Parental overcontrol and dissociative amnesia : a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Dissociative amnesia is a dissociative disorder affecting individuals’ psychological well-being. It's characterized by the inability to recall important autobiographical information that should be successfully stored in memory and ordinarily ready to remember. While child maltreatment (i.e. physical, emotional, sexual abuse and physical, emotional neglect) has been identified as a risk factor for Dissociative Disorders, there is a lack of research investigating the impact of parental overcontrol, a form of child maltreatment upon which just recently light has been shed. This study investigates the relationship between parental overcontrol and dissociative amnesia in a community sample of adults, controlling for other symptoms of dissociative disorders, other forms of child maltreatment and other potentially confounding variables. 714 adults (508 females; mean age: 30.29 ± 11.67 years; age range: 18–77) answered an online survey which included a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Dissociative Experiences Scale - II (DES-II) and the parental overcontrol subscale of the Measure Of Parenting Style (MOPS). Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, Spearman rho correlations and linear regression. The results indicate that maternal overcontrol is independently associated with dissociative amnesia ( 𝛃 = 0,067, p = .022). While more research and longitudinal studies are needed to better explore and confirm the results found on this survey, this data highlight the urge to take more into consideration parental overcontrol in relationship with Dissociative Amnesia, in research and clinical fields.