Robust evidence exists for the link between dissociation and psychotic positive symptoms. The extent to which various dissociative phenomena may contribute to this relationship is still unknown. This study aimed to investigate the association between different dissociative phenomena and psychotic experiences. For this purpose, we analyzed data from 118 consecutively admitted patients of an acute care unit for trauma-related disorders who completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the German version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Symptom Check-List-90-Revised. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that derealization/depersonalization in combination with amnesia accounted for 44.5% of the variance of the psychoticism subscale of the Symptom Check-List-90-Revised. Absorption in combination with emotional abuse accounted for 24.9% of the variance of the paranoid ideation subscale of the Symptom Check-List-90-Revised. The results reveal that pathological and non-pathological types of dissociation that alter the perception of reality or memory procession may contribute to the development of psychotic experiences.

Survival mechanisms are evolutionary grown behaviors in life-threatening situations. They are thought to be determined by genetic patterns involved in stress systems, such as the control of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5) is a co-chaperone that is involved in modulating glucocorticoid receptor (GR) sensitivity in response to stress. Dissociation is thought to be one of these survival strategies and appears to be associated with common haplotypes of the FKBP5 gene formed by four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs9296158, rs3800373, rs1360780, and rs9470080). The aim of the study was to examine the association between the FKBP5 haplotypes, type of childhood trauma and different types of dissociative phenomena. Dissociation encompasses a wide range of different phenomena. A common categorization has been made that distinguishes between ‘detachment’ and ‘compartmentalisation’ dissociation. Therefore, both categories were included in the study, including identity dissociation as the most severe form of compartmentalisation dissociation. We analyzed the association between six different types of dissociative phenomena, different types of childhood trauma and the FKBP5 haplotypes in 194 participants, primarily Black Americans of low socioeconomic status and high trauma burden, who participated in the Grady Trauma Project in Atlanta. We found that only identity dissociation was significantly associated with the CATT FKBP5 haplotype, regardless of the type of childhood trauma. In particular, individuals with one or two CATT haplotypes are 15 times more likely to develop identity dissociation than others. In conclusion, our findings indicate a link between gene variants involved in the regulation of stress systems and self-development under conditions of traumatic stress during the developmental period, which may be important for the study of disorders such as complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Background: In an initial pilot study, we investigated an animal-assisted treatment (AAT) procedure with sheep as an adjunct to treatment as usual (TAU+AAT) in psychiatric inpatients with substance use disorder (SUD). Over time, this TAU+AAT intervention significantly reduced negative emotions and improved positive emotions, mindfulness, and self-efficacy expectancy compared to TAU. In the current study, we aimed to replicate these results and extend the investigation to another group of inpatients with difficulties in emotion regulation, namely borderline personality disorder (BPD). Methods: A single-session AAT procedure with sheep in a group setting as an adjunct to treatment as usual (TAU+AAT) was examined in an RCT compared to TAU. A total of 29 psychiatric inpatients with SUD and 31 with BPD were examined (PRE vs. POST) using questionnaires on variables that included positive and negative emotions, mindfulness, and self-efficacy expectations. Results: In the SUD sample, significant effects between PRE and POST, with large effect sizes in all four outcomes, emerged for the TAU+AAT group, in contrast to TAU. In the BPD sample, similar time (PRE vs. POST) and group (TAU+AAT vs. TAU) effects were achieved for all outcomes. Conclusions: Repeatedly, this TAU+AAT intervention, which involved a single session with sheep, improved in all outcomes. Sheep seem to be suitable for AAT with a focus on mindfulness.