What can machine learning tell us about young people’s risk of dissociation?
Researchers at the University of Birmingham* found two ‘risk profiles’: one for 16- to 20-year-olds, and another for 21- to 25-year-olds.
*The head of the team was Dr Emma Černis - the MDDC Centre Lead.
Dissociation can feel like drifting through life trapped in a fog — disconnected, unreal, and overwhelmed. For many young people, these experiences are more than fleeting moments; they are frequent and significant - and can cause major disruption to their everyday lives and mental health.
Despite previous researching suggesting multiple different causes of dissociation, no-one had put these into one study before. McGuinness and colleagues at the University of Birmingham set out to do that. They focused on young people (aged 16 to 25 years), because this is the age when mental health problems are most likely to first begin, and because the research team recognised that young people today face multiple sources of stress and strain.
What did the researchers do?
Using an online survey, researchers collected data from 2384 young people based in the UK.
The survey asked about different kinds of pressure: childhood trauma, loneliness, experiences of marginalisation, socioeconomic status, and day-to-day stress. It also contained questions about anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and how young people manage their emotions.
What were the findings?
First, the researchers checked whether all the kinds of pressure measured were relevant to dissociation. Day-to-day stress was found to be the most relevant.
Next, an algorithm used a section of the data to ‘learn’ about dissociation. The findings suggested different pressures were relevant to dissociation for young people aged 20 years and younger, compared to young people aged 21 and above.
Regardless of age, the machine learning algorithm showed that marginalisation and childhood trauma are types of stress that increase the chance of experiencing severe dissociation. As well as these, the younger group were more likely to have high dissociation if they had high depression, were female, and had negative beliefs about themselves. The older group were more at risk if they also had anxiety, bottled up their emotions, had negative beliefs about emotions, or used substances to cope with how they felt.
So what?
The researchers point out that machine learning is an estimation based on the available data. This means the risk factors they report need to be taken with a pinch of salt: for now, they are an informed guess, and more work needs to be done to be certain the results are accurate.
What this study does show very clearly, however, is that dissociation is very complex. The number and variety of factors involved suggests that dissociative experiences come from interactions between how a young person is treated in their life and by society, and how they think about themselves and their internal world.
At the Midlands Dissociation & Depersonalisation Centre, we know young people can feel unheard or misunderstood when seeking help for dissociation. This research validates their experiences, emphasising that dissociation is not just a symptom of trauma but can also stem from overlapping experiences. It also validates all the people we meet who say that it is really confusing to work out why dissociation has developed!
So, if you’re experiencing dissociation: know that you are not alone, and it is understandable to feel confused. Why not book a free information call to discuss whether we can help?
The full scientific paper for this study is available here: https://doi.org/10.1111/eip.70015
