Are You Dissociating? Here's What to Do

Like gluten or ozone, dissociation is one of those things everyone has heard of, but few can really define. This week, we’ll talk about what dissociation is, how it develops, and three ways to counter it if you recognize it as a problem in your life.

What is dissociation?

Dissociation is detachment, whether from your body, your emotions, or your surroundings. In short, dissociation is the opposite of being present in the here and now.

Everybody dissociates at least sometimes. Think about all the times you’ve had to read a page over because your mind was elsewhere, or you pulled into your driveway but didn’t remember the drive home.

Even the highly sought-after state of flow is technically dissociation: you become completely absorbed in whatever you’re doing—writing, painting, coding, or the like—and disconnected from your surroundings and the passage of time.

Dissociation isn't a genetic trait. Instead, it’s a response that gets honed through experience and necessity. It can be useful sometimes—think of heroic soldiers wounded on the battlefield who blocked out their pain to save others. Even the highly sought-after state of flow is technically dissociation: you become completely absorbed in whatever you’re doing—writing, painting, coding, or the like—and disconnected from your surroundings and the passage of time.

Dissociation can also be an emergency survival tactic during intense pain or trauma. It cuts you off from your experience, making you numb when pain or panic would otherwise overwhelm you. This means that in the short-term, dissociation is necessary for survival.

But sometimes, this comes with a cost in the long-term. Australian researchers examined adults who were admitted to Level 1 trauma centers after traumatic injuries. They were assessed during admission and within one month, and then re-assessed three months later. They found that those who had more panic symptoms immediately after their injury also had more dissociation, which makes sense—the more overwhelming the experience, the more likely for someone to tap out of reality. But this higher dissociation also predicted more likelihood of posttraumatic stress disorder three months later. It’s as if the initial tapping out of reality only postponed the psychological pain, making it worse later.

This might be the case for survivors of childhood sexual abuse too, in some very specific ways. Adults who hallucinate—hear or see things that aren’t there—are more likely to have...

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