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Dissociation And Metacognition: A Mixed Methods Analysis, Richard E. Nalbandian

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Dissociation commonly occurs as a defense against trauma and can be understood as a breakdown in metacognition. The present research investigated the relationship between trauma, dissociation, and metacognition in subjects with PTSD, a trauma-related disorder. Specifically, we investigated a potential inverse relationship between metacognition and dissociation in participants who have undergone psychoanalytic therapy. Participants were patients admitted to the Austen Riggs Center, who consented to be a part of the Follow Along Study (FAS), a longitudinal investigation spanning 15 years. Quantitative and qualitative analyses examined differences in themes of dissociation across initial and follow-up-clinical interviews. Quantitatively, all subscales for metacognition …