Measurement of dissociation.

Dissociation, a failure to integrate thoughts, feelings, and actions into consciousness, has been hypothesized to be the mechanism by which classical "hysterical" phenomena (e.g., trance states, conversion symptoms, multiple personality) are produced. With the exception of a recent article by Bernstein and Putnam (J Nerv Ment Dis 174:727-735, 1986), no standardized techniques are available to study or quantify this construct. A scale, the Questionnaire of Experiences of Dissociation, has been developed and extensively tested in the general population. The QED demonstrates good reliability and validity and is offered as an alternate assessment technique for the study of dissociation.