Dissociation 101

Dissociation is an often-misunderstood experience. Dissociation can mean different things to different people.

At its most basic, whoever, it is when a person experiences a disconnect from themselves or the world. Dissociation is a symptom that can be experienced during panic attacks and anxiety as well as with certain medications or drugs such as ketamine.

It can be a coping strategy that the mind uses when whatever is happening to a person is too much and there is no way to escape. When people with traumatic experiences can’t remember chunks of what happened, we call this dissociative amnesia. The mind is trying to protect the person from full knowledge of what happened.

Sometimes dissociation is related to the way a person experiences themselves, such as feeling like a robot. Or it can affect how they see the world, as though it is through a fog. And sometimes it involves feeling like the world seems unreal or two dimensional.

Although dissociation is a common experience. It is estimated that one third of people have had a mild and transient dissociative experience in their lifetime. And about 7% of people will have a diagnosis of dissociation at some point in their lives.

Unfortunately, the knowledge of dissociation and dissociative disorders is not so common among mental health professionals. That is why it is incredibly important to ensure that the person you work with has special training and understanding of this experience, because it takes special skills to do the work well and not do more harm than good.

So do your research, and ask your questions and make sure the person you want to work with has the right knowledge. There are more and more of us out there and we are ready to help! If you want to learn more about me and my practice click the link in my bio.

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