Psychoform and somatoform dissociation, traumatic experiences, and fantasy proneness in somatoform disorders

Many studies reported a positive correlation between self-reported traumatic experiences and self-reported dissociative symptoms. Critics postulated that this relation is mediated by the personality trait fantasy proneness. This was confirmed by a number of studies, that mainly used non-clinical samples. The present study was carried out in a clinical sample of patients with somatoform disorders (n = 86). Participants completed the Dissociation Experiences Scale-Revised Edition (DES-II), Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ-20), Traumatic Experiences Checklist (TEC) and Creative Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ). Results show that both psychoform and somatoform dissociation are moderately correlated with traumatic experiences, and that the mediating influence of fantasy proneness on the relation is negligible. It is argued that the mediating role of fantasy proneness found in previous studies may be an artefact of student samples.