Does anyone know what "structural dissociation" is in layman's terms?

My therapist told me a little about Structural Dissociation. I still don't understand it much at all, but I think she was trying to theorize my personal behaviors and thoughts. I will need to get clarity from her. Ever since we talked about it in session, I've been wanting to stay away from my family, who I am normally (sometimes / sort of / at times) close with. However, I am the one working on myself, not my family. And I'm the one putting effort into my relationships with my family, they aren't (even though I know my mom loves me). I also have been feeling sad about the things I've experienced in my past. I'm not even thinking of specifics. Except my father. Because she (my therapist) brought it up. It's more "I've experienced traumatic events that impacted my development, and knowing that makes me sad." It hasn't just been with my family. Its been multiple events over my lifetime that really had a profound affect on me.

I just want to feel better. I don't want to be sad about it. Isn't there a survivor mentality with trauma too? I want that.

[nels13245]

Originally Posted by KnitChick

Does anyone know what "structural dissociation" is in layman's terms?

My therapist told me a little about Structural Dissociation. I still don't understand it much at all, but I think she was trying to theorize my personal behaviors and thoughts. I will need to get clarity from her. Ever since we talked about it in session, I've been wanting to stay away from my family, who I am normally (sometimes / sort of / at times) close with. However, I am the one working on myself, not my family. And I'm the one putting effort into my relationships with my family, they aren't (even though I know my mom loves me). I also have been feeling sad about the things I've experienced in my past. I'm not even thinking of specifics. Except my father. Because she (my therapist) brought it up. It's more "I've experienced traumatic events that impacted my development, and knowing that makes me sad." It hasn't just been with my family. Its been multiple events over my lifetime that really had a profound affect on me.

I just want to feel better. I don't want to be sad about it. Isn't there a survivor mentality with trauma too? I want that.

I've been riddled with traumatic events, my mum and dad were alcoholics and did drugs on a daily basis, I've witnessd unimaginable violence. I was removed at 8 years old to live with my auntie and uncle(I'm now 19)

I was around about 17 where my past really started to hit me and I was in a very bad state, I was very lost and confused. I kept on dwelling on it which was feeding me negative thoughts and producing negative emotions, I let years go on without seeking proper help, huge mistake because you can get yourself stuck in a negative emotional pattern, things like depression, being repentative, guilt, anger , anxiety, can become regular emotions.

This is how I overcame it.

First of all I accepted the things I've been through, and what has happened to me. And the you can begin the healing process.

Where you do EVERYTHING to help yourself pull through the other side as a mentally healthier person.

I started with knowledge, it is soooo powerful, you DO NOT WANT TO BE CONFUSED, confusion is a terrible thing when trying to overcome your problems.

So i read articles, watched videos, seeked advice. I gathered as much information as I could about my conditions and just about mental health in general, and things started to make sense to me, I began to get a sense of clarity that only grew stronger with the more I learnt.

So after I figured out my problems, got informed as much as I could, came to terms with what mental health problems I had and accepted them, I began to let it all go and begin my journey on being a more positive and happier person.

It all started to turn around

-felt more connection through relationships with other, more sociable ( I know longer felt misunderstood and that no one liked me)

- my perception on life became more meaningful

- massive improvement in my sleep

- worrying all the time almost become not existent

There was so much more benefits but just to give you and idea.

If you really work on it it'll happen, theres no doubting that, it takes time as well, it doesn't happen over night, always remind yourself that every day, most who are Trying to recover from mental health problems get discouraged because they don't see a change within the first couple of weeks when it takes months!

Now throw antidepressants in the mix whilst you are striving to better your mental health, you can literally change your whole life around Don't under estimate antidepressants also, they can work like magic. Definitely worth a shot, if they don't work after 1 to 2 months then just stop them...

This is a very basic story of how I went about my mental health and all of that, but hopefully you can take a few things from it.

[MickeyCheeky]

I don't know what it is, sorry. But I'm sorry that you're feeling so down

[happysobercrafter]

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Knitchick)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Sweetpea, the most powerful and long lasting beneficial tip I can tell you about is to learn to accept what ails you. Your sadness is based on something. Pace yourself, but by slowly facing it, you will gain your strength and power over it and it will diminish. It may not go away completely, but it will diminish.

Events that happened to us are simply part of our history, but they all come together to make us who we are today. It is part of our reality; something we cannot change. But, once we work through them, we begin to feel better and happier. Those feelings are trying to tell you something important about your recovery. I know it is scary and hard to do, but those feelings can tell you a lot about your self. And you, my dear, have the power to overcome them.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by KnitChick

Does anyone know what "structural dissociation" is in layman's terms?

My therapist told me a little about Structural Dissociation. I still don't understand it much at all, but I think she was trying to theorize my personal behaviors and thoughts. I will need to get clarity from her. Ever since we talked about it in session, I've been wanting to stay away from my family, who I am normally (sometimes / sort of / at times) close with. However, I am the one working on myself, not my family. And I'm the one putting effort into my relationships with my family, they aren't (even though I know my mom loves me). I also have been feeling sad about the things I've experienced in my past. I'm not even thinking of specifics. Except my father. Because she (my therapist) brought it up. It's more "I've experienced traumatic events that impacted my development, and knowing that makes me sad." It hasn't just been with my family. Its been multiple events over my lifetime that really had a profound affect on me.

I just want to feel better. I don't want to be sad about it. Isn't there a survivor mentality with trauma too? I want that.

to answer your question of what it is in laymans terms I will need to go back a step. I will try and break it down for you though.

at birth every human being has a "personality".

if you have ever wheld or saw a new born baby what do you see. you may see one that cries all the time, and looks very unhappy, uncomfortable, or you may see one that smiles, enjoys being held, and is calm.

when you are with your friends are you shy, or outgoing, do you smile and laugh at jokes, get angry when something makes you mad, do you have your favorite kinds of clothes and food you like, do you have any mannerisms like twirling your hair, other habits.....

all of these things are called characteristics / in other words having a personality, everything that is you how you walk talk behave all of it is called having personality.

now that you have the basics of what a personality is the next step is answering your question of "what is Structural Dissociation in laymans terms?"

the full title is....

Structural Dissociation Model. Its not a disorder kind of thing. its a therapy technique to understand yourself and work with your treatment providers. think of it like CBT or DBT or Art therapy. Its in that category of things.

In Structural Dissociation Model everything has an order to it (structure) and that order has to do with how you dissociate, when you dissociate and what to do about it.

In Structural Dissociation the first orderly step is that it runs on the belief system that everyone is born with normal "parts of self" (fancy phrase for your characteristics that make up your personality.)

example

when I am happy I am showing people the part of me that is the emotion of happiness.

Happiness is an emotion right so in Structural Dissociation Model this normal part of me is called EP (in other words an Emotional Part of me)

now lets take it to the next step sometimes when something happens a person doesnt let on that they are feeling emotional....they just appear to look normal even though they may be feeling very angry.

example....

Yesterday I was feeling frustrated over something to do with one of my children. but instead of showing my child I was losing my patience and was frustrated I appeared to be the way I always am, happy and smiling, here let me help you....

In Structural Dissociation Model this is called ANP (Apparently Normal Part of myself)

Anyone whether they have a mental disorder or not can have lots of Emotional Parts and Apparently Normal Parts of their self...

Example

in one day I can show people how happy I am, how sad I am and react out of frustration or anger or excitement. And I can because of many different reasons be feeling one way and appearing to be normal on the outside.

now lets add some dissociation into it....

lets take two EP's (Happy and Sadness) and one ANP (looking like I am normal even though I may be either happy or sad inside)

A death in the family may make me feel very very sad, so sad that I start dissociating (unconsciously numbing, spacing out and a mental sense that my hand has no feeling in it that it belongs to me, I know that hand really is mine it just feels like its not)

instead of letting someone know how I am feeling i either act out because I am so sad (EP) or I appear to be perfectly normal (ANP)

in Structural Dissociation Model dissociating like this happens in the same pattern so a therapist is actually able to make a chart of how you dissociate and when you are showing your emotional parts of yourself because of dissociating or when you are showing your appearing to be normal part of yourself because of your dissociating.

in this Structural Dissociation Model a therapist notices which parts of your personality are the priority to work on. if you are acting out aggressively or suicidal or self injuring those emotional parts of your self get worked on first to stabilize you, sometimes even to the point of hospitalization. but most of the time this therapy model can be worked on in your sessions where you will be charting what parts of you are emotional and why sometimes you appear to be normal on the outside vs how you are feeling inside.

keep in mind that this is different than being DID. Structural dissociation model is not a disorder kind of thing its a therapy model that helps to chart and explain your problems.

the disorder (fancy word for problem) is the dissociating and you do so in a patterned / orderly way so this therapy model will help you to understand yourself better.

This therapy model will help you because your EP's and ANP's are so defined that you can actually chart your personality characteristics so that you can see when you are acting out emotionally when you dissociate, or when you are appearing to be normal when you dissociate, and why.

this therapy technique helps with many different kinds of mental disorders, here where I am its used mostly with people with PTSD, Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. my therapist and I use this for my Bipolar disorder because I have very distinct cycling phases, and for my PTSD problems but we did not use it for my DID because my Alternate personalities were not EP's and ANP's. with dissociative Identity Disorders alters have whats called sense of agency, they all function with in their sense of agency just like normal human beings. though they may be emotional they dont just get emotional. example my Rainy alter was the holder of anything depressive but she was able to play, eat, drink, go tot he bathroom, curl up on a sofa with a blanket and watch tv. Because my DID alters were not the kind that fit this therapy model we didnt use it.

in fact in my location ................many.............. treatment providers here where I am dont use this therapy model with DID, they instead use things like grounding, mindfullness and learning how to take care of problems with out relying on dissociation.

hope this has answered your question and helped you to understand it better.

Originally Posted by nels13245

I've been riddled with traumatic events, my mum and dad were alcoholics and did drugs on a daily basis, I've witnessd unimaginable violence. I was removed at 8 years old to live with my auntie and uncle(I'm now 19)

I was around about 17 where my past really started to hit me and I was in a very bad state, I was very lost and confused. I kept on dwelling on it which was feeding me negative thoughts and producing negative emotions, I let years go on without seeking proper help, huge mistake because you can get yourself stuck in a negative emotional pattern, things like depression, being repentative, guilt, anger , anxiety, can become regular emotions.

This is how I overcame it.

First of all I accepted the things I've been through, and what has happened to me. And the you can begin the healing process.

Where you do EVERYTHING to help yourself pull through the other side as a mentally healthier person.

I started with knowledge, it is soooo powerful, you DO NOT WANT TO BE CONFUSED, confusion is a terrible thing when trying to overcome your problems.

So i read articles, watched videos, seeked advice. I gathered as much information as I could about my conditions and just about mental health in general, and things started to make sense to me, I began to get a sense of clarity that only grew stronger with the more I learnt.

So after I figured out my problems, got informed as much as I could, came to terms with what mental health problems I had and accepted them, I began to let it all go and begin my journey on being a more positive and happier person.

It all started to turn around

-felt more connection through relationships with other, more sociable ( I know longer felt misunderstood and that no one liked me)

- my perception on life became more meaningful

- massive improvement in my sleep

- worrying all the time almost become not existent

There was so much more benefits but just to give you and idea.

If you really work on it it'll happen, theres no doubting that, it takes time as well, it doesn't happen over night, always remind yourself that every day, most who are Trying to recover from mental health problems get discouraged because they don't see a change within the first couple of weeks when it takes months!

Now throw antidepressants in the mix whilst you are striving to better your mental health, you can literally change your whole life around Don't under estimate antidepressants also, they can work like magic. Definitely worth a shot, if they don't work after 1 to 2 months then just stop them...

This is a very basic story of how I went about my mental health and all of that, but hopefully you can take a few things from it.

Hi Nels. Thank you for your thoughtful reply and for telling me what helped you.

I think, mainly, I'm confused about why my therapist brought up structural dissociation to me. I do not feel clear about it at all, to the point of feeling like it may not even be accurate for me. I need to get clarification from her on what she meant. I went into therapy on Friday hoping to talk about how to deal with my anxiety over certain social situations. It didn't go as planned, but that's ok. I did get some good things out of it.

One thing I want to point out, is that I am doing a lot better from where I was before. I take medication. I moved out of my parents house 1 year ago. Best decision of my life. I regularly attend a DBT therapy group. I do social stuff when I feel I'm able, though I still experience a lot of anxiety over it and I'm wanting to talk in therapy about it.

Thanks again. I do appreciate your response.

ps: I started seeing myself as a survivor, and it has really been helping. Instead of wallowing in my problems, and what didn't go right in therapy, etc. It really helped.

Originally Posted by MickeyCheeky

I don't know what it is, sorry. But I'm sorry that you're feeling so down

Thank you

Originally Posted by HappyCrafter

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Knitchick)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Sweetpea, the most powerful and long lasting beneficial tip I can tell you about is to learn to accept what ails you. Your sadness is based on something. Pace yourself, but by slowly facing it, you will gain your strength and power over it and it will diminish. It may not go away completely, but it will diminish.

Events that happened to us are simply part of our history, but they all come together to make us who we are today. It is part of our reality; something we cannot change. But, once we work through them, we begin to feel better and happier. Those feelings are trying to tell you something important about your recovery. I know it is scary and hard to do, but those feelings can tell you a lot about your self. And you, my dear, have the power to overcome them.

Thanks Happy Crafter. The thing is, I only feel this way after therapy. It's frustrating. It used to provoke depressing thoughts in me. I talked to her a few weeks ago though, and things got better. Though it was sad again when I left therapy Friday. I did call her and left a message about my confusion and anxiety after therapy.

[Thunder Bow]

Originally Posted by HappyCrafter

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Knitchick)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Sweetpea, the most powerful and long lasting beneficial tip I can tell you about is to learn to accept what ails you. Your sadness is based on something. Pace yourself, but by slowly facing it, you will gain your strength and power over it and it will diminish. It may not go away completely, but it will diminish.

Events that happened to us are simply part of our history, but they all come together to make us who we are today. It is part of our reality; something we cannot change. But, once we work through them, we begin to feel better and happier. Those feelings are trying to tell you something important about your recovery. I know it is scary and hard to do, but those feelings can tell you a lot about your self. And you, my dear, have the power to overcome them.

Very True, and an important part of the healing process.

[nels13245]

All the best, hope you figure it all out.

Originally Posted by KnitChick

Hi Nels. Thank you for your thoughtful reply and for telling me what helped you.

I think, mainly, I'm confused about why my therapist brought up structural dissociation to me. I do not feel clear about it at all, to the point of feeling like it may not even be accurate for me. I need to get clarification from her on what she meant. I went into therapy on Friday hoping to talk about how to deal with my anxiety over certain social situations. It didn't go as planned, but that's ok. I did get some good things out of it.

One thing I want to point out, is that I am doing a lot better from where I was before. I take medication. I moved out of my parents house 1 year ago. Best decision of my life. I regularly attend a DBT therapy group. I do social stuff when I feel I'm able, though I still experience a lot of anxiety over it and I'm wanting to talk in therapy about it.

Thanks again. I do appreciate your response.

ps: I started seeing myself as a survivor, and it has really been helping. Instead of wallowing in my problems, and what didn't go right in therapy, etc. It really helped.

[happysobercrafter]

Originally Posted by KnitChick

Hi Nels. Thank you for your thoughtful reply and for telling me what helped you.

I think, mainly, I'm confused about why my therapist brought up structural dissociation to me. I do not feel clear about it at all, to the point of feeling like it may not even be accurate for me. I need to get clarification from her on what she meant. I went into therapy on Friday hoping to talk about how to deal with my anxiety over certain social situations. It didn't go as planned, but that's ok. I did get some good things out of it.

One thing I want to point out, is that I am doing a lot better from where I was before. I take medication. I moved out of my parents house 1 year ago. Best decision of my life. I regularly attend a DBT therapy group. I do social stuff when I feel I'm able, though I still experience a lot of anxiety over it and I'm wanting to talk in therapy about it.

Thanks again. I do appreciate your response.

ps: I started seeing myself as a survivor, and it has really been helping. Instead of wallowing in my problems, and what didn't go right in therapy, etc. It really helped.

"You started seeing yourself as a survivor, and it has really been helping."
That is self-awareness and it is also a HUGE benefit in recovery. I wish you could see my face; I have a big smile on it because of you saying that. xoxox

HC, I'm so glad I made you smile. It really does help!!

[happysobercrafter]

I am proud of you, babes!! I love how you are seeing how you are today compared to how you were.

Please, remember to P.A.C.E. yourself! This is Y.O.U. R. recovery! It is not a race; you have the privilege and responsibility to make those decisions on how you benefit best!

Originally Posted by amandalouise

to answer your question of what it is in laymans terms I will need to go back a step. I will try and break it down for you though.

at birth every human being has a "personality".

if you have ever wheld or saw a new born baby what do you see. you may see one that cries all the time, and looks very unhappy, uncomfortable, or you may see one that smiles, enjoys being held, and is calm.

when you are with your friends are you shy, or outgoing, do you smile and laugh at jokes, get angry when something makes you mad, do you have your favorite kinds of clothes and food you like, do you have any mannerisms like twirling your hair, other habits.....

all of these things are called characteristics / in other words having a personality, everything that is you how you walk talk behave all of it is called having personality.

now that you have the basics of what a personality is the next step is answering your question of "what is Structural Dissociation in laymans terms?"

the full title is....

Structural Dissociation Model. Its not a disorder kind of thing. its a therapy technique to understand yourself and work with your treatment providers. think of it like CBT or DBT or Art therapy. Its in that category of things.

In Structural Dissociation Model everything has an order to it (structure) and that order has to do with how you dissociate, when you dissociate and what to do about it.

In Structural Dissociation the first orderly step is that it runs on the belief system that everyone is born with normal "parts of self" (fancy phrase for your characteristics that make up your personality.)

example

when I am happy I am showing people the part of me that is the emotion of happiness.

Happiness is an emotion right so in Structural Dissociation Model this normal part of me is called EP (in other words an Emotional Part of me)

now lets take it to the next step sometimes when something happens a person doesnt let on that they are feeling emotional....they just appear to look normal even though they may be feeling very angry.

example....

Yesterday I was feeling frustrated over something to do with one of my children. but instead of showing my child I was losing my patience and was frustrated I appeared to be the way I always am, happy and smiling, here let me help you....

In Structural Dissociation Model this is called ANP (Apparently Normal Part of myself)

Anyone whether they have a mental disorder or not can have lots of Emotional Parts and Apparently Normal Parts of their self...

Example

in one day I can show people how happy I am, how sad I am and react out of frustration or anger or excitement. And I can because of many different reasons be feeling one way and appearing to be normal on the outside.

now lets add some dissociation into it....

lets take two EP's (Happy and Sadness) and one ANP (looking like I am normal even though I may be either happy or sad inside)

A death in the family may make me feel very very sad, so sad that I start dissociating (unconsciously numbing, spacing out and a mental sense that my hand has no feeling in it that it belongs to me, I know that hand really is mine it just feels like its not)

instead of letting someone know how I am feeling i either act out because I am so sad (EP) or I appear to be perfectly normal (ANP)

in Structural Dissociation Model dissociating like this happens in the same pattern so a therapist is actually able to make a chart of how you dissociate and when you are showing your emotional parts of yourself because of dissociating or when you are showing your appearing to be normal part of yourself because of your dissociating.

in this Structural Dissociation Model a therapist notices which parts of your personality are the priority to work on. if you are acting out aggressively or suicidal or self injuring those emotional parts of your self get worked on first to stabilize you, sometimes even to the point of hospitalization. but most of the time this therapy model can be worked on in your sessions where you will be charting what parts of you are emotional and why sometimes you appear to be normal on the outside vs how you are feeling inside.

keep in mind that this is different than being DID. Structural dissociation model is not a disorder kind of thing its a therapy model that helps to chart and explain your problems.

the disorder (fancy word for problem) is the dissociating and you do so in a patterned / orderly way so this therapy model will help you to understand yourself better.

This therapy model will help you because your EP's and ANP's are so defined that you can actually chart your personality characteristics so that you can see when you are acting out emotionally when you dissociate, or when you are appearing to be normal when you dissociate, and why.

this therapy technique helps with many different kinds of mental disorders, here where I am its used mostly with people with PTSD, Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. my therapist and I use this for my Bipolar disorder because I have very distinct cycling phases, and for my PTSD problems but we did not use it for my DID because my Alternate personalities were not EP's and ANP's. with dissociative Identity Disorders alters have whats called sense of agency, they all function with in their sense of agency just like normal human beings. though they may be emotional they dont just get emotional. example my Rainy alter was the holder of anything depressive but she was able to play, eat, drink, go tot he bathroom, curl up on a sofa with a blanket and watch tv. Because my DID alters were not the kind that fit this therapy model we didnt use it.

in fact in my location ................many.............. treatment providers here where I am dont use this therapy model with DID, they instead use things like grounding, mindfullness and learning how to take care of problems with out relying on dissociation.

hope this has answered your question and helped you to understand it better.

Hi AmandaLouise, I did not see that you posted this until just now. Thank you for responding. I do not have time to read it all right now but thank you. Will read later.

Quick update: my therapist called me back and left a message and said she was so sorry what she said scared me, and she was not trying to imply that I experience structural dissociation, she was just explaining something to me (parts of self) and using that as an example I guess? so it was just a big misunderstanding. I can ask her to clarify more when I see her.

[MickeyCheeky]

Happy to hear that, KnitChick!

[Carolinee13]

I'm shocked

[tattytr]

wonderful