Different dissociation and alexithymia domains specifically relate to patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) and with PNES and comorbid epilepsy (PNES+EP)

•We investigated dissociation and alexithymia in psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES).•We compared four samples: patients with PNES, PNES with epilepsy (EP), EP and healthy controls.•Dissociative experiences Scale-II (DES-II) and Toronto alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20) totals did not predict TAS-20 and DES-II totals, respectively.•In PNES sample, depersonalization/derealization (Dep/Der) was fully mediated by difficulty identifying feelings (DIF) and absorption (Abs) in predicting difficulty describing feelings (DDF).•In PNES with EP sample, DEP/DER was partially mediated by ABS in predicting DDF.