Chances are you’ve experienced a time when your mind traveled and you were briefly unaware of what was happening around you. That’s one example of harmless dissociation. Mindy Pearson, PhD, at Advent Family Psychology, treats people who have a dissociative disorder or who experience dissociation as a symptom of another mental health condition. If you’re concerned about dissociative episodes, call the office in Lehi, Utah, or book an appointment online today.
Dissociation occurs when your mind detaches from your feelings, emotions, actions, and sensations. Essentially, your mind goes somewhere else, and you lose awareness of what the rest of your body is doing. You usually don’t have any memory of what happened while your mind was disconnected.
This happens on a small scale in everyday life. For example, you may be thinking about a stressful meeting at work as you walk out of your house. You automatically lock the door, but then a few minutes later, you don’t remember you locked it because your mind was elsewhere.
Dissociation occurs during intense stress or after a traumatic event, such as:
Dissociation allows you to numb the pain if you’re injured in a car accident. People who suffer physical abuse dissociate from the experience so they can push the trauma into their subconscious and survive.
Though dissociation helps you survive, it stops you from dealing with the psychological trauma. As a result, you’re more likely to develop mental health disorders in the future.
Yes, dissociation is a symptom of dissociative disorders and other mental health conditions.
Dissociation may occur in people with:
The dissociative disorders include:
This condition causes amnesia surrounding a specific event, usually abuse or trauma. The amnesia typically comes on suddenly and can last minutes, hours, or days. Though rare, the amnesia may go on for months or years.
Depersonalization is the same as dissociation (described above). Derealization also refers to detachment, but you’re detached from your environment, and the world around you feels unreal. You can have depersonalization, derealization, or both. This condition typically begins around age 16, but it can start in early childhood.
Dissociative identity disorder was originally called multiple personality disorder. In this condition, dissociation results in two or more distinct identities, each with its own behaviors, memory, thinking, and personality.
Psychotherapy is the primary treatment for dissociation and dissociative disorders. Dr. Pearson recommends techniques that help you process the trauma, such as dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), to give just a few examples.
You can overcome dissociation with skilled care from Dr. Pearson. Call Advent Family Psychology or book an appointment online today.