Scoring the DES-II is straightforward: add up all 28 item scores and divide by 28. The result is a single number between 0 and 100 that represents the average intensity of dissociative experiences a person reports. Each item on the scale asks the respondent to mark a percentage (0% to 100%) indicating how often a particular experience happens to them, and the total score is simply the mean of those 28 responses.
Step-by-Step Scoring
Each of the 28 items produces a score from 0 to 100. In the original DES, respondents marked a spot on a line; in the DES-II revision, they circle a percentage in increments of 10 (0%, 10%, 20%, and so on up to 100%). To calculate the total score:
- Add all 28 item scores together.
- Divide that sum by 28.
For example, if a person’s 28 responses add up to 420, their DES-II score is 420 รท 28 = 15. That’s it. There’s no weighting, no reverse scoring, and no items that need to be excluded. Every item counts equally toward the total.
What the Scores Mean
The DES-II is a screening tool, not a diagnostic instrument. A score by itself doesn’t confirm or rule out any disorder, but certain thresholds guide clinicians on whether further evaluation is warranted.
A score of 30 or above is the most widely used cutoff for flagging possible dissociative disorders. At this level, a structured clinical interview is typically recommended to explore whether a formal diagnosis applies. An earlier recommendation used a cutoff of 15, which catches more true cases but also produces more false positives. The higher threshold of 30 was adopted to reduce the chance of incorrectly flagging someone who doesn’t have a dissociative disorder.
Most people in the general population score well below 30. Scores in the single digits or low teens are common among adults without a trauma history. People with confirmed dissociative identity disorder (DID) tend to score substantially higher, often averaging above 40 or 50, though individual variation is wide.
The DES Taxon: A Secondary Analysis
Beyond the overall score, researchers developed a method called the DES Taxon (DES-T) to better identify people with pathological dissociation. This analysis uses a subset of eight items from the scale and produces a probability score from 0 to 1. A probability above 0.50 was originally considered the threshold for belonging to the “dissociative taxon,” meaning the person’s response pattern resembles those with DID. Later research suggested that raising that threshold to 0.90 improved accuracy. The DES-T is not something most people calculate by hand; it’s typically computed by clinicians or software that applies the specific statistical model.
Subscales Within the 28 Items
The DES-II isn’t officially broken into subscales for scoring purposes, but researchers have consistently identified distinct clusters of experiences within the 28 items. The traditional model groups items into three categories: absorption (getting so caught up in something that you lose track of surroundings), amnesia (gaps in memory for events or actions), and depersonalization/derealization (feeling detached from yourself or feeling that the world around you isn’t real).
More recent factor analysis suggests a simpler two-factor structure may fit the data better. One factor, called compartmentalization, combines amnesia and absorption items (items 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26). The other factor, called detachment, groups depersonalization and derealization items together (items 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 27, 28). Some items load on both factors, but the general split holds.
While subcale scores can offer a more detailed picture of which types of dissociation are most prominent, the primary clinical use of the DES-II still relies on the single overall score.
Limitations to Keep in Mind
The DES-II is a self-report questionnaire, which means it relies entirely on a person’s own perception of their experiences. It has strong convergent validity, meaning it lines up well with other measures of dissociation and with clinician-administered interviews. Its ability to predict dissociative disorders and PTSD is well established across large samples.
However, the scale is sensitive to response bias. People may over-report or under-report depending on the context, their understanding of the questions, or their comfort level. It also does not distinguish between normal dissociation (like getting absorbed in a movie) and the kind of dissociation that disrupts daily functioning. A moderately elevated score could reflect high absorption in someone who daydreams frequently, not necessarily a clinical disorder.
Because of these limitations, the DES-II is designed to be a first step. A high score signals that a full clinical interview, such as the Structured Clinical Interview for Dissociative Disorders, is worth pursuing. A low score is reassuring but doesn’t guarantee the absence of dissociative symptoms, particularly if someone has difficulty recognizing or reporting their own experiences.