Our study aimed to untangle the complex interplay between depersonalization symptoms and the seeking and acceptance of social touch. We began by examining the convergence of social touch seeking and acceptance across different social bonds. Subsequently, we explored the relationship between depersonalization and various social touch and psychological tendencies, focusing on how depersonalization correlates with the seeking and acceptance of social touch, as well as its association with negative (anxiety, depression, mood) and positive (mood, satisfaction with life) affective states.
In a large sample of Argentinian participants, we observed a convergence between seeking and accepting social touch across different social bonds. We replicate previous findings from other countries and cultures regarding socially accepted touch from varied social bonds across different body parts 24,25. We found, as expected, that depersonalization symptoms strongly affect the sense of self, and this effect is partially mediated by social touch avoidance. However, we did not find a definitive association between depersonalization and either seeking or accepting social touch. Additionally, consistent with expectations, we identified clear links between depersonalization and higher levels of negative psychological factors, as well as lower levels of positive psychological factors.
To our knowledge this is the first study in Latin America to find consistency across touch seeking and acceptance, meaning that people who seek more touch from others, also accept more touch of different degrees according to the level of social closeness. It is important to note that while the behaviors to seek touch from others (as measured by the STQ) and accept to receive touch (assessed through body maps) are correlated, these are present in different degrees in the population. Touch acceptance is very variable across participants and depends on further factors like physiological state, given context, and probably culture or social norms 12. This study does not allow to interpret if subjects are imagining varied social scenarios, however, touch acceptance from different degrees of social closeness and body parts seems to be consistent with previous research on other cultures 23,26.
Our study replicates that touch acceptance depends on the emotional bond between the person receiving the touch with the “toucher”. However, compared to Suvilehto et al., (2015), where touch acceptance in a similar online setting was compared across five European countries, in our Argentinian sample, strangers are socially accepted to touch more than the hands. Although, around a third of the sample reported not accepting any touch from strangers, a large percentage of participants also accepted touch on the arms and to a much smaller degree to the face, torso, and legs. This could indicate a cultural difference that exists in Latin American countries, where in the young population (as the one assessed in this study), it is usual that strangers meeting in public events greet each other with one kiss on the cheek (cheek to cheek kiss, although it is not a generalized behavior), considerably alike some European countries when having a closer emotional connection with someone. Additionally, for young adults the main source of transportation is through public transport. Here, it is usually very crowded during peak hours, and it could be natural to touch arms shoulders or legs with your nearby travelling neighbor. Although this study did not present front and back bodies or more 3D space of body to be able to confirm this completely.
It is important to also clarify the difference that in this study we did not ask about pleasantness ratings for the touch acceptance conditions, thus, it is still possible that as in the mentioned public transport example, participants find it acceptable and statistically normal to encounter touch in public transportation in peak hours, this might not reflect a pleasant form of touch. A cross-cultural study looked into another aspect of touch that showed cultural differences 25. Here, they compared German and Chinese participants, and although both presented some cultural convergence in touched areas, their results also reflect some cultural differences in how comfortable people feel with touch. Germans were more comfortable with touch in some body parts that seem more intimate for some cultures, like the torso and less comfortable with touching hands, which was expressed as more comfortable for the Chinese participants. Exploring different attributes of touch, as seeking, accepting, liking, feeling comfort, or other, might be relevant to better characterize human functional and dysfunctional behavior.
Additionally, it could be relevant to disentangle with which body part the toucher is producing the touch, as leg-to-leg contact sitting on public transportation might be acceptable and hand touching a leg in public transportation is less likely to be acceptable. Future studies with similar designs in social touch should look deeper into the importance of social context and characteristics of the toucher in order to assess the difference between social acceptance of touch and genuine pleasantness. As seen in Suvilehto et al., (2015), gender of the toucher might play a crucial role in touch acceptance as touch from men is less likely to be accepted in “taboo areas” of the body. Thus, it is possible that even with matched social context and touching body part, there will be a difference in touch acceptance and pleasantness for male and female touchers 27.
We found further support that touch appears to be related to a clearer sense of self, however, we only find this relationship for touch from intimate partners. Touch from others has previously been shown to be more pleasant and have greater autonomic effects compared to other forms of touch 17,18. Additionally, the relationship between touch and self-concept clarity scale has previously been reported: the greater the neural differentiation of self- and other-touch the clearer the self-concept (see Supplementary results in Boehme et al. 9). However, it might be that receiving touch from close intimate relationships might be processed differently (e.g. due to higher salience or higher trust) than other types of social bonds, although to our knowledge this has not been studied previously on a neural level.
Depersonalization symptoms are highly prevalent among the general population, often occurring outside the bounds of a formal diagnosis. Although some literature refers that up to 3% of the general population has a diagnosis, research also suggests that up to 70% of individuals may experience depersonalization symptoms at some point in their lifetime 6,7,28. Additionally, these symptoms are particularly common among victims of abuse or maltreatment, and are often co-occurring with conditions such as depression, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder 29 further worsening their well-being.
Despite subjective reports from people experiencing depersonalization that indicate a desire for social touch as a means of grounding themselves 21, our study did not find a significant association between depersonalization symptoms and the seeking or acceptance of social touch. In fact, we find marginally threshold associations in the opposite direction. This could be attributed to the fact that our study did not evaluate people presenting a formal diagnosis of depersonalization or evaluated this in another culture. Although, in support of dimensional views of psychopathology, it opens the door to other explanations.
One possibility is a mismatch between the subjective belief in the need for touch and actual objective behavior. Previous research has shown that some psychiatric symptoms are linked to discrepancies in metacognition, in the presence 30 or absence of objective performance variations 31. It is also possible that people who experience depersonalization seek less touch in daily life but might actively seek out touch during an acute depersonalization episode.
Another explanation could be that less daily tactile interaction could evoke more depersonalization symptoms, as the individual might fail to benefit from important somatosensory sensations which strengthen the bodily awareness and therefore also the sense of self. In fact, we show here that people with higher depersonalization present a diminished sense of self that is partially mediated by their social touch seeking behaviors. However, it is challenging to identify the causality empirically. Early life trauma mediated the presence of later on psychosis 32, suggesting that traumatic events that produce alterations in self-concept might be related to more severe and chronic alterations of the self as in psychosis. In fact, another studyfound that individuals with more dissociation proneness had less self-concept integration 33. There is also some support for causality from a study during periods of social isolation (as during the COVID-19 pandemic): here, lower amounts of social touch were related to more depersonalization experiences in an observational online study 34. Thus, seeking positive social interactions and positive social touch might have a protective effect on the sense of self.
We found an overall weak association between touch acceptance from the intimate partner and depersonalization; however, this effect did not survive multiple comparisons. This may be attributed to behavioral changes that occur only during acute dissociative episodes. Evaluating individuals with acute, enhanced dissociative symptoms is experimentally challenging, as spontaneous dissociative experiences are difficult to capture in a laboratory setting. However, pharmacological manipulation of subjective experiences can offer a comparable scenario. In a previous study from our group, we observed changes in touch-seeking behavior, as measured also by the Social Touch Questionnaire (STQ), following ketamine administration 22. Participants reported increased touch-seeking behavior during the pharmacologically evoked dissociation compared to a within-subject placebo control session in a Swedish sample.
Another potential factor is the cultural context of the studies. Most research on depersonalization and touch (separately) has been conducted outside of Latin America, leaving open the possibility of cultural differences affecting touch-seeking and acceptance behaviors. Cultural variations could influence how individuals with depersonalization symptoms perceive and engage in social touch.
To address these complexities, future studies should include contrasting objective behaviors and subjective feelings of touch. A first step could be larger ecological momentary assessments, which do not rely as much on retrospective reporting. Researchers should also compare conditions involving the presence and absence of dissociative experiences in different countries. This approach will provide a clearer understanding of how touch processing may be related to dissociative symptomatology across different cultures. Additionally, comparing individuals with and without acute dissociative symptoms in various cultural contexts could help clarify the role of cultural factors in shaping these experiences.
Our study found that higher depersonalization symptoms are significantly associated with various negative psychological factors. Specifically, higher depersonalization symptoms were associated with higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms. These findings are consistent with the literature, which indicates that depersonalization often co-occurs with other mental health conditions, particularly those related to mood and anxiety 6,7.
Additionally, higher depersonalization symptoms were correlated with higher levels of negative affect and lower levels of positive affect. These results suggest that individuals experiencing depersonalization are more likely to report feeling more negative emotions and fewer positive emotions. This aligns with the understanding that depersonalization can significantly disrupt emotional processing and overall affective experience 35 that could be the cause of such symptoms. Also, adverse life events as abuse or childhood mistreatment might be the cause of depersonalization as a coping strategy. Possible interventions in increasing positive affect, such as using mindfulness techniques could be a source of treatment.
Furthermore, we found that higher depersonalization symptoms were associated with lower general life satisfaction. This relationship underscores the broad impact of depersonalization on an individual’s perceived quality of life and well-being. The persistent and distressing nature of depersonalization symptoms can erode one’s sense of self and thus also the fulfillment and contentment with life 36. Thus, understanding and finding better treatment strategies that could help ground subjects to their self is of high importance.
Cultural factors could also play a significant role in these dynamics. The particular touch seeking and accepting behaviors in different cultures might influence how individuals with depersonalization are affected. Future cross-cultural research should consider if cultures in which touch is more accepted have a positive or negative impact on mental health. If people with depersonalization report in other cultures to seek touch to feel grounded, then a culture more open to touch might serve as a protective factor. How does this balance out with a more vulnerable population as is the case in Latin America, where economic inequalities and higher health disparities exist alongside fewer programs promoting healthy lifestyles 37,38? This is still an unanswered question that is of relevance for creating therapeutic interventions.
Our study provides insights into the complex dynamics between depersonalization disorder, social touch seeking and acceptance, self-clarity and psychological factors within an Argentinian context. We found that while depersonalization significantly impacts the sense of self and is linked to social touch avoidance, it does not strongly influence the seeking or acceptance of social touch despite discrepancies with self-reported behaviors from people with depersonalization in other cultures.
Additionally, our findings highlight that depersonalization is associated with higher levels of negative psychological factors, such as anxiety and depression, and lower levels of positive psychological factors, including mood and life satisfaction. The observed cultural variations in social touch acceptance underscore the importance of considering cultural context in understanding these behaviors.
Future research should further investigate the causal relationships between social touch, depersonalization, and psychological well-being across diverse cultural settings to better inform therapeutic interventions. These insights emphasize the potential for tailored treatment strategies that address both the psychological and cultural dimensions of depersonalization.