Dissociation: what it is and how it works

What is dissociation? We can define it as a defense or protection mechanism that our brain has to disconnect us from reality. It is activated at times when reality exceeds our resources to face a stressful situation: our brain manages to disconnect from what overwhelms us.

Like I said, it's a defense mechanism; that is, it will activate instinctively to protect us from fear, pain, or immensely negative emotions. This phenomenon occurs mainly when we have encountered traumatic situations, especially those related to childhood (abuse and/or negligence in care). However, it also occurs in people who have experienced other types of situations such as war, accidents, attacks (highly stressful situations)... In addition, we can see dissociation in other types of pictures, such as anxiety or depression.

It should be noted that we all can experience or have ever experienced symptoms of dissociation, as for example, when we live in automatic mode, ignoring what is happening around us.

• Related article: "Dissociative Disorders: Types, Symptoms, and Causes"

What happens at the brain level?

It is a lack of emotional connection, that is, the brain disconnects emotions, also in a literal way: what happens is that the brain turns off the cortex anterior cingulate (responsible for autonomic reactions to emotion and memory storage), so we lose conscious regulation of our acts.

On the other hand, the amygdala (center of emotions) produces cortisol, a hormone that inhibits the function of the hippocampus (responsible for giving meaning to experiences and locating them temporarily).

Finally, opioids are produced, which are neurotransmitters that act as pain relievers.

With all this, it is explained that a dissociated person, when talking about the event, does not express intense emotions and/or even don't remember anything.

• You may be interested in: "Parts of the Human Brain (and Functions)"

dissociative disorders

As symptoms of dissociation, we can see:

• Loss of memory of periods, events, people or personal information.
• Emotional numbing, that is, the absence of feelings regarding the traumatic situation.
• Sudden appearance of intense emotions for no apparent reason.
• Nightmares during sleep or flashes during wakefulness.
• Somatization, the most frequent being intestinal discomfort or muscle pain.

Although dissociation may have a protective function, it can also become pathological when the person ends up living far from reality as a mechanism to deal with it. The pathologies or symptoms related to this mechanism are as follows.

1. dissociative amnesia

This is a more serious memory loss than ordinary forgetfulness. Relevant personal information or important people are forgotten, usually related to the traumatic moment. In turn, dissociative fugue (sudden trip away from home, with the inability to remember your past and with confusion of identity) may occur.

• Related article: "Dissociative Amnesia: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment"

2. Dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality)

In this disorder the person alternate different identities, which may have their own history and characteristics. This disorder often presents with dissociative amnesia.

3. depersonalization

Disconnection in which you feel like you are out of your body, as an observer of what happens. This symptom does not necessarily imply pathology, since it can happen at high stress peaks, in a timely manner.

4. derealization

In this case we talk about feel that reality is distorted, you feel like it's not real or like you're watching a movie. Like depersonalization, this symptom can occur at high stress peaks without being pathological.

• You may be interested in: "Derealization: what it is, characteristics and causes of this alteration"

How can dissociation be treated?

As we have said before, dissociation is associated with traumatic experiences, preventing us from feeling or remembering what happened, allowing us to "survive". But it is not the mechanism that allows the healing of the discomfort that this experience generates in us.

For this reason, the end of the treatment in these cases is that the person manages to integrate that experience by changing the meaning, in the sense that it is something that today is not dangerous, since the circumstance is no longer present. It is about the person getting more adaptive regulation mechanisms.

We must bear in mind that the person has a traumatic history behind them and has not had the resources to face it, with which, returning to that experience generates a state very intense emotional state (which is probably still overflowing) from which we will have to constantly go in and out, depending on what the person allows us: it is essential to go to their rhythm.

It is important to be in the hands of a good professional, such as specialized psychologists from PsychoAlmería who we serve both online and in person. And in addition to therapy, which is fundamental, we can establish other resources that the person can build, such as writing in a diary, in order to to be able to remember day-to-day events and/or the practice of mindfulness, in order to be aware of the present moment and thus connect again with our body.