Therapeutic meaning making of dissociation in complex trauma

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Therapeutic meaning making of dissociation in the context of a specialist trauma service: A dyadic qualitative investigation

• IRAS ID

  337150

• Contact name

  Andrew Gumley

• Contact email

  andrew.gumley@glasgow.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Glasgow

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 2 months, 10 days

• Research summary

  Dissociation is a disruption in the normal perception of events and experiences. It can range from disengagement (e.g. daydreaming, autopilot) to someone feeling like they are not real. Research evidence has linked trauma experiences to the development of dissociation experiences.
  In clinical settings, dissociation is often missed because it isn’t part of diagnostic criteria, people can find it difficult to describe, it can be difficult to detect, clinicians may not be trained in identifying dissociation. Developing a better understanding of how people make sense of dissociation can help develop tools to increase clinicians’ understanding.

  Aims:
  1. How patient/therapist dyads make sense of dissociation experiences in therapy
  2. How dissociation is addressed in therapeutic settings

  Methods:
  4-6 therapist/client dyads constituted of a client who is presenting with complex trauma experiences, presently in therapy with a clinical psychologist and dissociation is part of their presentation.
  Research will be conducted with staff and service users from Glasgow Psychological Trauma Service: The Anchor. Staff who would like to participate in the study will identify their active clients with whom they are doing dissociation related therapeutic work.

  This study is qualitative. It uses one-to-one interviews within and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) frame.

  Data collection will take place at the The Anchor. The researcher will interview clients who have agreed to participate before interviewing their clinician. It will be made clear to all participants that their interview is part of a dyad and information from their and their therapist’s interview will be brought together in analysis. Interviews will be recorded and transcribed verbatim.

  Implications:
  Findings of this research can help further inform understanding of dissociation in the context of complex trauma. For clinicians, it can support the development of further understanding and guidance on how to identify, manage and treat dissociation within therapeutic settings.

• REC name

  East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  24/EM/0034

• Date of REC Opinion

  26 Feb 2024

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion