However, like most mental disorders, dissociation may become a severe problem when it interferes with a person’s daily functioning, for example, relationships and work.ĭissociative disorders include dissociation that impairs a person’s ordinary functioning, a condition that affects roughly 2% of the population.Īdditionally, dissociative disorders affect people from all backgrounds, ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and ethnic groups. Some experts describe the above experience as “normal” dissociation. DissociationĪll of us have experienced dissociation at some stage if you’ve ever found yourself zoning out in the middle of class or daydreaming while driving on the motorway, you have experienced dissociation.Įssentially, experts describe dissociation as a disconnection between an individual’s feelings, thoughts, perception, behaviours, and sense of self. It might be pertinent to highlight the differences between dissociation and dissociative disorders since both conditions have distinct signs and symptoms. What are the signs and symptoms of dissociation? Researchers believe that there may also be a link between dissociative disorders and the mental health condition PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Moreover, dissociation can disrupt or prevent recovery from childhood neglect and abuse. However, problems may arise when a person’s dissociation continues despite a lack of danger or threat to life. What is dissociation?ĭissociation occurs as a way for someone to distance themselves from a trauma and can be helpful during a traumatic event. As a result, the individual may become “stuck” in their trauma, where they will likely continue to experience stress symptoms despite no evidence of a threat. However, in severe or unprocessed trauma cases, ordinary functioning becomes impaired. When a stressful event is over, the stress response deactivates, and the body resumes normal functioning. The brain’s stress response gets activated during challenging moments and sends various signals to the rest of the body, which prepares us to fight, flee or freeze in any given situation. Our brains have a fantastic way of helping us through challenging times for example, the fight, flight, freeze, and fawn mechanism is just one of the ways the brain allows us to get through a traumatic or difficult event. Many experts believe that long-term trauma is the root cause of dissociation, whereby people develop dissociative disorders as a coping mechanism to help them through a traumatic experience that might otherwise be too disturbing or unbearable. It appears that dissociation and dissociative disorders are significantly present in those with a history of childhood abuse or neglect, perhaps more so than other mental health disorders. Adverse childhood experiences and dissociation The above is especially true in childhood abuse and neglect cases where dissociative disorders are the most prevalent. There is much evidence to suggest a strong link between dissociation and trauma.
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