Examination of dissociative experiences in a group of patients diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder

This study aims to compare the levels of obsessive–compulsive symptoms and dissociative experiences of a group of patients diagnosed with OCD with a healthy control group and examine the relation between the levels of obsessive–compulsive symptoms and dissociative experiences of a group of patients diagnosed with OCD. The study was conducted on 75 patients applying the psychiatric service of Adana Dr. Ekrem Tok Mental Health and Diseases Hospital and whose primary diagnosis was OCD according to DSM–V, selected by simple random sampling and the control group consists of 75 healthy people having the similar sociodemograpgic properties between 15th of November, 2021 and 15th of February, 2021. Sociodemographic and Clinical Data Form, Padua Inventory (PI) and Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES II) were applied to the participants. The data were evaluated via SPSS Version 21.00 Windows package program. It has been found out that the average scores of all PI subscale and total scale are higher for the patients diagnosed with OCD than the average scores of all PI subscale and total scale for healthy individuals (p=0.001). Similarly, the mean of all subscale and total scale scores of the DES II was found to be significantly higher in OCD patients compared to healthy individuals (p=0.001). It was found out that there was a positive significant relationship between the mean scores of the PI contamination subscale, PI control subscale, PI impulses subscale and the PI total scale score and the mean DES II total scale score in patients diagnosed with OCD (r=.66; p<0.01; r=.25; p<0.05; r=.24; p<0.05; r=.63; p<0.01). It has been found out that the degree of dissociative experiences of OCD diagnosed patients in the case group are significantly higher than the control group. It has also been found out that there is a medium–level positive correlation between the levels of obsessive–compulsive symptoms and the dissociative experiences. The results obtained in this study are consistent with the results of many studies in literature.