[Miss P]

I'm very confused and need some help clarifying what exactly does it mean to disacosiate? Apologies, I know I've spelt it wrong. I wish to know, as I think I've done that, but am so confused, I actually need an explanation for what I'm trying to say n what my own experience is/was....I have considered going to my docs many times. I wouldn't know what say though? I feel blank and detached a good deal of time. Is this part of the condition? I know it's a way to deal with trauma.

That's it....thanks

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Miss P

I'm very confused and need some help clarifying what exactly does it mean to disacosiate? Apologies, I know I've spelt it wrong. I wish to know, as I think I've done that, but am so confused, I actually need an explanation for what I'm trying to say n what my own experience is/was....I have considered going to my docs many times. I wouldn't know what say though? I feel blank and detached a good deal of time. Is this part of the condition? I know it's a way to deal with trauma.

That's it....thanks

short version it depends on your own location...

example you are in england so your words may not mean the same things that they mean here...

let me show you what I mean with a different word first...

many people , locations say the word "soda" for a drink called Coke a cola, or Pepsi. other people in different locations call those same drinks "Pop"

I can tell you what my location and people around me call dissociation and disassociation (contains the letter A in the word and is different than the first one. But to find out what these words are for your location you are going to need to contact your own medical doctor or a mental health doctor.

here where I am....

Disassociation (with an A between 2 S's in the word) means to stop doing something on purpose.... This morning I disassociated the dishes.... meaning I stopped doing the dishes on purpose just because I didnt want to do them.

Dissociation here where I am is a normal reaction to something that happens.

you know how if someone says something you dont like you feel mad.

with dissociation here where I am something happens to make a person feel numb or spaced out, or not emotionally feeling attached to their body or things around them. its not something someone does on purpose, it just happens and is completely normal. Just like getting mad is normal if someone says something you dont like.

sometimes this will happen so hard that it interferes with someones like in many different ways. when it interferes with their whole life for a certain amount of time its called a disorder.

there are many different dissociation disorders here in america. all with different requirements. some of those requirements are things you can find out about online but theres lots of requirements that you only find out about through a therapist or psychiatrist. This is so that people get the right treatment plans and the right mental disorder diagnosis.

my suggestion is if you think you are having a dissociation or a disassociation (with an A between two S's) then you may want to call your doctors and they will help you by telling you what those words are where you are and which one you have. we cant do that here (theres a disclaimer at the bottom of the page in case you missed it )

[dlantern]

You can dissociate what you think feal hear and see what people think hear feel and see etc. Also anything else traumatic done to you. I get traumatized by anything that I hear or feel because there isn't suppose to be anything;; wearing my heart on sleeve is the analogy. Things didn't unify in there it reflects itself in that way if you pay attention to those way anything you written in the past from college etc. It might get worse, especially once they try to connect some areas that those statement they write in intake become the area of focus. Take those shares serious unless you dont really know what will happens, sometime pandora box cant be avoided. I think the best you can do is just like anything medical get ready for added pain in your life ......Choose a treatment provider that is kind and patient.

[amandalouise]

wanted to add....
this is in response to your statement that
"I actually need an explanation for what I'm trying to say n what my own experience is/was"

your doctor is going to want to know what parts of your life is affected (dissociation is something that does not happen just in one part of a persons life, )

your doctor is going to what to know why you dissociated when you dissociated (what triggered it to happen, how and when, what were you doing what were you saying who were you with.... all kinds of stuff goes into diagnosing whether this is dissociation or other medical or mental problems)

example I could tell my doctor that I dissociated when I was brushing my teeth. the doctor will want to know how I was brushing, when I was brushing whether this or that happened when I was brushing. what I was thinking about before I dissociated. was I feeling this physically or that physically, did I take any meds, drugs or alcohol., was I eating correctly (many people with eating disorders like I have had sometimes have dissociative like symptoms that are actually because of not eating correctly, do I have a good sleep routine (sleep deprivation can cause these same problems....)

see what I mean... your doctor isnt going to want our words for how you are feeling you will need to use your own words based on what is actually happening in you...not our words.

Tip....I see that you have posted many times here on psych central in many forums, you have done a great job in them telling about yourself and what goes on inside you. maybe you can check in your posts to see if there is anything in there that can help you to clearly tell your doctors what is happening to you.

since you are able to write posts here clearly maybe sitting down and writing to your doctors will help you to clearly tell them what is going on in you.

[Michael W. Harris]

I think the simplest way to explain it to people is simply to say little blips of amnesia or memory loss.

A toddler gets traumatized severely and goes into a "shock" type state. Now you have to understand that it does not take much to traumatize a newborn to four year old toddler. Anything that scares the toddler enough can put the child into shock. Anything that causes severe enough emotional pain can put the child into shock. And, of course, anything that causes severe physical pain can cause the toddler to go into shock. But it is how the toddler perceives the issue! What I am saying that many adults have no empathy about a toddlers emotional and psychological issues. My parents didn't and that is why I have a dissociative disorder.

The dysfunctional family totally ignores the toddler's feelings and continues to traumatize or abuse the child during the toddler years. So the toddler is triggered into that state of shock regularly during the toddler years. That state of shock is exactly like a state of hypnosis. Depending on many factors different personalities can develop in that state of shock/hypnotic state.

In my case where the physical abuse was not too extreme but continual, the alters are not extremely different. My parents were dysfunctional but not total psychopaths. So far me it is more like memory problems than different personalities. A layman would not be able to recognize the differences in my personalities.

But there is an automatic amnesia effect that occurs when a person switches into and out of that state of shock/hypnotic state. The memories are lost or not processed correctly.

Originally Posted by amandalouise

short version it depends on your own location...

example you are in england so your words may not mean the same things that they mean here...

let me show you what I mean with a different word first...

many people , locations say the word "soda" for a drink called Coke a cola, or Pepsi. other people in different locations call those same drinks "Pop"

I can tell you what my location and people around me call dissociation and disassociation (contains the letter A in the word and is different than the first one. But to find out what these words are for your location you are going to need to contact your own medical doctor or a mental health doctor.

here where I am....

Disassociation (with an A between 2 S's in the word) means to stop doing something on purpose.... This morning I disassociated the dishes.... meaning I stopped doing the dishes on purpose just because I didnt want to do them.

Dissociation here where I am is a normal reaction to something that happens.

you know how if someone says something you dont like you feel mad.

with dissociation here where I am something happens to make a person feel numb or spaced out, or not emotionally feeling attached to their body or things around them. its not something someone does on purpose, it just happens and is completely normal. Just like getting mad is normal if someone says something you dont like.

sometimes this will happen so hard that it interferes with someones like in many different ways. when it interferes with their whole life for a certain amount of time its called a disorder.

there are many different dissociation disorders here in america. all with different requirements. some of those requirements are things you can find out about online but theres lots of requirements that you only find out about through a therapist or psychiatrist. This is so that people get the right treatment plans and the right mental disorder diagnosis.

my suggestion is if you think you are having a dissociation or a disassociation (with an A between two S's) then you may want to call your doctors and they will help you by telling you what those words are where you are and which one you have. we cant do that here (theres a disclaimer at the bottom of the page in case you missed it )

for the record, I don't use the term "soda", or the term " pop", to describe cola

I call it " fizzy"

just how I was braught up to refer to it I suppose