What the heck is dissociation?

Thanks to tiktok, movies, and other forms of social media, there has been a real increase in the dialogue surrounding mental health and wellness. This is super exciting and wonderful that people are discussing openly and without shame their experiences with mental health issues, I am a big fan of this movement. However, with all of this publicity, there comes a lot of buzzwords and misunderstandings. One of the big phrases that gets thrown around frequently is dissociation, so lets -check in- (see what I did there?) with what this actually means and how it functions.

 Dissociation is a part of the freeze response, it is one way that the brain can function to keep us emotionally or mentally “safe”. Everyone does this, most people are familiar with the phrase “zoning out” or “spacing out”, or you may have heard someone say they are “stuck in a stare”. This in most cases is totally normal and is the brain’s way of taking a break. This reaction while is common to be mildly triggered by a more benign form of overwhelm like stress from work or daily responsibilities, also occurs as a response to trauma in which there is no way to escape. The brain enacts this freeze response as a way to temporarily escape distressing thoughts, emotions, experiences, or situations.

While a natural response, dissociation can become problematic when:

·       A person becomes very sensitive to dissociation due to frequent trauma experiences, and thus finds themselves in a dissociated state regularly.

·       Someone’s awareness for events is blunted, impacting the person’s ability to be present and aware of current events or situations.

·       A person becomes more withdrawn and as a result finds it difficult or impossible to navigate social situations and becomes isolated.

·       Someone may experience a strong feeling of detachment which can also lead to a loss of memory for major life events.

·       A person may compensate for their dissociative tendencies by becoming very rigid and controlling of themselves, their environment, or other people.

·       Someone may have difficulty engaging in problem solving or adjusting to change or new situations.

How can you help yourself or someone else that is dissociated?

·       Speak calmly and gently, ask the person to check in with their surroundings using their senses. What can they see/smell/hear/touch

·       Normalize and validate their experience, at a later time help them to understand what dissociation is and how to help themselves, the current moment is not a good teaching moment.

·       Have them press their fingers and thumb together alternating between them while counting or naming a color they can see with each press.

·       Offer a glass of water.

If you have questions about dissociation or trauma, and how starting therapy might work for you, please feel free to contact us for a free consultation. We look forward to hearing from you.