Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire

SDQ-20 and SDQ-5 

The twenty item Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ-20) evaluates the severity of somatoform manifestations of dissociation of the personality (Nijenhuis et al., 1996). Its psychometric characteristics are very satisfactory. The instrument is completed within a few minutes.

The five item SDQ-5 is a screener for dissociative disorders. The instrument performed well in some studies, but less well in other studies.

Integrative failure and the emergence of different parts

The theory of structural dissociation of the personality (Nijenhuis, Van der Hart, & Steele, 2004) proposes that one dissociative process involves a loss of an individual's capacity to integrate experiences, ideas, and functions, or components thereof. These components include:

  • sensations,

  • perceptions,

  • movements,

  • affects,

  • knowledge, and

  • memory.

As a result of this integrative failure, two or more different parts of the person emerge. The primary prototypical form of trauma-related structural dissociation is between one part that engages in daily life functions--the apparently normal part of the personality--and another part that is fixated in traumatic experience--the emotional part.

Structural dissociation

Within this context, another dissociative process can occur that maintains structural dissociation. That is, given a lack of integrative capacity, the apparently normal part can mentally avoid the emotional part to cope with life. For example, a child may lack the capacity to integrate abuse and neglect by family members and may function as an apparently normal part in non-abusive situations, and as an emotional part during abuse.

Somatoform dissociative symptoms

Apparently normal parts usually have negative somatoform dissociative symptoms such as a lack of body awareness and a lack of bodily feelings.
Emotional parts can also have negative somatoform dissociative symptoms that relate to evolutionary derived defenses regarding bodily threat from a person such as trauma-related insensitivity for pain (analgesia), inhibitions of movement (freezing and stilling), lack of body feelings (anaesthesia). These emotional parts, however, also tend to have positive somatoform dissociative symptoms such as experiencing sensations in absence of objective stimuli: pain in some part of the body, a sense of being touched, smelling or tasting something, etcetera. These sensations can be part and parcel of traumatic memories that the emotional part contains.

Structural dissociation does not involve perfect barriers between dissociative parts of the personality. Aspects of one or more emotional parts can intrude one or more apparently normal parts. These intrusions may involve traumatic memories or components thereof, or other phenomena. For example, the emotional part's reactivated traumatic memories can sometimes intrude the apparently normal part, or when the emotional part may want to persue a particular course of action that is different from the apparently normal part's wishes, it may try to control the body's movements.

 

SDQ-20 Translations

The SDQ-20 has been translated to a variety of languages. All versions can be downloaded via our free eLibrary. The SDQ-5 consists of the SDQ-20 items 4, 8, 13, 15, and 18. 

  • Danish: SDQ-5 på dansk (ikke SDQ-20)

  • Dutch: SDQ-20 en SDQ-5 in het Nederlands

  • English: SDQ-20 and SDQ-5 in English

  • French: SDQ-20 et SDQ-5 en français

  • German: SDQ-20 und SDQ-5 in deutsch

  • Hebrew: SDQ-5 בעברית, ה-sdq-20 בעברית עדיין לא אושר

  • Hindi: एसडीक्यू-20 और एसडीक्यू-5 हिंदी में।

  • Italian: SDQ-20 e SDQ-5 in Italiano

  • Mandarin: 普通话的 SDQ-20 和 SDQ-5。

  • Norwegian: SDQ-20 og SDQ-5 på norsk.

  • Polish: SDQ-20 i SDQ-5 w języku polskim.

  • Portuguese: SDQ-20 e SDQ-5 em português.

  • Spanish: SDQ-20 y SDQ-5 en español.

  • Swedish: SDQ-20 och SDQ-5 på svenska.

  • Turkish: Türkçe SDQ-20 ve SDQ-5.

  • Urdu: SDQ-20 اور SDQ-5 اردو میں۔

 

References SDQ-20 and SDQ-5

Nijenhuis, E.R.S., Spinhoven, P., Van Dyck, R., Van der Hart, O., & Vanderlinden, J. (1996). The development and the psychometric characteristics of the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ-20). Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 184, 688-694. 

Nijenhuis, E.R.S. (2009). Somatoform dissociation and somatoform dissociative disorders. In P.F. Dell, & J. O’Neil (Eds.), Dissociation and dissociative disorders: DSM-IV and beyond (pp. 259-277). New York: Routledge.