The induction of dissociative states: A meta-analysis
medRxiv September 10, 2024 Benjamin Brake, Lillian Wieder, Natasha Hughes et al. 2 citations preprint
Dissociative states—disruptions in awareness and perception—occur across many psychiatric disorders and can be experimentally induced. This meta-analysis of 123 studies (6,692 individuals) measured state dissociation using a standard scale. At baseline, the largest effects were in dissociative and complex subtypes of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD-DC). In controlled experiments, mirror-gazing and several drugs (especially ketamine and cannabis) produced dissociation levels as high as or higher than baseline PTSD-DC. Effect sizes varied widely but were not consistently linked to study methods. The findings confirm that dissociation can be reliably modeled in the lab, with implications for measuring side effects and predicting outcomes in drug-based treatments.