Q: What is Dissociation?
A: Dissociation is a state of disconnection from the here and now. When people are dissociating, they are less aware, or unaware, of their surroundings or inner sensations. Reduced awareness is one way to cope with triggers in the environment or from memories that would otherwise reawaken a sense of immediate danger. Triggers are reminders of unhealed trauma and associated strong emotions such as panic and fear. Blocking awareness of sensations is a way to avoid possible triggers, which protects against the risk of becoming flooded by emotions like fear, anxiety, and shame. Dissociation allows you to stop feeling. Dissociation can happen during an experience that is overwhelming and which you can't escape, causing trauma, or later on when thinking about or being reminded of the trauma. Dissociation is a coping mechanism allowing a person to function in daily life by continuing to avoid being overwhelmed by extremely stressful experiences, both in the past and present. Even if the threat has passed, your brain still says "danger." Unprocessed, these fears may stop you from living the life you want or changing unhelpful behaviors as you grow. Some level of dissociation is normal; we all do it. For example, when we get to work and have to leave the personal concerns behind, we choose to put them out of mind for a while. But when dissociation is learned as a coping strategy – especially in childhood for survival purposes – it carries over into adulthood as an automatic response, not a choice.
*This chapter will be updated as more questions arise.
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Toxic
General FictionSuffocated. Manipulated. Abused. ☣️ ~ Toxic ~ ☣️ That's the easiest way to sum up what you're about to read. Though I assure you it was no easy thing to put all of this down on paper. It was the longest three months of my life and it was hell. My w...
