title: Is the Dissociative Experiences Scale able to identify detachment and compartmentalization symptoms? Factor structure of the Dissociative Experiences Scale in a large sample of psychiatric and nonpsychiatric subjects.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In this study, we explored the ability of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) to catch detachment and compartmentalization symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  The DES factor structure was evaluated in 768 psychiatric patients (546 women and 222 men) and in 2,403 subjects enrolled in nonpsychiatric settings (1,857 women and 546 men). All participants were administered the Italian version of DES. Twenty senior psychiatric experts in the treatment of dissociative symptoms independently assessed the DES items and categorized each of them as follows: "C" for compartmentalization, "D" for detachment, and "NC" for noncongruence with either C or D.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor structure of DES in both clinical and nonclinical samples and its invariance across the two groups. Moreover, factor analyses results overlapped with those from the expert classification procedure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results showed that DES can be used as a valid instrument for clinicians to assess the frequency of different types of dissociative experiences including detachment and compartmentalization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mazzotti
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences, European University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Benedetto
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Farina
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences, European University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Imperatori
authors.affiliation: Associazione di Psicologia Cognitiva e Scuola di Psicoterapia Cognitiva, Rome, Italy; Casa di Cura Villa Margherita, Arcugagno (Vi) Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mansutti
authors.affiliation: Associazione di Psicologia Cognitiva e Scuola di Psicoterapia Cognitiva, Rome, Italy; Casa di Cura Villa Margherita, Arcugagno (Vi) Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Prunetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Speranza
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barbaranelli
keywords: Dissociative Experiences Scale; compartmentalization; confirmatory factor analysis; detachment; validity