Is Dissociation from Child Abuse Common and Harmful?

[wolram]

Has anyone heard of this, is it bad?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Has anyone heard of this, is it bad?

It's certainly not good. Basically it means a person goes into a deeply altered state of mind to escape thinking about something traumatic. When they come back to normal they often don't remember what they did during that state.

This is considered a psychological reaction to trauma, but anyone exhibiting these symptoms should also be checked for complex-partial seizures which could present just about the same way: to someone watching they would seem to be very spaced out as if sleepwalking.

http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Dissociative_Disorders.htm

 

[wolram]

It's certainly not good. Basically it means a person goes into a deeply altered state of mind to escape thinking about something traumatic. When they come back to normal they often don't remember what they did during that state.

This is considered a psychological reaction to trauma, but anyone exhibiting these symptoms should also be checked for complex-partial seizures which could present just about the same way: to someone watching they would seem to be very spaced out as if sleepwalking.

http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Dissociative_Disorders.htm

It is some thing like that zooby, but it is difficult to get all the pieces to fit, one seems to get a handle on it ,then it slips away hardly worth bothering with.

 

[JayR]

Gday Zooby and Wolram, if you are still interested in dissociation – and it is interesting, check-out "The Myth Of Sanity" by Martha Stout.

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=k60GAAAACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=1_1

Dissociation is a slippery bugger, a kind of circuit breaker for our minds only once reset we rarely recognize that the power was out or how the short occurred, it keeps us “sane” and is a bad thing only if it contributes to stuffing our lives up.

Zooby cites the response to trauma at the extreme end of the scale, a healthy and good thing. It becomes bad when it repeatedly bites you on the *** later in life making a mess of your relationships. How and why it does this is the really interesting bit.

Have you ever driven home after a hectic day and suddenly realized you’ve been on auto pilot? Somehow you cannot recall half the journey whilst remembering the other half (usually the first half) clearly.

 

[Proton Soup]

seems to be a common reaction to child abuse. very sad. I've known at least two people suffering from it.