MMPI profile characteristics of women with varying levels of normal dissociation

MMPI-2 correlates of normal dissociation as measured by the absorption subscale items of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) were examined in patients with diagnoses in the dissociative spectrum (n = 119) and not in the dissociative spectrum (n = 97). All patients completed the MMPI-2 and DES and were assigned to subgroups based on a cut-off score of 30 on normal dissociation. Results indicated that normal dissociation was unusually prominent among patients with mental disorders. The MMPI profiles of those with high imbalances of normal dissociation were skewed in the direction of more pathology across a broad range of mental symptoms. This was true for both dissociative and nondissociative patients. These findings provide preliminary evidence that high imbalances in normal dissociation may be related to psychopathology of a general nature.