Thought suppression, dissociation and psychopathology

The White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI) aims to measure the general tendency to suppress unwanted negative thoughts. The aims of the present study were: (a) to assess the psychometric properties of the WBSI in a clinical population; (b) to evaluate the association of the WBSI with dimensional and categorical measures of psychopathology; and (c) to explore the relationship of the WBSI with measures for dissociation while controlling for level of psychopathology. In a sample of 254 consecutive psychiatric outpatients the factor structure and internal consistency of the WBSI were found to be good. Moreover, WBSI scores were significantly and positively related to all of the dimensional measures for psychopathology of the Symptom Checklist-90 and did not differ between patients with a DSM-IV anxiety disorder, affective disorder or no psychiatric diagnosis. Finally, WBSI scores were unrelated to measures for proneness to dissociation (Dissociation Questionnaire and Somatic Dissociation Questionnaire) while controlling for level of psychopathology. It is concluded that: (a) thought suppression is a common phenomenon among psychiatric patients with various complaints; and (b) that dissociation is not related to thought suppression.