Rebuilding Shattered Lives, Second Edition

by James A. Chu, MD
Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Appendix 1: The Dissociative Experiences

Scale (DES and DES-T)

In 1986, Drs. Eve Bernstein Carlson and Frank W. Putnam (based at the time at the National Institutes of Mental Health) introduced a scale called the Dissociative Experiences
Scale (DES), which made it possible to quantify the level of dissociative symptoms in
individual patients (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986). e level of these symptoms were elevated in patients with trauma-related disorders such as PTSD and dissociative disorders,
but they were not substantially elevated in patients with other psychiatric and neurologic
disorders (including temporal lobe epilepsy in which depersonalization and derealization
are markedly elevated but with only small elevations in pervasive amnesia). e Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) consists of 28 items that describe common dissociative
experiences. Each individual item asks about the percentage of time (from 0% to 100%)
that a particular dissociative symptom is experienced. e overall DES score is the average of all the individual scores. Although the DES was designed as a research instrument,
it is an excellent source for clinical inquiries concerning dissociative symptoms and a
good clinical screening tool for determining the possible presence of trauma-related
disorders. Scores of 20 or more are consistent with various kinds of posttraumatic or dissociative disorders. Median DES scores for participants in the original study were:
N (%)

Median Scores

Participants scoring at or above the median scores for

Normals

81(83%)

4.28

Agoraphobia

71(72%)

7.38

Schizophrenia

32 (33%)

20.63

PTSD

24 (24%)

31.30

6 (6%)

57.10

Dissociative identity disorder

276

Appendix 1:

e Dissociative ExperiencesScale (DES and DES-T)

277

Two versions of the DES exist. e original DES-I asks respondents to make slash marks
on a 100-mm line estimating the percentage of time that they have the speci c dissociative experience (the score for each item is the nearest 5-mm point, e.g., 0, 5, 10, etc.). e
DES-II asks respondents to circle a percentage number (e.g., 0%, 10%, 20% 100%)
indicating the frequency that they experience the dissociative symptom (Bernstein &
Putnam, 1993). e DES-II has the same reliability and validity as the original DES and
is presented here for its ease in completing and scoring.
ere are three subscales of the DES that can be useful in teasing apart the various
components of respondents dissociative experiences for clinical or research purposes
(Bernstein & Putnam, 1993). e amnestic dissociation subscale includes items 3, 4,
5, 6, 8, 10, 25, and 26. e absorption and imaginative involvement subscale includes
items 2, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, and 23. e depersonalization and derealization subscale
includes items 7, 11, 12, 13, 27, and 28. Scores for the subscales can be calculated by dividing the sum of the item scores divided by the number of items in each subscale.
e Dissociative Experiences ScaleTaxon (DES-T; Waller & Ross, 1997) is an eightitem subscale of the full-scale DES. e format is the same as the full-scale DES, with
each item scored on a scale from 1 to 100 and the overall score being the mean of the
eight items. e DES-T distinguishes pathological dissociation more accurately than
does the full-scale DES, with a cuto score of 20 capturing nearly 90% of cases of DID
and DDNOS.

DISSOCIATIVE EXPERIENCES SCALE II

is questionnaire consists of 28 questions about experiences you have had in your daily
life. We are interested in how often you have had these experiences. It is important, however, that your answers show how often these experiences happen to you when you are
not under the in uence of alcohol or drugs. To answer the questions, please determine
to what degree the experience described in the question applies to you and circle the appropriate number to show what percentage of the time you have had the experience.
Example: 0%

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100%

1. Some people have the experience of driving a car and suddenly realizing that
they dont remember what has happened during all or part of the trip. Circle a
number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
0%

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100%

2. Some people nd that sometimes they are listening to someone talk and they
suddenly realize that they did not hear part or all of what was just said. Circle a
number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
0%

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100%

278 APPENDIX 1: THE DISSOCIATIVE EXPERIENCES SCALE (DES AND DES- T)

3. Some people have the experience of nding themselves in a place and having no
idea how they got there. Circle a number to show what percentage of the time
this happens to you.
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100%
4. Some people have the experience of nding themselves dressed in clothes that
they dont remember putting on. Circle a number to show what percentage of
the time this happens to you.
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100%
5. Some people have the experience of nding new things among their belongings
that they do not remember buying. Circle a number to show what percentage of
the time this happens to you.
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100%
6. Some people sometimes nd that they are approached by people that they do not
know who call them by another name or insist that they have met them before.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100%
7. Some people sometimes have the experience of feeling as though they are standing next to themselves or watching themselves do something, and they actually
see themselves as though they were looking at another person. Circle a number
what percentage of the time this happens to you.
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100%
8. Some people are told that they sometimesdo not recognize friends or family members. Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100%
9. Some people nd that they have no memory for some important events in their
lives (for example, a wedding or graduation). Circle a number to show what
percentage of the important events in your life you have no memory for.
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100%
10. Some people have the experience of being accused of lying when they do not
think that they have lied. Circle a number to show what percentage of the time
this happens to you.
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100%
11. Some people have the experience of looking in a mirror and not recognizing themselves. Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100%
12. Some people sometimes have the experience of feeling that other people, objects,
and the world around them are not real. Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
0%
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100%