Why might I dissociate?
For a lot of people, dissociation is a natural reaction to traumatic events beyond our control and helps to protect our mind. For example, it is common for people to dissociate during wars, kidnappings or physically painful events.
It becomes a disorder when your environment is no longer traumatic but you still act as if it is. It can also mean that you have not been able to process the traumatic events that have occurred. Disorders occur when dissociation is regularly occurring to help you survive a prolonged traumatic experience and during childhood when the brain is developing. Examples of traumatic events include:
- physical abuse
- sexual abuse
- severe neglect
- emotional abuse
Fight or flight are our bodies natural reaction to fear and this helps us to get out of situations which scare us. However, if we are unable to escape the situation our body will use other tactics to help us cope.
- The freeze response makes you unable to move and chemicals are released into the body which numb the body and mind.
- The flop response shuts off some thinking processes in the brain. This will make your body go floppy and you will do as you are told without protest.
Take a look at the different types of dissociation and how they may feel below:
