Dissociation : Vol. 2, No. 4 (Dec. 1989)

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Dissociation : Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 221-223 : A Validation Study of the DES in the Netherlands
(Ridgeview Institute and the International Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociation, 1989-12) Ensink, Bernadine J.; Van Otterloo, Dorien
In the Netherlands we did a small-scale validation study of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) developed by Bernstein and Putnam (1986). The questionnaire was administered in two versions, with and without dummy questions, to 80 students (40 students in each condition) and in one version to 20 patients with a clinically diagnosed dissociative disorder (7 With multiple personality disorder and 13 with other dissociative disorders). The results show that the DES has a good internal consistency and a good criterion validity. If the DES is administered to normals it is advisable to insert dummies (less extreme dissociative items not counted in the statistics). This counteracts normal subjects’ reactions to the extremity of the DES item. The score of the Dutch normals is higher than for American normals. There may he cultural differences either in attitudes toward and/or in the level of actual dissociation between the populations of North America and the Netherlands.