Citation

Platt MG, Luoma JB, Freyd JJ. J. Aggression Maltreat. Trauma 2017; 26(1): 34-49.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10926771.2016.1228020

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Shame and dissociation cooccur in trauma survivors. Bypassed shame theory posits that dissociation reduces pain by interrupting shame. We tested this theory by inducing dissociation. The hypothesis that higher baseline shame would predict larger increases in dissociation following the induction was marginally supported. However, in contrast to bypassed shame theory, shame scores increased rather than decreased following the induction. An alternative theory, betrayal trauma theory (BTT), proposes that dissociation reduces awareness of betrayal to protect a needed relationship. Shame might also serve this function. We aimed to replicate prior research indicating traumas higher in betrayal (HBT) are uniquely related to both shame and dissociation compared to traumas lower in betrayal (LBT). The hypothesis that HBT would relate to higher shame was supported. The results suggest that other explanations than bypassed shame theory, such as BTT, might better account for the relationship between shame and dissociation in trauma survivors.

Language: en