Dissociative symptoms involve feeling disconnected from one’s identity and can be associated with mental health conditions such as dissociative identity disorder and post traumatic stress disorder. Dissociation can be adaptive in coping with trauma but can become maladaptive. Symptoms include forgetfulness, blackouts, and feeling disconnected from the body. Some individuals view their multiplicity as a positive trait and may resist treatment.
Dissociative symptoms are emotional and physical experiences people have during dissociative episodes, where they feel disconnected from their personal identities and may split off parts of themselves. A number of mental health conditions are associated with such episodes, including dissociative identity disorder (DID) and post traumatic stress disorder. People experiencing dissociative symptoms have a number of treatment options available through a mental health professional.
The ability to dissociate is an adaptive trait in humans. People may isolate parts of their identities to cope with traumatic and stressful experiences, as seen in extreme cases such as torture, where people sometimes report feeling as though torture was being performed on someone else. The body’s and brain’s ability to dissociate can protect people from events they are unable to cope with. This trait can become maladaptive in some cases, however, as people may dissociate to avoid dealing with feelings.
Signs that someone may be experiencing dissociative symptoms include fainting, confusion, forgetfulness and depression. Blackouts can be experienced by some people who have DID, when various aspects of their personality move to the fore, as some patients call it, taking over situations that patients find stressful or unpleasant. Suppressed aspects of the personality may not remember this time and may be confused about what happened during this time when they resurface.
Low-level forgetting is not a dissociative symptom, but if people routinely find themselves forgetting large intervals of time and are unable to figure out why, they may be dissociated. Other dissociative symptoms may include a feeling of floating above the body or seeing the body through a barrier; the patient can see what is happening, but does not feel connected to what the body is doing. The patient may feel as if the body is on autopilot, performing functions without full cognitive awareness.
In some cases, dissociative symptoms can impair the patient’s functioning. People may experience problems at work or in personal relationships due to dissociative episodes and may be at risk of injury or abuse if their personalities are not fully integrated. Other patients function at a very high level, and for some people with DID, the condition is not considered an impairment or disability, but simply a normal aspect of human diversity. These individuals view their multiplicity, as it is sometimes called, as a positive and beneficial character trait for them and may reject or resist treatments that attempt to integrate their personalities.
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