Dissociation is when the brain distorts time or space and can impact anywhere from seconds to minutes up to months or years. Everybody dissociates to a certain extent as dissociation is more of a spectrum than a “you have it or you don’t.” When there has been too much stress and the brain can’t keep up with processing, dissociation occurs to protect the person and disconnects from the present danger. There are three types of structural dissociation: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. Symptoms include but are not limited to:

• confusion about past events and the timeline

• missing time

• feeling of disconnect from the self or surroundings

• hearing voices

• seeing images

• experiencing an emotion or impulse that doesn’t feel like your own

• difficulty with memory

Dissociation can be very helpful, disconnecting a person from a traumatic experience. However, it becomes a disorder when the symptoms interrupt daily functioning. With Soar: Therapy for Trauma and Dissociation, I follow the Three Phase Treatment Approach discussed in full in The Journal of Trauma and Dissociation by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. You can read more about my approach here.