Abstract
Mary-Anne discusses the findings from her meta-analysis of over thirty thousand college students, in-depth interviews with 13 in-patients with a severe Dissociative Disorder (DD), and questionnaires completed by 313 participants from an Australian university and 30 individuals in treatment for a DD that explored dissociation (a 60 question version of Dell’s Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation), adult attachment style (Holmes & Lyons-Ruth’s Relationship Questionnaire), experiences of childhood maltreatment (a revised version of Freyd, Deprince, & Zurbriggen’s Betrayal Trauma Index), and the dynamics between themselves and their parents during their childhood (Kate’s Parent-Child Dynamics Questionnaire). The meta-analysis found that the prevalence of clinical levels of dissociation was consistent with the prevalence of experiencing multiple traumas during childhood , and that scores on the Dissociative Scale varied significantly across the 16 countries and were highest in countries that were comparatively unsafe (not in North America or “Western countries”).  In her own primary research, she was able to predict half of a person’s dissociative symptomology based on specific childhood experiences of abuse, negative parent-child dynamics, and the parents’ role in, or reaction to, any abuse experienced, and their adult attachment style. Mary-Anne quantified DD odds ratios, e.g. in females an insecure attachment style was 20 : 1, and if the mother’s role in, or response to, maltreatment was negative it was 45 : 1. In light of her statistical analysis, Mary-Anne uses vignettes from in-patients to describe the pathogenic family environment in which dissociation occurs.

Potential to Distress: No