Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders

What is dissociation? 

Many people may experience dissociation (dissociate) during their life. 

If you dissociate, you may feel disconnected from yourself and the world around you. For example, you may feel detached from your body or feel as though the world around you is unreal. Remember, everyone’s experience of dissociation is different. 

Dissociation is one way the mind copes with too much stress, such as during a traumatic event. 

Experiences of dissociation can last for a relatively short time (hours or days) or for much longer (weeks or months). 

If you dissociate for a long time, especially when you are young, you may develop a dissociative disorder. Instead of dissociation being something you experience for a short time it becomes a far more common experience, and is often the main way you deal with stressful experiences. 

“I felt like my body didn’t belong to me, it was like I was an outsider watching my own story unfold.” 

When might I dissociate? 

• For many people, dissociation is a natural response to trauma that they can’t control. It could be a response to a one-off traumatic event or ongoing trauma and abuse. You can read more on our page about the causes of dissociative disorders. 
• Some people choose to dissociate as a way of calming down or focusing on a task, or as part of a religious or cultural ritual. 
• You might experience dissociation as a symptom of a mental health problem, for example post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder. 
• Or you may experience dissociation as a side effect of alcohol or some medication, or when coming off some medication. 

How might I experience dissociation? 

Dissociation can be experienced in lots of different ways. 

Psychiatrists have tried to group these experiences and give them names. This can help doctors make a diagnosis of a specific dissociative disorder. But you can have any of these dissociative experiences even if you don’t have a diagnosed dissociative disorder. 

Some dissociative experiences include:	A doctor or psychiatrist might call these experiences:
having gaps in your life where you can’t remember anything that happened  not being able to remember information about yourself or about things that happened in your life	dissociative amnesia
travelling to a different location and taking on a new identity for a short time (without remembering your identity)	dissociative fugue
feeling as though the world around you is unreal  seeing objects changing in shape, size or colour  seeing the world as ‘lifeless’ or ‘foggy’  feeling as if other people are robots (even though you know they are not)	derealisation
feeling as though you are watching yourself in a film or looking at yourself from the outside  feeling as if you are just observing your emotions  feeling disconnected from parts of your body or your emotions  feeling as if you are floating away feeling unsure of the boundaries between yourself and other people	depersonalisation
feeling your identity shift and change  speaking in a different voice or voices  using a different name or names  switching between different parts of your personality  feel as if you are losing control to ‘someone else’  experiencing different parts of your identity at different times  acting like different people, including children	identity alteration
finding it very difficult to define what kind of person you are  feeling as though there are different people inside you	identify confusion

What are triggers and flashbacks? 

A trigger is a reminder of something traumatic from the past, which can cause you to experience dissociation or other reactions. It could be a sight, sound, taste, smell or touch. It could be a situation or way of moving your body. Many different things can be or become triggers. 

In a flashback, you may suddenly experience traumatic sensations or feelings from the past. This might be prompted by encountering a trigger. You may experience the flashback as reliving a traumatic event in the present. A flashback may cause you to switch to another part of your identity. 

If you have dissociated memories (because of amnesia or because you experience different identity states with different memories) then you may find that these resurface during flashbacks. 

“A flashback is a sudden, involuntary re-experiencing of a past traumatic event as if it is happening in the present.”