🔼: [[Medical Conditions and Diagnoses]], [[Symptoms of Unresolved Trauma]], [[Protector Strategies 🛡️]], [[🛡️ Flight]], [[🛡️ Freeze]] ##### Dissociation Dissociation is a state in which we are physically present but mentally or emotionally detached, numb, or shut down. Unlike [[🛡️ Self-Distraction]], dissociation is involuntary and sometimes unpleasant or distressing, but **it is not dangerous**. Dissociation is a normal and common [[Protector Strategies 🛡️|Protector Strategy 🛡️]], often a last resort by a [[💡 Protector Parts|Protector]] who tries to help us by pulling us out of our [[⭐️ Body]], sometimes making us non-verbal or non-responsive. If past, present, and future all seem frightening, dissociation makes sense. > [!example] Examples > Dissociation is any disconnection between: > - Mind and Body > - Thoughts and Feelings (I can feel them, but they don't feel like mine) > - Sensations and Actions > - Different bodily sensations > > Examples of dissociative states: > - [[Depersonalization]] > - [[Derealization]] > - Flashbacks > - Daydreaming and [[🛡️ Maladaptive Daydreaming]] > - Blanking out or having gaps in one’s memory > - An inability to remember traumatic events > - Denial > - Overworking > - Getting lost in the internet, video games, or pornography and losing track of time. > - Preoccupation with possessions > - Constant planning > - An inability to focus > - Brain fog > - Compulsive cleaning > - Compulsive exercising > - Obsessive reading > - Fantasizing about sex or romance > - Phone sex > - Compulsive masturbation > - Workaholism > - Harmful thrill-seeking > - Compulsive spending > - Hoarding (to cover up what we don’t want to look at in our life) The opposites of Dissociation are [[🕯️ Grounding]] and [[⭐️ Integration]]. ###### Dissociation Triggers [[🔑 All parts have good reasons for everything they do]], and our [[💡 Protector Parts|Protectors]] often use dissociation to take us out of our bodies and away from our [[💡 Exiles|Exiles]] emotions while they run their course. Some of those reasons might be: - To help us endure a [[💡 Trauma|traumatic experience]] that may otherwise have been unendurable. - To save us from being [[💡 Overwhelm|overwhelmed]] by our [[💡 Exiles|Exiles']] [[⭐️ Emotions]] (whether we realize we're getting close to them or not; whether we realize they're getting activated or not.) - To protect us from re-experiencing trauma, being re-traumatized. - To prevent us from getting close to [[💡 Exiles|Exiles]] that this [[💡 Protector Parts|Protector]] does not think we're ready to help. ###### Working with Dissociation If we dissociate while doing [[⭐️ Internal Family Systems|IFS]], our [[💡 The IFS Practitioner|IFS Practitioner]] can speak to this protector using [[💡 Direct Access|Direct Access]]. If we're alone, it can be difficult or even impossible to [[🕯️ Unblending|unblend]] and interact with the protector in real-time. If that isn't possible: - Allow the dissociative protector to do their job. [[The easiest way to come out of a Freeze response is to simply allow it to happen without resistance or fear]]. If we can [[🕯️ Unblending|unblend]] from fear and not push dissociation away, we're likely to return feeling refreshed after it's resolved itself. - Use [[🕯️ Grounding]] to come out of it if our other protectors don't feel safe enough to allow that, and then respect the boundary this dissociative protector has set. - After the dissociation passes, form a relationship with the protector via [[🕯️ Part-Tending]], or offer help to other lower-risk [[💡 Parts|Parts]] so the dissociative [[💡 Protector Parts|Protector]] doesn't have to work so much. ###### Tools - [[🕯️ Grounding]] - [[🛠 Self-Soothing]] ###### Related - [[🛡️ Distracting]] - [[🛡️ Self-Distraction]] [^1]: