A Study of Emotional Processing and Patterns of Adjustment among Patients with Dissociative Disorder

The objective of this study was to explore the emotional processing and adjustment patterns in patients with dissociative disorders. The Study was conducted at Institute of Medical Sciences and Neurosciences (IMHANS), Srinagar, India. Methods: The patients were chosen with the help of purposive sampling. A total of 30 participants (both male and female) were taken for the study. The Cross-sectional Research Design was used to collect the data. The tools used were Personal Information Schedule, Emotional Processing Scale (EPS 25) (Roger Baker 2000) and Bell’s Adjustment Inventory. Scoring of Emotional Processing Scale and Bell’s Adjustment inventory were done using the manual. Mean and Correlation was calculated by using SPSS. Results: It was found that dissociative disorder patients were plagued by intrusive and persistent emotions. In order to avoid those negative emotions, the patients tried to avoid experiencing them. Unprocessed emotional style was found to be most frequently used by the patients. Dissociative disorder patients were found to have poor adjustment in home, social, health as well as emotional areas of adjustment; with the maximum adjustment on emotional front. Further, it was found that there was no significant correlation between emotional processing and adjustment. However there was positive correlation between health and unregulated and unprocessed emotions. Conclusion: The findings of this exploratory study shed some light on the emotional processing and patterns of adjustment. This would help in the understanding and formulation of therapeutic cases and its implications on therapeutic interventions.