[24] also confirms this finding by showing that dissociative children have a lower IQ at 90.06 ± 10.3.
Long-Term Impact of Memory Impairment
Dissociation occurs as a result of ongoing trauma which is associated with chronic stress. A chronically stressed brain and nervous system have difficulty learning.
Dissociation is a disruption in the integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, and perception. Dissociative symptoms include derealization/depersonalization, absorption, and amnesia. These experiences can cause a loss of control over mental processes, including memory and attention.
Dissociation involves disruptions of usually integrated functions of consciousness, perception, memory, identity, and affect (e.g., depersonalization, derealization, numbing, amnesia, and analgesia).
While dissociation is not a symptom of ADHD, the two are closely related because they are often comorbid. 123 People with dissociative disorders may also show symptoms of ADHD and vice versa.
Dissociation is often part of having PTSD and autism. It can take different shapes and forms depending on the person. For me, it comes with complete physical and emotional exhaustion — often after days of too much work, too many people, too much change, too much stress, or a combination of all of that and more.
In a clinical investigation conducted by Endo et al. (2006), one-thirds of children with ADHD who reported abuse had a comorbid dissociative disorder. Matsumoto and Imamura (2007) identified that childhood ADHD symptoms persisting into adulthood revealed significant associations with adult dissociative symptomatology.
Too much dissociating can slow or prevent recovery from the impact of trauma or PTSD. Dissociation can become a problem in itself. Blanking out interferes with doing well at school. It can lead to passively going along in risky situations.
Dissociation can help a person feel as if situations, his or her body sensations, emotions that would have been overwhelming, etc., are muted and distorted so he or she can then go into “autopilot” mode and survive extreme situations and circumstances.
Their dissociation can lead to lack of attention and, hence, to memory problems and in extreme cases, amnesia. In some cases, they present an extreme difficulty in giving or receiving empathy which can be related to the spectrum of narcissistic personality disorder.
Some signs your therapist can sense if you're dissociating:
They feel confused. They feel numb. They feel like you've gone somewhere else. Things don't add up.
Periods of dissociation can last for a relatively short time (hours or days) or for much longer (weeks or months). It can sometimes last for years, but usually if a person has other dissociative disorders. Many people with a dissociative disorder have had a traumatic event during childhood.
Dissociative disorders usually result from trauma and stress in childhood, not adulthood. They stem from chronic trauma (for example, repeated episodes of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse).
Dissociation exists on a spectrum that ranges from mild everyday experiences to disorders that interfere with daily functioning. Nearly everyone experiences mild dissociation from time to time. In fact, daydreaming is a prime and common example of mild dissociation.
Any kind of trauma can cause dissociation. This could be assault, abuse (physical, emotional, or sexual), natural disasters, military combat, war, kidnapping, invasive medical procedures, neglect, or any other stressful experience.
It is a regular function of the human brain to be able to detach from reality and cling to something reassuring to avoid anxieties. Dissociation may be a normal phenomenon, but like everything in life, all in moderation.
Awareness of yourself and what's going on around you can be compromised during dissociation, which might feel like an unwelcome and frightening intrusion into your mind. On a psychological level, dissociating can be an involuntary means of coping with acute stress, such as physical abuse.
Experiences of dissociation can last for a short time (hours or days) or for much longer (weeks or months). Dissociation may be something that you experience for a short time while something traumatic is happening. But you also may have learned to dissociate as a way of coping with stressful experiences.
Dissociation is a mental process where a person disconnects from their thoughts, feelings, memories or sense of identity. Dissociative disorders include dissociative amnesia, depersonalisation disorder and dissociative identity disorder.
Answer: Famous people with dissociative identity disorder include comedienne Roseanne Barr, Adam Duritz, and retired NFL star Herschel Walker. Walker wrote a book about his struggles with DID, along with his suicide attempts, explaining he had a feeling of disconnect from childhood to the professional leagues.
Differences in emotions in people with ADHD can lead to 'shutdowns', where someone is so overwhelmed with emotions that they space out, may find it hard to speak or move and may struggle to articulate what they are feeling until they can process their emotions.
Treatment with medication for ADHD may help some of the symptoms associated with poor attention, but again will not help all the symptoms associated with underlying dissociation.
Generally, zoning out or spacing out means that you are simply not in the moment, or that your mind is somewhere else. Zoning out is considered a type of dissociation, which is a feeling of being disconnected from the world around you.