Dissociation can arise when you’re overwhelmed by sensory input that you find too difficult to handle. The most common cause is traumatic stress, which can result in a wide range of symptoms, some of them dramatic. It can be difficult for healthcare professionals to interpret the symptoms, and a diagnosis can take time. However, help is available.
Dissociation means separating or taking apart, in this case your body keeping experiences and actions separate from your consciousness. It affects memory, emotions, perception, motor skills, behaviour and identity – in terms of both function and interaction. You may feel as though you’re outside yourself or your body. Your perception of time may alter, and you may feel like everything is unreal and dream-like. You may become paralyzed or suffer memory loss.
Trauma and traumatic stress are the most common causes of dissociation. It’s a way for your body to shut out terrible or shameful experiences and memories to reduce your anxiety and feelings of discomfort. However, if you repeatedly experience dissociation, this in itself can become a source of stress.
Dissociative symptoms and disorders are often linked to extreme or recurring traumatic experiences. Such as if you were abused growing up, witnessed genocide or torture, or were raped.
It’s common to be diagnosed with both dissociation and PTSD, as well as borderline personality disorder (also known as emotionally unstable personality disorder). Dissociation is also seen in other mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, panic disorder and eating disorders.
You may have a specific diagnosis, such as dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder). This means that you have separate identities or personalities that alternately take control of your behaviour and that you can’t remember important personal information.
Another dissociative disorder is dissociative amnesia, also known as psychogenic amnesia, which primarily involves memory loss. If you have depersonalization-derealization disorder, you have symptoms related to your perception, that is, how you interpret the world with your senses. You may feel disconnected from your body or your consciousness and see yourself from the outside.
Getting the right diagnosis can prove difficult and take a long time. To rule out physical illness as the cause of your symptoms and to establish a diagnosis, you need to undergo thorough medical examinations. After this, it’s important to find out how your symptoms relate to other experiences and events in your life so that you can get the right help. This is often done together with a mental health professional.
If you think you’re suffering from dissociation, you can contact your healthcare centre or a psychiatric clinic for further guidance. Sometimes, people seeking help for dissociative conditions are misunderstood or doubted. However, although dissociative symptoms can be challenging to understand, it’s important to remember that help is available. This could be psychotherapy with a focus on trauma treatment as well as medicinal treatment.
Reviewed by: Marie Kanstrup, registered psychologist and doctor of medicine, Karolinska University Hospital and Uppsala University.
Last edited 2024-02-28