Licensed Professional Counsellor, RPC #3875, CT #2438, LSCC
It's important to acknowledge that it's common for everyone to experience a disconnect between their thoughts and actions and occasional memory gaps regarding events in their lives. This can also be a coping mechanism during instances of abuse. Adverse childhood experiences, often abbreviated as ACEs, frequently lead to dissociation as children grapple with pain and challenges they are not yet equipped to confront. This topic is particularly close to me due to my training, presentations, and personal life experiences.
Registered Psychotherapist, HBEd, MA (Hons.), Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
Who does not want to escape reality at times? Dissociative disorders are mental disorders that involve experiencing a disconnection and lack of continuity between thoughts, memories, surroundings, actions and identity. People with dissociative disorders escape reality in unhealthy and involuntary ways as a means to deal with intrusive and often traumatic thoughts and memories.
Often an adaptive response to traumatic experiences, we might unconsciously dissociate in order to cope with the overwhelming impacts. My trauma-informed approach to working with dissociative states involves a phased approach toward healing that seeks to sensitively and safely reconnect us to our bodies, foster reintegration between the mind and body and restore a sense of agency, resiliency and emotional strength.