Trauma & DIssociation

Sometimes individuals who have experienced psychological or physical trauma, also experience some form of dissociation, either intially or long term. There can be many traumas that can cause dissociation - witnessing a violent action in front of you, being abused or sexually assaulted, having a medical procedure done unexpectedly or with complications, and so on. Some individuals experienced multiple traumas or ritual type traumas where the trauma started at one point and occurred over a significant length of time.

Dissociation can be in multiple levels, from short term dissociation around the time of the trauma, to complex dissociation, known as Dissociative Identity DIsorder (previously Multiple Personality Disorder). If you're willing to share, here are some questions to get our discussion going.

For those of you who have experienced dissociation at one degree or another after trauma, what have you found the most difficult?

How has dissociation helped you get through your trauma?

What have you been doing to cope with your dissociation?

What healthy coping skills have worked best to help you cope and ground yourself when you are dissociating?

I'd love to hear from you and your experiences.