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.
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.
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 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 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.
Dissociation Symptoms
Memory loss surrounding specific events, interactions, or experiences. A sense of detachment from your emotions (aka emotional numbness) and identity. Feeling as if the world is unreal; out-of-body experiences. Mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide.
When people are dissociated, they still are out doing things, but they are not aware of doing those things. Further, they are not able to recall having done things either.
When you dissociate, you may feel disconnected from yourself and from the world around you. You might feel like you are separate from your body, or you might feel like the world around you isn't real.
Talking therapy
Talking therapies are the recommended treatment for dissociative disorders. Counselling or psychotherapy will help you explore traumatic events in your past, help you understand why you dissociate and develop alternative coping mechanisms.
Some people experience mild, short-lived symptoms. Others have chronic (ongoing) symptoms that may last for years. The symptoms may interfere with your ability to function. They may even lead to a disability.
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.
Times of stress can temporarily worsen symptoms, making them more obvious. Treatment for dissociative disorders may include talk therapy (psychotherapy) and medication. Although treating dissociative disorders can be difficult, many people learn new ways of coping and lead healthy, productive lives.
Depersonalization is feeling detached or alienated from your body. Individuals who experience depersonalization often report not recognizing themselves in a mirror, feeling like their body is not their own, feeling as if someone else is speaking, or even being temporarily unable to talk.
Dissociation involves disruptions of usually integrated functions of consciousness, perception, memory, identity, and affect (e.g., depersonalization, derealization, numbing, amnesia, and analgesia).
Usually, signs of dissociation can be as subtle as unexpected lapses in attention, momentary avoidance of eye contact with no memory, staring into space for several moments while appearing to be in a daze, or repeated episodes of short-lived spells of apparent fainting.
Dissociation may be a normal phenomenon, but like everything in life, all in moderation. For some, dissociation becomes the main coping mechanism they use to deal with the effects of a trauma response in anxiety disorders, such as PTSD, or other disorders, such as depression.
Zoning out is considered a form of dissociation, but it typically falls at the mild end of the spectrum.
Although there are no medications that specifically treat dissociative disorders, your doctor may prescribe antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications or antipsychotic drugs to help control the mental health symptoms associated with dissociative disorders.
Dissociative disorder clients typically spend many years in treatment. Many are hospitalized repeatedly over time.
You may not realize it but you probably “dissociate” several times a day.
So remember -- you are absolutely safe when driving with Depersonalization! Yes, feelings of dissociation while driving can seem scary initially, but don't let anxiety stop you from doing any of your day-to-day activities, and that 100% includes driving. Get into your car and drive, even if it's for a short distance.