Paula Thomson

Generators and Interpretors in a Performing Arts Population: Dissociation, Trauma, Fantasy Proneness, and Affective States

An international sample of 130 working artists was divided into two domains: generators (writers, designers, choreographers, one composer) and interpreters (directors, actors, opera singers, dancers). The correlations between dissociation, trauma experiences, fantasy proneness, and affective states were examined, followed by a regression analysis to predict elevated levels of dissociation. Artists, regardless of creative domain, scored in the moderate range for dissociation and fantasy proneness. Both groups endorsed lower levels of affective variability than a normed group. Interpreters scored significantly higher than generators on total dissociation, absorption/imagination, absorption/changeability, and depersonalization/derealization. Additive factors of younger age, affective states of anger, sadness and spirituality, and higher scores on fantasy proneness and traumatic experiences predicted elevated levels of dissociation, with only sadness predicting pathological dissociative levels on the taxometric Dissociative Experiences Scale-II (DES-II) subscale. Given these findings, greater awareness about dissociation and the need for an elaborated model of affect regulation is recommended.

“Down Will Come Baby”: Prenatal Stress, Primitive Defenses and Gestational Dysregulation

ABSTRACT Knowledge of maternal stress and its direct influence on the developing embryo and fetus (prenate) can influence psycho-therapeutic treatment decisions, especially when treating patients who are severely traumatized and dissociative. Not only may maternal stress alter prenate neurobiological attachment and stress systems in the limbic-hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (LHPA) and limbic-autonomic nervous system (L-ANS), but it may also shape the development of prenate ‘fixed action patterns’ built from primitive defensive reflex activation. As a result, the offsprings defensive, mating and caregiving behavior may all be biased towards survival in a threatening world and may be more readily transmitted to subsequent generations. This theoretical article provides a prenatal relational model that outlines experience-dependent prenate development that is contingent on and concordant with maternal regulation and dysregulation. Not only anxiety, depression and anger, but also posttraumatic stress and dissociation in the mother, may affect the neurobiology of the prenate.

Dissociation and the Adult Attachment Interview in artists and performing artists

Attachment patterns were investigated in a group of professional and pre-professional artists (n = 51). Given the high level of absorption/imagination required of artists, this study examined normative and pathological dissociation (PD) and considered links with Adult Attachment Interview responses, with particular attention to the AAI classification Unresolved (U) for past loss or trauma. Results indicated: (1) artists had elevated mean scores for absorption/imagination, (2) all but one artist had adverse trauma or loss experiences, (3) 17 (36%) met criteria for PD and 9 (53%) of those in the PD range had a classification of Unresolved (U) on the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), (4) U was associated with PD, but not normative dissociation (absorption/imagination), (5) even with a primary U classification many individuals had an alternate secure/autonomous classification, and (6) 88% of the artists were classified as secure/autonomous in a three-way analysis on the AAI, but in a four-way analysis 27.5% were classified as U. Although 36% presented with PD, the majority of artists studied were stable, coherent and autonomous.

Loss and Disorganization from an Attachment Perspective.

In this article, it is hypothesized that disorganizing, disorienting, and unresolved states of mind about loss experiences, as classified by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) coding system, may offer insight into the bereaved mind and may guide clinical treatment approaches. This article discusses pre-loss attachment organizations and the disorganizing/disorienting markers of unresolved loss found in the AAI. Although sometimes subtle in nature, the unresolved, disorganized, and disorienting indices—defined as lapses in monitoring of reason, discourse and behavior—provide concrete markers for assessing the degree of resolution for loss experiences. An attachment-based grief treatment model can add to existing models implemented in prolonged grief disorder treatment.

Unresolved mourning, supernatural beliefs and dissociation: a mediation analysis

Unresolved mourning is marked by disorganized behavior and states of mind. In this study, we speculated that pathological dissociation would mediate the effects of unresolved mourning on supernatural beliefs. This hypothesis was determined based on findings that indicate an association between higher levels of dissociation, stronger beliefs in the supernatural and unresolved mourning. We examined two groups of participants, one classified as non-unresolved (non-U) (n = 56) and the other as unresolved (n = 26) (U) with respect to past loss/trauma as measured by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Two self-report instruments were administered to measure supernatural beliefs and dissociation. As hypothesized, the multivariate analysis of variance indicated mean differences between the two groups. The unresolved group had greater belief in the supernatural and more pathological dissociative processes. The mediation analysis demonstrated that pathological dissociation fully mediated the effects of unresolved mourning on supernatural beliefs.

Anxiety and the Influences of Flow, Trauma, and Fantasy Experiences on Dancers:

This study investigated the psychological effects of anxiety on professional and pre-professional dancers (n = 73), in particular the relationships between anxiety and flow, past traumatic events, and fantasy. Results demonstrated that anxiety was statistically related to increased age, total traumatic events, increased fantasy proneness, with no association to flow. All dancers experienced moderate-to-high global flow experiences, and 75.3% of the dancers endorsed high autotelic experiences (an ability to regularly transform potential threats into positive flow experiences). In a stepwise linear regression analysis, together past traumatic events and fantasy explained 19.4% of the variance for anxiety. Greater mean scores for total traumatic events and lower autotelic flow experiences were found in the dancers with pathological levels of anxiety. Since 23.3% of the dancers endorsed clinical levels of anxiety (panic), further understanding regarding panic and anxiety in a dancer population is recommended, specifically the predictive role fantasy proneness and past traumatic experiences may play in anxiety symptomatology.

Depersonalization, adversity, emotionality, and coping with stressful situations

ABSTRACT Depersonalization is defined as persistent or recurrent episodes of feeling detached or estranged from a sense of self and the world. This study addressed the primary question: Do nonclinical individuals who endorse high symptomatic depersonalization have inherently more intense emotional responses, along with more childhood adversity and past trauma? In this IRB approved study, participants who met clinical levels of depersonalization (n = 43, 16.3%) were compared to a group without clinical levels of depersonalization (n = 221, 83.7%). Adverse childhood experiences, adult traumatic events, emotional overexcitability, coping strategies under stress, and anxiety were examined in both groups. The variables to assess depersonalization severity included the Dissociative Experience Scale-II, Cambridge Depersonalization Scale, and Multiscale Dissociation Inventory. The results indicated that clinical levels of depersonalization were identified in 16.3% of the sample. The high depersonalization group had significantly more adverse childhood experiences, in particular, emotional abuse and neglect. They also experienced more adult traumatic events, higher levels of anxiety, more emotional overexcitability, and they employed a less adaptive emotion-oriented coping strategy under stress. It is recommended that treating depersonalization symptoms should include examining childhood adversity, especially emotional abuse and neglect. Based on study findings, emotion regulation skills should be promoted to help individuals with elevated depersonalization manage their emotion-oriented coping strategies, anxiety, and emotional overexcitability.

Overexcitability: A Psychological Comparison Between Dancers, Opera Singers, and Athletes

Overexcitability is a component in Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration. This cross-sectional study investigated the psychological profile, including the five overexcitability dimensions (psychomotor, sensual, imaginational, intellectual, emotional), of three talented groups of dancers (n = 84), opera singers (n = 62), and athletes (n = 49). Five self-report instruments assessed positive and negative psychological variables: (a) overexcitability, (b) fantasy proneness, (c) shame, (d) anxiety, and (e) depression. Dancers and opera singers scored significantly higher on all overexcitability dimensions, fantasy proneness, shame, and anxiety in comparison to the athlete group. There were no group differences for depression. Emotional and imaginational overexcitability dimensions significantly predicted shame, anxiety, and depression. Further investigation of overexcitability is warranted given the findings in this study.

Childhood Adversity and the Creative Experience in Adult Professional Performing Artists

Childhood adversity is identified as any exposure to abuse, neglect or family dysfunction. Greater exposure to childhood adversity has been strongly identified with increased morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to examine differences in creative experiences, fantasy proneness, dispositional flow, exposure to adult traumatic events, and psychopathology (internalized shame, trait anxiety), amongst professional performing artists who experienced no childhood adversity, some adversity, or substantial adversity. This cross-section IRB approved study examined 234 professional performers (dancers, opera singers, actors, directors, musicians). Self-report measurements were included to examine the following psychological factors: adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), experience of creativity questionnaire, dispositional flow, trait anxiety, internalized shame, fantasy, and total adult and childhood traumatic events. The sample was divided into three groups based on ACE scores: 0 ACE (n = 93), 1–3 ACEs (n = 95), ≥4 ACEs (n = 42). The MANCOVA (with age and gender as covariates) results revealed no significant (p = 0.280) differences between all three ACE groups for the nine flow scales (optimal performance measurements). Performing artists with ≥4 ACEs had significantly stronger creative experiences (p = 0.006) related to distinct creative processing, absorption, and a transformational sense of self and the world. They were also more fantasy prone, shame-based, anxious, and experienced more cumulative past traumatic events (p < 0.001). Although the high ACE group experienced greater negative effects, they also endorsed positive creative performance experiences.

Attachment and childhood adversity in athletes, actors, dancers, and healthy controls

An investigation into patterns of childhood adversity and attachment states of mind may provide information that can optimise performance for athletes/performers and their coaches/teachers. This cross-sectional study was designed to examine four groups: athletes (n = 23), actors (n = 39), dancers (n = 30), and healthy control participants (n = 25). The study goals included determining group distribution for attachment classifications and group mean differences for inferred parental caregiving, childhood adversity, adult traumatic events, and degree of resolution for past trauma/loss experiences. The Adult Attachment Interview, Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire, and Traumatic Event Questionnaire were administered to participants. The most significant finding in this study was the substantial prevalence rates of unresolved mourning and adverse childhood experiences, especially in the actor group. The athlete group had a greater prevalence of a dismissing attachment classification, suggesting a non-optimal deactivating coping strategy. It is recommended that attachment and trauma-informed care be implemented in the training and treating of athletes and performing artists.