeably absent. Research indicates that victims may avoid disclosure if they anticipate negative social reactions, and male victims may attract greater levels of victim blaming than female victims, particularly if their perpetrator was female. The current study investigated attributions of victim blame against a fictional heterosexual male in a between-subjects vignette design. Perpetrator gender and their social influence were manipulated in a sample of 208 college students. Results did not support the hypothesized main effects of perpetrator gender or social influence. Greater blame attributions were made against victims of a male perpetrator compared to one of an unspecified gender. Male participants attributed greater blame than females, and the relationship between shame proneness and blame was moderated by participant gender, males experiencing higher levels of shame engaged in less victim blame. Blame increased when participants believed the court case to be more distressing than the victimizing act. Results support the male rape myth framework, which posits that beliefs about a male victim’s experience of his own violation, particularly whether he experienced distress or pleasure, are related to gendered norms of masculinity, which include normative traits of toughness, dominance, and high sexual performance. Implications on the role of gender as a barrier to disclosure by male victims are discussed.

Individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID) often report having no access to autobiographical experiences encoded by other identities. This research used the autobiographical Implicit Association Test (aIAT) to determine whether there was transfer of episodic self-referential memory events across amnesic identities. Nineteen DID, 16 DID simulators, and 41 comparison participants (divided into amnesic and nonamnesic groups) engaged with an audio vignette of embarrassing scenarios to produce the experience of episodic self-referential events. Results showed transfer of episodic self-referential memory using the aIAT across identities that reported no conscious awareness of encoded content in DID. These aIAT results in DID patients were similar to the nonamnesic comparison group and the simulator group, and differed from the amnestic comparison group. These results are in line with previous literature showing transfer of memories, but extends this work to episodic self-referential memory

Controversy exists regarding the merits of exposure-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) versus a phased approach when prominent dissociative symptoms are present. The first aim of this study was to examine the degree to which diagnosing dissociation in two traumatized patients’ vignettes influenced clinicians’ preference for phase-oriented treatment and whether clinicians’ treatment experience contributed to their treatment preference. The second aim was to assess the extent to which participants had observed traumatized patients worsen when treated with exposure therapy or phase-oriented therapy and whether the theoretical orientation and treatment experience of the clinician were related to the observed deterioration. In the tradition of expert and practitioner surveys, 263 clinicians completed a survey of their diagnoses and treatment preferences for two vignettes and their treatment experience, theoretical orientation, and observations of patients’ deterioration. When a marked degree of dissociation was noted in the PTSD vignette, respondents favored phased approaches regardless of the diagnosis given. Reports of having observed patient deterioration during both exposure and phased therapy were predicted by years of experience. Psychodynamic therapists reported more observations of worsening during exposure therapy than cognitive behavior therapy therapists. Clinical experience treating PTSD may heighten awareness of negative therapeutic effects, potentially because experienced clinicians have a lower threshold for detecting such effects and because they are referred more challenging cases.

The present study was designed to explore the relationship between self-reported dissociative experiences and performance in vigilance tasks requiring a concurrent working memory load. Four hundred and ninety four students performed a vigilance task while simultaneously maintaining verbal working memory load or performing an equivalent control task. Dissociation was assessed with the Dissociative Experience Scale. There was a negative relationship between dissociation and perceptual sensitivity on the vigilance task. In addition, reaction times increased more over time for those high in dissociation when there was no concurrent memory load, compared to when there was a concurrent memory load. While the overall effect was weak, findings may support theories indicating a relationship between dissociation and dual-task performance.

Auditory hallucinations are relatively common in those with chronic trauma disorders (12–98 %). They typically begin after a traumatic event and following the development of trauma-related disorders. They often contain themes related to trauma. Auditory hallucinations in chronic trauma disorders are commonly negative in content, heard inside the head or both inside and outside the head, occur relatively frequently, and cause distress. Those with PTSD who experience auditory hallucinations often have experienced more severe trauma and have a more severe symptom presentation than those who do not experience them. Dissociation, especially depersonalization, has been routinely linked to post-traumatic auditory hallucinations. As a phenomenon, depersonalization may transform mental activity into strange and foreign experiences that manifest as auditory hallucinations. Yet, depersonalization seems unable to account for many of the key features of auditory hallucinations. Structural dissociation at the level of personality, either in isolation or in combination with depersonalization, seems to offer a more complete account of auditory hallucinations in chronic trauma disorders.

Peritraumatic dissociation refers to such experiences as depersonalization and derealization occurring during, or in the immediate aftermath, of trauma. Prospective and retrospective reports of dissociation have been found among a variety of trauma sufferers, and correlate with the development of posttraumatic stress disorder. The present study examined dissociative responses in the context of killing behavior in 50 college students. Building upon correlational research indicating associations between killing during war combat and dissociation, the study employed a bug-killing paradigm to experimentally assess whether killing was associated with dissociation. After assessing the degree to which participants perceived similarities between humans and bugs, we randomly assigned participants to either exterminate five bugs or observe an experimenter exterminate five bugs. We hypothesized and found that those perceiving the greatest similarity and who engaged in killing reported heightened dissociation. Implications for the killing-dissociation link are discussed.