|
Jan 29, 2009, 11:49 PM
|
|
|
Hi Anirtak,
Welcome to PC!
I cannot really say whether or not what you're experiencing is dissociation, but there definitely is a difference between regression and dissociation. You may find this explanation helpful in helping you figure out what's going on.
Regression
Regression involves the reversion to an earlier stage of development in the face of unacceptable impulses. When we are faced with anxiety, we tend to retreat, as if in a "psychological time machine," to the point in time when we last felt secure and safe—our childhood. Under stress, or in an anxiety-provoking situation, people very often can become more childish and primitive. Even an adult may want to curl up in bed in a fetal position.
Regression is an attempt to recapture some childhood satisfaction by relating to the world in a way that was formerly effective (even though no longer so), and giving up mature problem solving methods of dealing with challenges. It is as if the person is trying to "please the world" in the way he or she tried to please his or her parents in childhood. In such cases, people do not carry out consciously planned, rational actions, but rather fall back on old childhood habits that return automatically.
Dissociation
Dissociation usually stems from a trauma, intense pain, or a serious identity crisis. It may manifest itself in disorders such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, memory loss, Multiple Personality Disorder, Dissociative Amnesia, as well as the more common phenomena of flashbacks, and forgetting something embarrassing.
However, in dissociation memories are not just lost in the subconscious (as in repression) but they are splintered and distorted. It is as if under intense stress the ability of the consciousness to include all the thoughts, emotions, and somatic sensations fails, and some aspects become separated and inaccessible. Thus, a person may remember what happened, but forget how it felt. Or, a person may feel depersonalized, like a robot.
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Defense_mechanism
|