How Childhood Trauma Teaches Us to Dissociate [blogs.psychcentral.com]

Alicia Doktor 2/26/194:00 AM

Dissociation, sometimes also referred to as disassociation, is a term commonly used in psychology that refers to a detachment from your surroundings, and/or physical and emotional experiences. Dissociation is a defense mechanism that stems from trauma, inner conflict, and other forms of stress, or even boredom.

Dissociation is understood on a continuum in terms of its intensity, and as non-pathological or pathological in regard of its type and effects. An example of non-pathological dissociation is daydreaming.

From here on we will talk about pathological dissociation.

[For more on this story by Darius Cikanavicius, go to https://blogs.psychcentral.com...trauma-dissociation/]

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Rich FeatherlyMember

I have plenty of stories of my own dissociation as a child, less so as an adult. I think that made me more likely to see it happen in others. In a social work internship I saw a counselor make a comment to a 12 year old client that led the client to dissociate and the session was pretty much over as soon as it started. In another session I was observing, I saw a young adult become stressed by the worries she was describing and her face went flat and eyes glazed over. I recognized it, but didn't think of suggesting some grounding to bring her back. No healing occurs if the client is in dissociation.

2/26/195:34 AM

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