10 Oct The Dissociative Initiative
Dissociation is a psychological term for a whole range of experiences. Put simply, dissociation is a disconnection of some kind. You can think of it as being unplugged in some area. Dissociation happens on a continuum, it can be very mild or all the way to very severe.
Mild dissociation is so common, most of us have experienced it. It’s not something to worry about and doesn’t mean you have a mental illness or a problem. A common example is highway hypnosis – where you drive a familiar route and arrive there without really remembering how you got there. You’ve been on ‘auto-pilot’, maybe thinking about other things or a bit tired.
Another common example is when you are sleep deprived. If you’ve ever worked all night or gone without decent sleep for a few nights – perhaps studying, shift work, or with a new baby, you’ve probably experienced dissociation. Maybe your vision became blurry or darkened, you found yourself zoning out and losing track of things like conversations, time may have seemed to speed up or slow down, maybe when you staggered off to bed your body felt weirdly numb, like you couldn’t feel your feet on the floor. This is quite normal, sleep deprivation is a common way to set off dissociation in most people.
Dissociation can also be severe without indicating a problem of any kind. For example, if someone is in a car accident and injured, they may go into shock. Many of their experiences could be dissociative, they may feel numb or be unaware of their own pain, disconnected from their emotions or experiencing them inappropriately, perhaps giggling despite being hurt. Maybe they felt like they were floating and watching themselves from above. Their memory may have gaps in it, one moment they were in their car, the next they were in the ambulance. This kind of dissociation might be very severe but it is a common reaction to severe stress and passes when the stress goes away.
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