Brief Description
The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-II) is a measure of dissociation that can be applicable for those with dissociative disorders as well as trauma and related disorders and history of abuse given that dissociation is often associated with trauma and/or stress. The measure consists of a single score that corresponds to the severity of dissociation based on the percentage of time that a client experiences dissociative experiences. It looks at both normal dissociative experiences (e.g., daydreaming) and problematic dissociative experiences. Respondents rate how often/what percentage of the time they experience the dissociation symptoms listed (e.g., “Some people sometimes find 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”) on a scale from “0%/Never” to “100%/Always”.
Assessment Administration Type
Self-report
Number of questions
28
Age Range for Administration
18+
Recommended Frequency of Administration
No standardized frequency; recommend administering every other week or as clinically indicated.
Summary of Scoring and Interpretations
The DES-II contains 28 questions and the answer options are the percentage of time a client experiences dissociative symptoms from 0% (“Never”) to 100% (“Always”). A total DES score is calculated by taking the average of all the questions, ranging from 0 to 100 (add all of the item scores and divide by 28 to determine the total DES score); scores of 30 and above indicate clinically significant levels of dissociation.
The DES also has three subscales:
Amnesia Factor (memory loss)
Depersonalization/Derealization Factor (characterized by the current experience of feeling detached from one’s self and mental processes or a sense of unreality of the self)
Absorption Factor (being so preoccupied or absorbed by something that you are distracted from what is going on around you)
The subscale score can be calculated as a total score by summing the corresponding items’ scores or as an average score by summing the corresponding items’ scores and dividing by the number of items (i.e., 6).
Subscale | Corresponding Items |
Amnesia Factor | 3, 4, 5, 8, 25, 26 |
Depersonalization/Derealization Factor | 7, 11, 12, 13, 27, 28 |
Absorption Factor | 2, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20 |
Blueprint Adjustments
Note: Due to platform scoring capabilities at this time, Blueprint reports the total DES score as its own subscale and the scale has been adjusted from 0-100 to 0-10, with scores 3 and above indicated clinically significant levels of dissociation. For the other subscale scores, Blueprint only reports the average score for each subscale score, which is out of 10. With the 0-10 scale, total scores in Blueprint are shown out of 280 and scores of 84 and above indicate clinically significant levels of dissociation.
Clinical Considerations
Estimated completion time: 7-12 minutes
The DES-II is not intended to diagnose. It is a screener and progress monitor. If a client scores highly for symptoms of dissociation, it does not necessarily mean that they have a dissociation disorder. It only means that further assessment is recommended.
People with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) also score highly on the DES-II due to shared overlap in symptoms. As such, always screen for a history of trauma and assess PTSD symptoms among patients who score high on the DES-II.
There are a wide range of issues/disorders associated with dissociation. Dissociation can be a symptom of PTSD, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Schizophrenia, lack of sleep, and intense stress, depression, or anxiety.
Citation
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