ArticleBJPsych open2020
Impact of dissociation on the effectiveness of psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder: meta-analysis.
Article in BJPsych open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- Psychotherapies for adults with complex presentations of PTSD: a clinical guideline and five systematic reviews with meta-analyses.BMJ mental health · 2025Pooled it
- Is dissociation predicting the efficacy of psychological therapies for PTSD? Results from a randomized controlled trial comparing Dialectical Behavior Therapy for PTSD (DBT-PTSD) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT).Psychological medicine · 2025Trial
- Predictors and moderators of treatment outcomes in phase-based treatment and trauma-focused treatments in patients with childhood abuse-related post-traumatic stress disorder.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2023Trial
- The experience of professionals receiving patients with manifestations of traumatic dissociation: a qualitative study.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Disorganized attachment and identity dissociation: FKBP5 CATT as a molecular moderator.Psychiatry research · 2026Article
- Dissociative Identity Disorder and Partial Dissociative Identity Disorder.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2026Review
- Fluctuations of dissociation and inner tension during inpatient dialectical behavior therapy: associations with self-injury and suicidal ideation.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2026Article
- Dissociation and PTSD in women with a history of childhood sexual abuse: a pilot examination of a specialized inpatient unit.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Trait dissociation in borderline personality disorder: influence on immediate therapy outcomes, follow-up assessments, and self-harm patterns.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Can therapists and senior advisors predict improvement of PTSD severity, based on clinical intuition and liking of their patients?European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Hyperarousal, Dissociation, Emotion Dysregulation and Re-Experiencing-Towards Understanding Molecular Aspects of PTSD Symptoms.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Recent evidence-based developments in the treatment of DID.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Enhancing Agency in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Therapies Through Sensorimotor Technologies.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Survival, Attachment, and Healing: An Evolutionary Lens on Interventions for Trauma-Related Dissociation.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Review
- The PTSD Symptom Presentation and the Effect of Polytrauma on PTSD Symptom Clusters Among Young People Who Have Experienced Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2023Article
- The role of dissociation-related beliefs about memory in trauma-focused treatment.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2023Article
- "If only he were blind": Shame, trauma, and dissociation among women with body dysmorphic disorder in physically intimate relationships.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2022Article
- Efficacy of traumatic memory reactivation with or without propranolol in PTSD with high dissociative experiences.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Article
- Dissociation, trauma, and borderline personality disorder.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2022Article
- The dissociative subtype of PTSD in trauma-exposed individuals: a latent class analysis and examination of clinical covariates.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMany patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experience dissociative symptoms. The question of whether these dissociative symptoms negatively influence the effectiveness of psychotherapy for PTSD is unresolved.
aimsTo determine the influence of dissociative symptoms on psychotherapy outcome in PTSD.
methodWe conducted a systematic search in Cochrane, Embase, PILOTS, PsycINFO, PubMed and Web of Science for relevant clinical trials. A random-effects meta-analysis examined the impact of dissociation on psychotherapy outcome in PTSD (pre-registered at Prospero CRD42018086575).
resultsTwenty-one trials (of which nine were randomised controlled trials) with 1714 patients were included. Pre-treatment dissociation was not related to treatment effectiveness in patients with PTSD (Pearson's correlation coefficient 0.04, 95% CI -0.04 to 0.13). Between-study heterogeneity was high but was not explained by moderators such as trauma focus of the psychotherapy or risk of bias score. There was no indication for publication bias.
conclusionsWe found no evidence that dissociation moderates the effectiveness of psychotherapy for PTSD. The quality of some of the included studies was relatively low, emphasising the need for high-quality clinical trials in patients with PTSD. The results suggest that pre-treatment dissociation does not determine psychotherapy outcome in PTSD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.