Dissociation

What is Dissociation?

Boiled down, dissociation means “disconnect.” So if someone is dissociating, there are disconnected from either their environment, body or parts of body, emotions, memories, time, or who they are. People can experience a combination of these. 

Trauma-related dissociation means that the disconnect is caused by a traumatic event or a series of events. There are 6 types of dissociation listed below. Common diagnoses connected to trauma-related dissociation are depersonalization-derealization disorder, dissociative identity disorder (DID), dissociative amnesia, and other specified dissociative disorder. 

Types of Dissociation

Disengagement  

• Not paying attention because you were in your own world 

• “Spacing out” 

• Staring into space without thinking 

• Absent-mindedness or forgetfulness 

• Driving or walking without noticing where you were going 

Identity Dissociation  

• Different people taking charge inside of your mind  

• Having different people inside of you with different names 

• Feeling like two or more people were fighting or arguing inside of yourself 

• Feeling like there was more than one person inside of you 

• Switching back and forth between different personalities 

Emotional Constriction

• Knowing you should be mad or sad about something, but not having any feelings

• Not being able to feel emotions 

• Not having any emotions or feelings at a time

• when you should have been upset  

• Feeling frozen inside, without feelings  

• Knowing you must be upset, but not being able to feel it 

Memory Disturbances 

• Realizing that you must have done something that you don’t remember doing 

• People telling you that you said or did something that you don’t remember saying or doing 

• Suddenly finding yourself somewhere and not knowing how you got there 

• Having blank spells 

• Suddenly realizing that hours had gone by and not knowing what you had been doing during that time 

Depersonalization  

• Feeling like you didn’t belong in your body 

• Feeling outside of yourself 

• Your body feels like it was someone else’s 

• Your hands or feet not feeling connected to the rest of your body  

• Feeling mechanical, like a robot 

Derealization 

• Suddenly things around you not feeling real or familiar 

• Your home or work suddenly seems unfamiliar 

• Things around you suddenly seem strange to you 

• Feeling like you were in a dream 

• Things around you suddenly seeming not quite right, a little bit off