Overview
Dissociation is often defined as:
“disconnections between thoughts, feelings, behaviors, sensations, and other mental processes that would normally be connected. It is a human phenomenon, experienced by all to varying degrees on a continuum ranging from benign to problematic. On one end of the continuum are experiences of daydreaming, “highway hypnosis,” or absorption and flow wherein the individual’s mental energy is focused on a particular task while other thoughts or perceptions fade into the background. These dissociative experiences are often benign and under the individual’s control. On the other end of the continuum are trauma-related dissociative phenomena that, while adaptive in some ways, can become entrenched over time and impair overall functioning.”
The ICD-11 characterizes “dissociative disorders,” distinct from the symptom of dissociation, as:
“involuntary disruption or discontinuity in the normal integration of one or more of the following: identity, sensations, perceptions, affects, thoughts, memories, control over bodily movements, or behaviour. Disruption or discontinuity may be complete, but is more commonly partial, and can vary from day to day or even from hour to hour. The symptoms of dissociative disorders are not due to the direct effects of a medication or substance, including withdrawal effects, are not better explained by another Mental, behavioural, or neurodevelopmental disorder, a Sleep-wake disorder, a Disease of the nervous system or other health condition, and are not part of an accepted cultural, religious, or spiritual practice. Dissociative symptoms in dissociative disorders are sufficiently severe to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning.” 1
It’s important to distinguish the disconnection of dissociation from that of splitting, the latter of which is considered an outcome of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), especially since the DSM-5 categories were explicitly designed for BPD to cover many of the symptoms presented by Complex PTSD. When splitting occurs, someone might divide experiences and others through black-and-white thinking that labels them as either completely good or completely bad, which is a way of managing the opposing impulses of a state of ambivalence. Dissociation is an involuntary detachment from parts of the self, whether thoughts, memories, or sensory input, that the brain uses as a form of protection aganist overwhelming situations.
Commentary
The point about distinguishing dissociation from “cultural, religious, and spiritual practice” is an interesting one, because it prompts us to ask what ritual and traditional practices resemble dissociation.