Unveiling Dissociation: Navigating the Hidden Effects of Trauma

Welcome to Mind Pilot. This is Dr. Jana Price-Sharps. Today we're going to talk about dissociation.*INTRO SONG* And dissociation is probably a fairly misunderstood concept. Most of the time when clinicians think of dissociation, they think of multiple personality disorder. It's now called DID, dissociative identity disorder. And that's when people literally lose time. They may become somebody else during that last time, that kind of thing. But there's different levels of dissociation. And so we're not talking about did today. We are talking about low levels of dissociation that cause problems for people. There's different definitions of dissociation, but effectively what dissociation does is it allows you to kind of check out of life. So you might see somebody who just was in a horrific traffic accident, for instance, and they go into a shock like state that's a dissociative process. And later on they may not even remember who they talked to or what they said to the people around them because that part of the brain is not functioning very well. So that's severe dissociative response, a more mellow well, not mellow, but a different kind of dissociative response is being very overwhelmed with life. And your partner, significant other spouse, kids, they're talking to you and you're not really hearing them. And later they say, I just told you that. And you go, What? I don't remember you telling me that. So it's a process of checking out of your day to day reality. A very minor example of dissociation as you pull up to a stoplight. There's people in cars on each side of you. Somebody asks you 5 minutes later, you know, when you pulled up to that stoplight, what color were the cars that were, you know, at that stoplight right next to you? You probably have no memory of that. Again, that's a dissociative response. It's a healthy one. That's a fine one, because if you took everything in, you would be so inundated with information that you would get to overwhelmed. So there is there are a number of reasons that it's likely the brain has dissociative responses. In part, it may be protecting this from trauma. Lots of people that have had, you know, child abuse in the past, maybe they were sexually abused, physically abused, mentally abused. They may have learned to check out and and not even kind of process what was going on. A lot of times when you talk to people that have had sexual abuse early on, they may not be able to tell you necessarily what the perpetrator looked like. It was more what the room looked like or what the ceiling looked like. They their mind was taking them away from the event that was actually happening. And so sometimes so when they talk about the abuse, they'll say something like, yeah, and when I talk about it now, it feels like this weird dream, like it didn't really happen. And that's because their brain went into a dissociative response. So why am I talking about this when this podcast is for first responders? Well, the reality is you see more trauma in a lifetime than anybody else. You see trauma every day. And so part of what happens with that is the brain starts to try and protect itself and it starts trying to pull back so that it doesn't have any more pain. And so sometimes you'll get a feeling like you're not connected to your body. So that's a little more severe dissociative response. I've had, you know, friends like that are in law enforcement. They'll say, it's very weird. I'm driving down the road and suddenly I feel like I'm kind of disconnected from everything that is a product of dissociation. Sitting on the couch, your significant other talking to you, and suddenly you're reliving an old event. Maybe you're suddenly back at that car accident that really was very traumatizing for you. And that's a dissociative response. It's taking you out of the here and now. It's taking you back to someplace else, really, without your permission. You know, your brain is just taking you there or you may not be reliving it, but you're suddenly thinking about it and you're not in the present. You're back ten years ago or five years ago or three years ago or two days ago. So those are all examples of dissociation. Here's one of the problems with dissociation. When people have been faced with a lot of trauma, their brain becomes more and more checked out. They feel very disconnected with their life and so they often will start making very bad decisions with their life and not really knowing why they're making those bad decisions. So, you know, I've I've had first responders that, you know, they worked a lot of days in a row. They haven't been sleeping. They are kind of checking out of their life. They're very overwhelmed. Their home life sucks because they've been gone a lot. And when they are home, they're really not home. They're just so shut down. And so suddenly they're making bad decisions like having affairs, calling an old girlfriend. They may be at a conference and they go down to the bar and they start flirting with a gal, even though they're in a long term relationship. And later they go, Why did I do that? I never do that. What was going on with me? And a lot of that is dissociation. Now, I'm not saying people aren't responsible for their actions. That isn't what I'm saying. People are responsible for what they do. But I am saying that when we're checked out of our own life, we are more likely to make decisions that aren't in our best interest. And that's why it's so important to check in on a regular basis. Am I living in the here and now? Am I with my family when I'm with them? Am I at work when I'm at work, or am I somewhere else all the time? Then I really feel like I'm never anywhere. If that's the way you're feeling, it's a good bet your brain is doing some dissociation. So what do you do about it? Well, the first thing is dissociation. Typically, unless you've had a lot of trauma early on and typically dissociation comes from stress and trauma from recent events. So the first thing to do is to start addressing those events rather than kind of running from them, avoiding them, trying to shut your brain down. The second one is to get some sleep. Sleep is so important in trauma, your brain has to have REM sleep to heal. It just does. And so if you're not getting sleep, make sure that you're catching up on some of our sleep podcasts. I have some some podcasts on Sleep, the SeventyFive/25 rule with Vanessa and Felicia has some wonderful information on sleep. There's a lot of good information out there on how to have healthy sleep. And so that REM sleep is going to help you, but also really focusing on the here and now. If you find yourself in a conversation and you don't remember what that person has said for the last 10 minutes, bring yourself back to the present and and keep checking in with yourself. Am I here or am I in a place from two years ago but also get the trauma dealt with? There's different ways of dealing with that trauma that make sure you're dealing with it. Get a good therapist who understands how to work with first responders, how to work with first responder trauma and get that trauma dealt with. And also, you need to give your brain a break. Part of dissociation is your brain is just overtaxed, it's overstressed. What are you doing for fun? When was the last time you did something for fun? What you're funny is I don't know. But whatever that fun is, whether it's fishing or going and getting your nails done, I don't know. But go do something that works for you that your brain can just relax. The brain has to have time to relax. You can't just go, go, go, go, go and expect to feel good. The brain was not made for that. I often will ask my students if you think back to hunter gatherers, how many hours a week do you think they worked? And you know, they'll say, like 80 hours a week or 60 hours a week. And actually from anthropology, what they have figured is it's about 8 to 10 hours a week. So we have a brain that is meant to have a lot of downtime. And in modern society, a lot of people don't have any downtime. They just go from this to this, do this, do this, and then they wonder why they feel agitated and tired and irritable all the time. Take those mental breaks, take the vacations, take the fun trip, take the ten minute meditation, watch the comedy on TV, do something that will bring you some happiness, take care of yourself, be kind to yourself, and hang out with people that are being kind to you. You have the right to have a happy life. I hope this was helpful. Please don't forget to subscribe. This is Gianna Price, Sharps from Mind Pilot. You have a great day.