Have you ever finished washing the dishes and realized that you have not been aware of doing this task, because you are lost in your thoughts? Or the same after driving a route that you practically know by heart, attending a boring class, performing mechanical tasks such as brushing your teeth or having an uninteresting conversation with another person, which you have not actively listened to.
These are simple and very common examples of dissociation, episodes that we live in our daily lives and that do not pose any problem a priori. In these cases, it would be the opposite of the full awareness in the present moment that the so fashionable mindfulness defends. When we dissociate, we disconnect from reality, getting lost in our minds and activating something like an automatic pilot.
The problem comes when these episodes of dissociation are more common, continuous over time, and are related to situations that present us with a conflict or a traumatic experience. Here we are talking about a dissociative disorder and we must know how to recognize it to prevent it from leading to other, more far-reaching consequences.
Dissociation is a kind of defense mechanism of our brain, an adaptive behavior by which the mind disconnects from the reality we are experiencing. It happens instinctively and unconsciously in response to situations that are beyond our control and we cannot face. For example, in a context of stress, in a discussion with another person, when receiving a diagnosis of a serious illness, when being a victim of abuse or mistreatment…
The person evades reality as a shield to defend himself from what happens to him. This is so because the anterior cortex, responsible for regulating our behavior, is disconnected. The brain produces cortisol and opioids to the point of inhibition, blurring reality and blocking physical and emotional pain.
During dissociative episodes, it is common for the person to be pain-free, have no facial expression, be unable to speak or scream, or be physically paralyzed. After the experience, you have difficulty or inability to remember what happened. He may receive in his mind small flashes of what happened in blurred episodes or have nightmares that evoke what he experienced, but he does not remember clearly. Other associated symptoms are confusion, altered reality, anxiety, insomnia, emotional anesthesia, emotional blocking, and a sense of disconnection between body and mind.
If dissociation is prolonged over time and does not receive proper treatment, more serious dissociative disorders can occur. Among them, the most common is depersonalization disorder, where the person feels like a stranger in their own body, lives almost constantly dissociated, denies their traumatic context, and represses their emotions.
It can also lead to dissociative identity disorders, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, dissociative amnesia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
