What is Dissociation?

Dissociation is a natural phenomena, and many people experience mild forms of dissociation in everyday live. Dissociation can look like many different things for different people. Mild dissociation may look like feeling "checked out," numb, or tired. Moderate symptoms of dissociation might include feeling like you are "outside of your body" or like the things around you are not real. More severe symptoms can include "losing" chunks of time, where you don't remember things that you did, or feeling like there is a part of you that "takes over" and does things you don't actually want to do, or there is a part of you that is "not you."

Moderate or severe dissociation is often an adaptive response to trauma. When a young person experiences something traumatic, their system looks for a way to cope with the trauma, and dissociation is one way the psyche learns to protect itself from feelings that are overwhelming. People who experience dissociative symptoms that are serious enough to qualify for a dissociative disorder are often misdiagnosed or have trouble getting effective treatment.  Dissociative disorders are much more common than many people realize, and many clinicians are not trained in assessing, diagnosing, and treating clients with dissociative disorders.

We are passionate about making sure clients with moderate to severe dissociation receive effective treatment. We have training in assessing and treating clients with dissociative disorders, and this is an area we continues to seek training and consultation in. If you have been diagnosed with a dissociative disorder or are concerned that you may be having symptoms of dissociation, please schedule a free consultation to see if we might be able to help.

Keywords: Dissociation, Trauma, PTSD, Dissociative Disorders, DID, OSDD, parts, Structural Dissociation