In this article I explore dissociation as a coping mechanism in an attempt to overcome this complex mental phenomenon in regards to it being a response to stress and trauma.
Our bodies have unique ways of protecting us. Under duress we might be able to react with strength and fortitude that prosaic life doesn’t equip us with. But at the same time, the way our bodies process and cope with environmental stressors isn’t always healthy. Enter dissociation. While this stress reactor can provide short-term stress relief and survival, the long-term consequences are not healthy for the well-integrated self. Fortunately with the right skillset, you can overcome entering into a dissociative state.
What exactly is dissociation? This psychological experience disconnects individuals from their sensory experience, personal experience, or sense of self. Often described as a state of “unreality,” severe cases of dissociation can cause people to lose sense of where they are, what they’re doing, and even who they are. For these reasons, many people often aren’t aware when they are having a dissociative episode, though it is possible to be conscious of one occurring. While dissociating, people often enter into a kind of fugue, dreamlike state that can at times be described as “out-of-body.” Symptoms of dissociation include depersonalization, derealization, identity confusion or alteration, and even amnesia. While drugs can certainly produce such a state, dissociative episodes often occur without any chemically enhanced interferences, making the experience challenging for people who have not been through it to understand.
To try and put it into simpler terms, think of a daydream— we all experience these from time to time, some of us more often than others. While wide awake, we catch ourselves zoning out from the world around us and slipping into a dreamlike trance for a few fingers of time before shaking ourselves back to reality. Dissociation can loosely be understood as daydreaming on steroids. It provides a temporary fracturing of the mind and body that alters the sense of reality for an individual. While not necessarily negative or positive, dissociation is certainly a very surreal process. And because people don’t tend to consciously dissociate, it can be extremely challenging to be cognizant of it when it is occurring. In turn it becomes very difficult to find a way to integrate the dissociated parts of yourself back into your everyday life and self image. So why would our bodies do something so confusing to ourselves in the first place?
While being a symptom of some psychoactive drugs, dissociation is also a symptom of mental illnesses such as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), Acute Stress Disorder, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), amongst others. While it’s long-term consequences can be far from beneficial, dissociation can be used by our bodies to cope in the immediate with stressors that would otherwise overwhelm our capacity to function. In traumatic or overwhelming situations, a disconnect can occur between thoughts, emotions, perceptions, behaviors, memory, and even identity in order to carry the self through temporary crises. Individuals who have experienced overwhelming, repetitive trauma are more prone to experiencing dissociate episodes in times of stress and trauma as a maladapted coping mechanism. Essentially your brain is attempting to make the trauma more bearable by disconnecting your brain from your body.
While in a strange, maladaptive way dissociation is almost comforting, it does have negative long-term effects. The reality is that people are not able to overcome their issues without being able to face them, which means that dissociation prohibits them from truly dealing with their problems and integrating all parts of themselves into one fully functioning being. While entering into a trancelike state can be almost peaceful in the moment and help people survive otherwise overwhelming situations, it’s not doing them any benefits long-term. And when it comes to achieving sustainable happiness and a stable self image, it’s all about the big picture.
The good news is that dissociation can be challenged and overcome by working on rewiring your reactions to things. Though dissociative spells can be insidious, techniques such as grounding can help people use their senses and external stimuli to keenly focus on where they are in order to prevent dissociation from creeping up. The first step of overcoming dissociation and learning how to integrate your traumas into your daily life and sense of self without having them overwhelm you is becoming aware of what you are feeling and why. Working with a mental health professional can assist this process in a safe and contained environment. Therapies such as dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) help provide people with the healthy skills that they need to cope and face their issues, in turn altering how they react to stressors.
If you experience dissociation, take the time to listen to what your body is telling you. While sometimes stressors are unavoidable, you don’t have to put yourself through situations that overwhelm you body’s ability to cope, and if people are causing you to enter into such states, then their toxicity is likely not something you need in your life. Learn how to listen to your body and take care of yourself in new and healthy ways. After all, we each only get one life to life, and nobody deserves to live theirs fractured.
Please note that all people experience things differently, and there is no universal description for difference aspects of mental illnesses.