Dissociation, anxiety, and the vestibular system: understanding the impacts of anxiety, panic, and dissociation on the vestibular system

Previous research indicates that vestibular dysfunction is associated with symptoms of anxiety, panic, and dissociation. The present study will investigate anxiety, panic, and dissociation symptoms and identify the connections between reported symptom severity and vestibular functionality. This study will focus on three different hypotheses: 1) higher levels of dissociation will correlate with increased vestibular disruption; 2) higher levels of anxiety will correlate with increased vestibular disruption; 3) higher levels of panic will correlate with increased vestibular disruption. Six virtually administered self-report measurements were used to identify the variables: Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Depersonalization Derealization Inventory (DDI), Dissociation Experiences Scale-II (DES-II), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Severity Measure for Panic Disorder (SMPD), and Vestibular Activities and Participation measure (VAP). The results of this study reported that the three hypotheses were supported by the data, and higher levels of dissociation, anxiety, and panic symptoms had a positive relationship with vestibular disruption.