Dissociation functions as a coping mechanism developed by the body to manage and protect against overwhelming emotions and distress 6. This can be a completely natural reaction to traumatic experiences, and can be helpful as a way of coping at the time.
Dissociation might be a way to cope with very stressful experiences. You might experience dissociation as a symptom of a mental health problem, for example post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder.
Sometimes dissociation is a way of coping by avoiding negative thoughts or feelings related to memories of traumatic events. When people are dissociating they disconnect from their surroundings, which can stop the trauma memories and lower fear, anxiety and shame.
Dissociation is an escape. It's an involuntary detachment from reality, often experienced as a disconnect from your sense of self, thoughts, and memory. Dissociation usually occurs due to trauma, such as: abuse.
Dissociation refers to a defense mechanism that can help protect your mind from extreme stress. It often develops in response to trauma, so trauma therapies commonly make up a part of treatment for dissociation.
While dissociation is a way people handle stressful situations, no trained professional would recommend dissociating on purpose. By purposefully dissociating, you risk mishandling stress and could develop unhealthy patterns. Many people who suffer from severe cases of dissociation have trouble later on in life.
Definition and Explanation of Dissociation
When we look at what they all have in common, we can say that dissociation is a form of the fight, flight, or freeze response. Dissociation can happen when we experience a threatening situation which we cannot escape from, and also cannot resolve or change.
Triggers are sensory stimuli connected with a person's trauma, and dissociation is an overload response. Even years after the traumatic event or circumstances have ceased, certain sights, sounds, smells, touches, and even tastes can set off, or trigger, a cascade of unwanted memories and feelings.
Dissociation involves disruptions of usually integrated functions of consciousness, perception, memory, identity, and affect (e.g., depersonalization, derealization, numbing, amnesia, and analgesia).
Dissociation is a way the mind copes with too much stress. 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.
Zoning out is considered a form of dissociation, but it typically falls at the mild end of the spectrum.
It's possible to have dissociation and not know it. If you have a dissociative disorder, for example, you may keep your symptoms hidden or explain them another way.
There are five main ways in which the dissociation of psychological processes changes the way a person experiences living: depersonalization, derealization, amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration.
Dissociation is a disconnection between a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions or sense of who he or she is. This is a normal process that everyone has experienced.
Last updated December 5, 2021. Dissociation – feeling detached from yourself, like in a dreamlike state, feeling weird or off-kilter, and like everything is surreal – is a common anxiety disorder symptom experienced by many people who are anxious.
Dissociation usually happens in response to a traumatic life event such as that which is faced while being in the military or experiencing abuse. In this way, dissociation is usually associated with trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Dissociation is an adaptive response to threat and is a form of “freezing”. It is a strategy that is often used when the option of fighting or running (fleeing) is not an option.
Most health professionals believe dissociation is a way the mind copes with too much stress. Many people with a dissociative disorder have had a traumatic event during childhood, although dissociation can also occur with other types of trauma. This is called Trauma-Related Dissociation.
 Even though dissociative symptoms such as flashbacks and psychogenic amnesia are included as part of the core PTSD symptoms, evidence suggests that a subgroup of PTSD patients exhibits additional symptoms of dissociation, including depersonalization and derealization, thus warranting a subtype of PTSD specifically ...