Dissociative Experiences, childhood trauma and alexithymia among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder

Dissociative Experiences, childhood trauma and alexithymia among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder

Objective: Previous studies have consistently pointed out that parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) had worse mental health relative to parents of normally developing children. In this study, it was aimed to investigate differences in dissociative experiences, childhood trauma and alexithymia between mothers of children with and without ASD.

Methods: Thirty-one mothers whose children had a principal diagnosis of ASD and thirty mothers whose had any current psychiatric diagnosis or a history of psychiatric disorder included in the study. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Childhood Trauma Scale (CTQ-28) and Somatoform Dissociation Scale (SDQ) were used as data collection tools.

Results: In our study, mothers of children with ASD had more severe dissociative symptomatology, greater depersonalization / derealization, more frequent childhood sexual abuse and physical neglect compared to mothers in control group. However, there was no significant difference in alexithymia levels between two groups.

Discussion: The results of our study showed that dissociative symptomatology and childhood traumas should be considered among mothers of children with ASD.