Identity state-dependent attentional bias for facial threat in dissociative identity disorder

Biased attention for threatening stimuli has been associated with many forms of psychopathology. Attention to threatening faces presented below perceptual thresholds was assessed in patients diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder using a pictorial emotional Stroop task. Patients were tested in two different identity states, in one of which they claimed strong awareness of trauma. Attentional bias for social threat proved state-dependent in the patients and deviated from the patterns observed in controls.