Memoirs of A Healer/Clinical Social Worker: Autobiography of Bruce Whealton

Chapter 45: Understanding Dissociation and Trance - How We Learn To Cope

[Disclaimer: I have used aliases to protect the confidentiality and identity of clients or patients. No other names have been changed.]

In the last chapter, I mentioned the interaction that I had with Jessica and her alters. I also mentioned that there were two other clients that I had who might have Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

I want to help you, dear reader, to understand dissociative disorders because it can this can be confusing and seem more complex than it is. Also, we all have experiences that are trance-like or dissociative in nature that would be problematic if these experiences were happening very frequently or for long periods of time.

Consider zoning out or driving to work and realizing that you made the entire trip on autopilot and you cannot remember anything from your drive. If someone was in the car with you that might be problematic or if this happened frequently.

Distress and lack of control are other key factors that concern us – whether I am speaking as a mental health professional or speaking from personal experience. People come for help when things are happening that bother them or cause them problems.

My own experience with hypnosis has been very valuable in understanding dissociative disorders and how the mind and body respond to stress and trauma.

Derealization is a symptom in more than one dissociative disorder. It's a subjective feeling or sense that things are not real... that they are more like a dream. Some people report a sensation in which they are looking at the world as if through a fog – perhaps it's no surprise that in movies and TV shows this device is used to indicate a dream sequence.

Sometimes you might recall being aware that you were dreaming, or you are unsure if you have awakened. This subjective experience can be disturbing for us, or it has been for me. Eventually, I wake up and all is fine. The frequency and the severity of things like this are what differentiates normal experiences from those that cause a person to seek therapy.

Depersonalization describes another class of symptoms that are found in more than one dissociative disorder. This is a sense that part of our bodies is far away or distorted. They might feel like they are standing next to themselves.

I can recall experiences like this from my hypnosis training or sessions. The hypnotherapist might refer to the hand instead of your hand. This might help with creating numbness to eliminate a sensation of pain. I have had experiences in a trance where I could get rid of tension or other headaches.

People who experience panic attacks have described alterations in their perceptions of parts of their bodies, almost like they are growing or floating up off the ground. These would be similar to depersonalization-derealization as found in dissociative disorders.

This should begin to make these mysterious disorders seem less so. Even if you haven't had a panic attack what I just described might not seem all that hard to imagine.

LCD and psilocybin (magic mushrooms) are said to create similar alterations in perceptions – with objections and colors moving in a kaleidoscopic swirl-like looking through some cylindrical object with an eyehole at one end.

Personally, I have never knowingly ingested any of these mind-altering substances. I say knowingly because later I had some unusual experiences on a few days in 2000.

Identity disturbances are also found in dissociative disorders as well as in anorexia. In the latter case, a sufferer may perceive her body to be much heavier than it actually is. With dissociative disorders, a person might report that at times they do not recognize themselves.

Again, some of these phenomena (experiences) might seem like natural things that happen to us all from time to time. Other experiences might seem very unusual if this is not part of your own experiences.