Dissociation is something many people will experience at some point in their life. It’s the mind’s natural response to too much stress or trauma that they can’t control. For many people, these feelings of dissociation will pass over time, but if they do not, especially when you are young, you might develop a dissociative disorder. What that means is you feel disconnected from yourself or from the world around you. These periods of dissociation can last as short as a few hours or days or as long as weeks and months.

There are different ways that you can experience dissociation. These include:

  • Dissociative identity disorder (DID) – this used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder. This is when you have two or more different identities (often referred to as ‘alternate identities’ or ‘alters’ and can come across as different ages or genders) and they may take control of your thoughts and behaviour at different times.
  • Dissociative amnesia – when you have gaps in your memory and can’t remember anything about yourself or about things that happened in your life
  • Dissociative fugue – when you travel to another location and take on a new identity for a short period of time
  • Derealisation – when you feel as though the world around you isn’t real
  • Depersonalisation – when you feel as if you are watching yourself from outside of your body
  • Identity alteration – when your identity is changing (so you may speak in a different voice, use a different name, feel as if ‘someone else’ is in control of you, act like different people etc)
  • Identity confusion – when you find it very hard to define the type of person you are and feel like there are different people inside you.

Causes

Dissociation is usually caused by trauma (physical, sexual or emotional abuse, kidnapping etc) due to the way we respond to threats. Usually, we respond with fight or flight however, sometimes we may respond by ‘freezing’ which is when the body becomes immobile and you feel paralysed.

Another way we might respond is by switching off from reality, which is a normal defence mechanism that helps people to cope through denial, however it becomes an issue and may lead to dissociation when the environment is no longer traumatic but the person still behaves like it is. 

Our brain restricts the blood flow to the areas of the brain responsible for storing memories, making sense of information coming through our senses and understanding time and space as a means of protecting us from trauma that we cannot escape. However, reducing the blood flow can make it harder to process what is going on, therefore causing dissociative symptoms.

Researchers have also suggested that the use of cannabis can cause Depersonalisation/Derealisation disorder (DPDR).

Treatment

Talking therapies are usually recommended for Dissociative disorders. It will usually be counselling or psychotherapy and the aim is to explore the traumatic events from your past, help you understand the reasons for your symptoms and develop better coping mechanisms. 

There aren’t any specific drugs for the treatment of dissociation but you might be offered medication like antidepressants to treat other symptoms that you may also experience such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, suicidal feelings etc.