Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES)
Directions: This questionnaire consists of twenty-eight questions about experiences that you may have in your daily life. We are interested in how often you have these experiences. It is important, however, that your answers show how often these experiences happen to you when you are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. To answer the questions, please determine to what degree the experience described in the question applies to you and circle the number to show what percentage of the time you have the experience.
Example:
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
1. Some people have the experience of driving a car and suddenly realizing that they don’t remember what has happened during all or part of the trip.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
2. Some people find that sometimes they are listening to someone talk and they suddenly realize that they did not hear all or part of what was said.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
3. Some people have the experience of finding themselves in a place and having no idea how they got there.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
4. Some people have the experience of finding themselves dressed in clothes that they don’t remember putting on.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
5. Some people have the experience of finding new things among their belongings that they do not remember buying.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
6. Some people sometimes find that they are approached by people that they do not know who call them by another name or insist that they have met them before.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
7. Some people sometimes have the experience of feeling as though they are standing next to themselves or watching themselves do something as if they were looking at another person.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
8. Some people are told that they sometimes do not recognize friends or family members.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
9. Some people find that they have no memory for some important events in their lives (for example, a wedding or graduation).
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
10. Some people have the experience of being accused of lying when they do not think that they have lied.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
11. Some people have the experience of looking in a mirror and not recognizing themselves.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
12. Some people sometimes have the experience of feeling that other people, objects, and the world around them are not real.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
13. Some people sometimes have the experience of feeling that their body does not belong to them.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
14. Some people have the experience of sometimes remembering a past event so vividly that they feel as if they were reliving that event.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
15. Some people have the experience of not being sure whether things that they remember happening really did happen or whether they just dreamed them.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
16. Some people have the experience of being in a familiar place but finding it strange and unfamiliar.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
17. Some people find that when they are watching television or a movie they become so absorbed in the story that they are unaware of other events happening around them.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
18. Some people sometimes find that they become so involved in a fantasy or daydream that it feels as though it were really happening to them.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
19. Some people find that they are sometimes able to ignore pain.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
20. Some people find that they sometimes sit staring off into space, thinking of nothing, and are not aware of the passage of time.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
21. Some people sometimes find that when they are alone they talk out loud to themselves.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
22. Some people find that in one situation they may act so differently compared with another situation that they feel almost as if they were different people.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
23. Some people sometimes find that in certain situations they are able to do things with amazing ease and spontaneity that would usually be difficult for them (for example, sports, work, social situations, etc.).
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
24. Some people sometimes find that they cannot remember whether they have done something or have just thought about doing that thing (for example, not knowing whether they have just mailed a letter or have just thought about mailing it).
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
25. Some people find evidence that they have done things that they do not remember doing.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
26. Some people sometimes find writings, drawings, or notes among their belongings that they must have done but cannot remember doing.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
27. Some people find that they sometimes hear voices inside their head that tell them to do things or comment on things that they are doing.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
28. Some people sometimes feels as if they are looking at the world through a fog so that people or objects appear far away or unclear.
Circle a number to show what percentage of the time this happens to you.
(never) 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% (always)
.
.
http://www.energyhealing.net/pdf_files/desii.pdf
.
Online Dissociative Experiences Scale:
http://counsellingresource.com/quizzes/des/index.html
How Dissociative Are You? « Discussing Dissociation said,
June 10, 2009 at 9:32 pm
[...] http://discussingdissociation.wordpress.com/dissociative-experiences-scale-des/ [...]
multipixie9 said,
June 11, 2009 at 9:17 am
I could not seriously take the questionaire. I’ve been in recovery for 14 years and I believe that I have read so much and been in therapy and so it feels hard to be objective in my answers. Plus, things have changed as I’ve gotten healthier. I have just a few answers that are high percentages and much of it I do not do any longer.
This is a very helpful questionaire, but I guess by now I am convinced I am DID and just focus on wanting to get healing inside. Thanks for offering this to us.
Multipixie
thevaguecollective said,
June 11, 2009 at 11:45 am
we scored 70.
multipixie9 said,
July 5, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Good Grief, I just proved I dissociated. I saw something on the DES and thought, Hmm, I oughta take that survey and see where I fit in this scale.
Then I get to the survey and go through the questions and after run into my own comments right below.
Needless to say, I didn’t remember doing this survey or “not doing it” on June 11. today is July 6. This is one form of dissociation that does happen to me all the time. So much of my stuff is still “in my head”. I lose time, I lose memory of things I’ve done with my family, I can get lost in a book or movie and lose all sense of time and place.
Well, I never get bored…
Multipixie
Kathy Broady said,
July 6, 2009 at 12:16 am
lol, well, thanks Multipixie, for coming back again
And I suppose, since things can feel new over and over again, there would be no getting boredl
But yes, forgetting stuff like this on a frequent basis can certainly be a kind of dissociation. Do you remember writing the first comment now that you have seen it? Or was reading your comment a totally surprise as well?
ah… the joys of dissociation….
Thanks for being such a good sport about it.
Kathy
Mona said,
August 28, 2009 at 11:22 pm
“Some people sometimes find that when they are alone they talk out loud to themselves.” Is this really so unusual?
I don’t have DID but I have been diagnosed with PTSD and (my current doctor and therapist think wrongly diagnosed with) Bi Polar II.
As I learn more about dissociation I find I fit the DDNOS criteria. But back to the question. I talk aloud to myself a lot…I mean a lot! And I am aware of different opinions in my talking, maybe even different “ages” or maturity levels, but not different “parts” in a totally separate sense. But doesn’t everybody have internal voices? By the time we are adults we have within us the child, adolescent and parent “voices.” I think it was the theory of transactional analysis that first provided me with this explanation. So what is the difference between these “normal” ego states and dissociated states?
Or maybe I am just confusing apples and giraffes (as opposed to oranges) …as it were.
Kathy Broady said,
August 29, 2009 at 1:20 am
Hi Mona,
That is a hard question to answer without knowing you personally. I’ll see if I can come up with some ways to distinguish dissociative from non-dissociative.
I think most people talk to themselves sometimes, but I don’t know that everyone talks to themselves “A LOT!”. So… the difference is more in terms of how much… Also, it depends on what kinds of things you are saying. Are you having an actual conversation with yourself? Meaning, does the young side of you talk an older part of you – and do you hear yourself talking in actual conversations from the different ages that you feel you can be?
I don’t know that everyone has the kind of internal voices that you are speaking of. I’m aware of the TA stuff you are referring to, but applying TA to a dissociative person vs. a non-dissociative person is still going to look quite different.
One of the key differences for the dissociative vs non-dissociative person is in the amount. It’s all a continuum, so for example, a non-DID may do something 5 or 12% of the time, but a dissociative person does that 45 or 67% of the time. It’s not that the “thing” is so odd — it’s more about how much, how often, how intensely, how consuming it becomes, etc.
When you are not talking out loud, can you hear the same different-aged opinions being voiced in your head? Do you hear actual conversations in your head?
And when you hear a younger voice – a younger maturity level – do you feel smaller? or shorter? or does your body feel too big or too tall for you at that point in time?
I can probably think of more questions… but how about starting there?
Kathy
Mona said,
August 30, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Kathy, thank you so much for the very timely reply. I have definitely felt in a younger body at times — for example when driving and had a rush of anxiety and felt like I had forgotten how to drive. I looked at my hands and arms and they looked smaller, a child’s size. That’s happened a few times; not many. I have also experienced what I think is called derealization(?) when driving in the form of a sort of tunnel vision where the distance stretches out and seems to keep getting further away. Very disconcerting.
But when I talk to myself I don’t hear completely different voices like different people but definitely different viewpoints, even different tones and moods. One voice can be angry and one scared. But when I am not talking out loud I don’t hear ongoing conversations. I have to consciously initiate a dialogue. I can do it in writing fairly easily by changing to my non-dominant hand. That all being said, I do find occasionally that I can’t stand the noise in my head. And I can go a whole day without TV or radio on and still feel like it wasn’t quiet. But again, we all have a voice in our head all day don’t we? I really hate to feel I am misrepresenting what may just be normal. Minimizing?
I completely get the continuum idea. I suppose I don’t know if I have enough dissociation to be part of this community of discussion.
Mona