Table 1.

Demographic and psychometric measures among participants, by acute dissociative experience

	Group; mean (SD)*
	BPD			BPD D+ v. BPD D−
Measure	Nondissociative (BPD D−)	Dissociative (BPD D+)	Healthy controls	Test	p value
Dissociative experience
DSS (state)	0.12 (0.11)	3.10 (1.60)	0.12 (0.22)	t10.1 = 6.2	< 0.001
DES (trait)	15.9 (11.5)	35.5 (12.7)	3.32 (3.01)	t19 = 3.7	0.002
Hearing threshold level, dB	33.3 (4.62)	42.0 (13.6)	32.7 (11.2)	t12.5 = 2.0	0.07
General psychopathology
Borderline Symptom List30	1.77 (0.48)	2.09 (0.53)	0.74 (0.31)	t19 = 1.4	0.17
Cormorbidity
No. Axis-I disorders	1.30 (0.82)	1.00 (0.89)	—	t19 = 0.8	0.44
No. Axis-II disorders	0.50 (0.53)	0.64 (0.67)	—	t19 = 0.6	0.61
PTSD: current, %†	50	27	—		0.39
PTSD: lifetime, %†	50	36	—		0.67
Trauma, %†	100	82	6		0.48
Baseline reactivity
US valence‡	5.70 (0.5)	5.45 (0.7)	4.86 (1.0)	t19 = 0.9	0.36
US arousal§	5.20 (0.9)	5.18 (0.9)	4.51 (1.5)	t19 = 0.1	0.96
US log (SCR+1)	0.36 (0.2)	0.37 (0.2)	0.27 (0.2)	t19 = 0.2	0.88
CS (habituation) log (SCR+1)	0.09 (0.1)	0.05 (0.1)	0.05 (0.1)	t19 = 1.3	0.20
Skin conductance level	0.94 (0.2)	0.85 (0.2)	0.83 (0.2)	t19 = 1.2	0.23
Declarative knowledge
CS+ contingency awareness	67 (23)	51 (29)	49 (9.2)	t19 = 1.6	0.13
CS− contingency awareness	17 (22)	29 (27)	9 (17)	t19 = 1.1	0.30

BPD = borderline personality disorder; BPD D+ = borderline personality disorder, dissociative subgroup; BPD D− = borderline personality disorder, nondissociative subgroup; CS = conditioned stimulus; CS+ = positive conditioned stimulus; CS− = negative conditioned stimulus; DES = Dissociative Experiences Scale;²⁵ DSS = Dissociation-Tension-Scale acute;²⁴ PTSD = posttraumatic stress disorder; SCR = skin conductance response; SD = standard deviation; US = unconditioned stimulus.

^*Unless indicated otherwise.

^†Fisher exact test.

^‡Measured on a 6-point Likert scale: 1 = pleasant, 6 = unpleasant.

^§Measured on a 6-point Likert scale: 1 = relaxed, 6 = excited.