The Continuum of Dissociation

In psychology, the term "dissociation" describes a wide array of experiences, from mild detachment from immediate surroundings to more severe detachment from physical and emotional experience. The major characteristic of all dissociative phenomena involves a detachment from reality. Although some dissociative experiences involve memory loss, others do not.

Dissociative experiences can be placed on a continuum from non-pathological to pathological, where pathological means "caused by a mental disorder." At the non-pathological end of the spectrum, the term "dissociation" can be used to describe events as common as daydreaming during class. Further along the continuum are altered states of consciousness which can lead to dissociation. At the pathological end of the dissociation spectrum are the dissociative disorders.

Non-Pathological Dissociation

Daydreaming

Daydreaming, experienced while awake, is a short-term detachment from one's immediate surroundings, during which a person's contact with reality is blurred and partially substituted by a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes, or ambitions imagined as coming to pass.

There are many types of daydreams, and there is no consistent definition among psychologists, but all daydreaming meets the criteria for mild dissociation.

Coping

Coping is expending conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to minimize or tolerate stress or conflict. Psychological coping mechanisms are commonly called coping strategies or coping skills. In mild instances, dissociation is regarded as a coping mechanism designed to master, minimize, or tolerate stressors like boredom or conflict. Coping through dissociation is often associated with post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Altered States

Psychoactive drugs can often induce a state of temporary dissociation. Substances with dissociative properties include ketamine, nitrous oxide, alcohol, LSD, tiletamine, marijuana, dextromethorphan, PCP, methoxetamine, salvia, and muscimol.

Daydream by Paul César Helleu

Daydreaming is a mild form of dissociation in which a person experiences a short-term detachment from one's immediate surroundings.

Pathological Dissociation

Pathological dissociation involves the dissociative disorders, including dissociative fugue and depersonalization disorder. Dissociative disorders are sometimes triggered by trauma, but may be preceded only by stress, psychoactive substances, or no identifiable trigger at all. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders groups all dissociative disorders into a single category.

Dissociative disorders are typically experienced as startling, autonomous intrusions into a person's usual ways of responding or functioning. Due to their unexpected and largely inexplicable nature, they tend to be quite unsettling.

Dissociation has been described as one of a constellation of symptoms experienced by some victims of childhood trauma, including physical, psychological, and sexual abuse. This is supported by studies which suggest that dissociation is correlated with a history of trauma. Dissociation is much more common among those who are traumatized (this is called "high specificity" to history of trauma), but at the same time there are many people who have suffered from trauma but who do not show dissociative symptoms (this is called "low sensitivity" to history of trauma).