Disconnecting from the world can feel like a safe haven when situations an individual endures become too much to handle. In fact, this is often what we, as fully functioning individuals, need – a nice small break to recharge. Yet, sometimes, this disconnection turns dysfunctional and internal to the point where it disrupts daily routines. When an individual disconnects from their thoughts, feelings, and surroundings for a certain period of time, it is called a dissociation. Dissociative disorders have multiple characterizations and are of three types – dissociative identity disorder, dissociative amnesia, and depersonalization/derealization disorder – which will be further discussed in this article.
Dissociation has been a controversial topic due to the different understandings and explanations of it. In fact, dating back to the 19th century, there was barely any understanding of what it meant to dissociate. Furthermore, individuals back then were seldom diagnosed with dissociative disorders because of the confusion surrounding it. One understanding came from Pierre Janet, who viewed dissociation to be “a process in which components of mental experience are split off from consciousness but remain accessible through dreams and hypnosis.” This understanding fell under the umbrella of psychoanalysis, especially when it was being understood through hypnosis and dreams. Yet, there was some truth to it. In fact, individuals who start presenting with dissociative disorder symptoms have problems “integrating their active consciousness with their receptive consciousness.” This means that different areas of consciousness are not molding nor cooperating together, and so this creates a sort of split.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
DID is characterized by having more than one “personality state” – and even multiple. An individual that lives the experiences of one personality state only remembers the experiences of that particular personality state. An example of an individual with DID will be illustrated.
Let us say that an individual has three personality states with a main one. The second and third personality states that an individual wears when they “split” from their main one have their own experiences, feelings, and emotional states. When this split happens, the individual does not remember it. The individual does not remember the actions that they do when they are “wearing” their second or third personality.
Typically, as with any disorder, this becomes a problem when the events occurring within an individual are causing extreme distress and dysfunction in their lives. Looking into comorbidities, DID is associated with PTSD. In fact, this association is a result of the notion that dissociation is, in a sense, linked to a past harsh trauma that one has gone through. Many theorists believe that it develops as a way of coping with circumstances, such as a developmental trauma, hence leading to the development of the disorder.
Dissociative Amnesia
This type of dissociation occurs at the level of the memory solely. People who have dissociative amnesia cannot remember their past experiences, even if they were key moments in their lives. They have no knowledge of their personal identitiesand even know of this memory gap. The dissociative amnesia can either be “organic” – meaning biological in nature as a result of a brain injury – or psychogenic – meaning psychological in nature where an individual forgets events without having any physiological reason to.
Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder
The third type characterizes when an individual, for a certain period of time, disconnects from their own mental processesand bodies. Depersonalization disorder refers to when an individual feels that they are detached from their own body, as though they are watching it float by and are not in it. Derealization disorder is feeling detached from the world around you. Many of us tend to feel these feelings under the influence of drugs and alcohol. In this case, we cannot classify ourselves with this disorder as it is caused by external factors.
All these types of disorders fall under the same umbrella because of their overlapping characteristics. They all have a dissociative factor, albeit in different ways.