Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association between dissociative experiences, sleep related experiences and sleep quality. Method: 127 undergraduate students have completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Iowa Sleep Experiences Scales (ISES) and the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results: DES total and DES Taxon scores were moderately correlated with total ISES and ISES General Sleep Experiences (GS) subscale scores. PSQI total scores as well as the scores from PSQI subscales of sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medication and daytime dysfunction were weakly correlated with total ISES and ISES GS subscale scores. DES and PSQI total and subscale scores were not correlated with the lucid dreaming (LD) subscale of ISES. DES total scores explained a considerable amount of variance in ISES GS scores. Sleep disturbances and use of sleeping medication as indicators of sleep problems, were related to ISES GS. Conclusions: The present study showed the association between dissociative experiences and nighttime experiences and further revealed that some aspects of general sleep quality, especially the ones related to sleep problems are also related to both dissociation and general sleep experiences.

Key words: Sleep, dissociation, sleep quality, dream