2024/06/20 by Niclés S A Bestel, Danielle Williamson, Loredana Tirlea +1 · 1 voice
Medicine · #Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments #Traumatic Brain Injury Research #Child Abuse and Related Trauma
paper · doi:10.1037/tra0001717
openalex publication_date 2024/06/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
OBJECTIVE: Dissociation is a common but underrecognized sequelae of trauma exposure. We investigated Australian psychologists' training in dissociation, assessment practices, and accuracy in identifying dissociation symptoms. METHOD: = 280) were recruited through publicly available email addresses, graduate psychology programs, and social media. Participants estimated the percentages of their clients who had experienced trauma and had dissociative symptoms, their confidence in assessing and treating trauma and dissociation, their training in trauma and dissociation, and their dissociation screening practices. Participants were also asked to identify dissociation symptoms (per the Dissociative Experiences Scale-II and Somatic Dissociation Questionnaire-5) from a list of trauma-related symptoms. RESULTS: = .047). CONCLUSIONS: Most psychologists demonstrated inaccuracies in their knowledge of dissociation, which raises concern that dissociation may not be recognized in clinical practice and thus go untreated. Training on dissociation should be incorporated into psychology curricula, particularly at the graduate level, and accessible, cost-effective professional development programs for practicing clinicians are needed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).