The Association Between Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms, Childhood Traumas, and Dissociative Experiences

Background: Obsessive compulsive symptoms (OCS), along with dissociative experiences (DE) are frequently acknowledged as coping strategies in individuals with childhood traumas (CT). Examining these relationships can highlight how early life traumatic events contribute to the emergence of psychopathologies in adulthood. In this study we aimed to investigate the associations between CT, OCS, and DE, and also examined whether DE and CT had a predictive value on OCS in a non-clinical sample of adults. Methods: Three hundred eighty-eight participants (80.7% females, %83.8 university graduates, 55.4% married individuals) between the age of 18-66 years (M=29.09, SD=7.43 years) and with no current psychiatric diagnosis or treatment were evaluated via socio-demographic information form, Padua Inventory (PI), Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) and Childhood Traumas Questionnaire (CTQ). Results: Significant positive associations between CT, DE and OCS were observed. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis revealed CT and DE as predictors of adulthood OCS; and additionally, DE had a stronger predictive value with 28% of the variance whereas CTQ scores predicted approximately 3%. Conclusion: Early life adversities may be related to emotional dysregulation, which could subsequently be associated with adult psychopathologies and dissociative experiences, suggesting a possible mediating pathway. In order to propose definite causal relations, future studies with longitudinal designs focusing particularly on the timing, duration, and subtypes of early trauma and the appearance of symptoms in adulthood are needed. This article’s short podcast by AI (English) This article’s short podcast by AI (Turkish)