Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a rare psychiatric disorder diagnosed in about 1.5% of the global population. This disorder is often misdiagnosed and often requires multiple assessments for an accurate diagnosis.
Dissociative disorders are rare. About 2% of people in the United States have them.
For many people, dissociation is a natural response to trauma that they can't control. It could be a response to a one-off traumatic event or ongoing trauma and abuse. You can read more on our page about the causes of dissociative disorders. Dissociation might be a way to cope with very stressful experiences.
Dissociative amnesia is rare. It affects about 1% of men and people assigned male at birth and 2.6% of women and people assigned female at birth in the general population. The environment also plays a role.
We've all had moments where we felt completely spaced out. What is normal, and when do instances of mental escape become a cause for concern? Dissociation, or the feeling of being disconnected or separated from oneself, is a common experience, especially as a means for coping with or escaping from stressful situations.
Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a rare psychiatric disorder diagnosed in about 1.5% of the global population. This disorder is often misdiagnosed and often requires multiple assessments for an accurate diagnosis.
It is a regular function of the human brain to be able to detach from reality and cling to something reassuring to avoid anxieties. Dissociation may be a normal phenomenon, but like everything in life, all in moderation.
There are five main ways in which the dissociation of psychological processes changes the way a person experiences living: depersonalization, derealization, amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration.
Dissociation is a way the mind copes with too much stress. Periods of dissociation can last for a relatively short time (hours or days) or for much longer (weeks or months). It can sometimes last for years, but usually if a person has other dissociative disorders.
Some signs your therapist can sense if you're dissociating:
They feel confused. They feel numb. They feel like you've gone somewhere else. Things don't add up.
Risk Factors and Suicide Risk
People who have experienced physical and sexual abuse in childhood are at increased risk of dissociative identity disorder. The vast majority of people who develop dissociative disorders have experienced repetitive, overwhelming trauma in childhood.
Dissociation can help a person feel as if situations, his or her body sensations, emotions that would have been overwhelming, etc., are muted and distorted so he or she can then go into “autopilot” mode and survive extreme situations and circumstances.
Many times, people who are dissociating are not even aware that it is happening, other people notice it. Just like other types of avoidance, dissociation can interfere with facing up and getting over a trauma or an unrealistic fear.
While dissociation is not a symptom of ADHD, the two are closely related because they are often comorbid. 123 People with dissociative disorders may also show symptoms of ADHD and vice versa.
Zoning out is considered a type of dissociation, which is a feeling of being disconnected from the world around you. Some people experience severe dissociation, but "zoning out" is considered a much milder form. Daydreaming is the most common kind of zoning or spacing out.
Dissociation Symptoms
Memory loss surrounding specific events, interactions, or experiences. A sense of detachment from your emotions (aka emotional numbness) and identity. Feeling as if the world is unreal; out-of-body experiences. Mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide.
Symptoms and signs of dissociative disorders depend on the type and severity, but may include: feeling disconnected from yourself. problems with handling intense emotions. sudden and unexpected shifts in mood – for example, feeling very sad for no reason.
Mild dissociation would be like daydreaming, getting “lost” in a book, or when you are driving down a familiar stretch of road and realize that you do not remember the last several miles.
It can affect your sense of identity and your perception of time. The symptoms often go away on their own. It may take hours, days, or weeks. You may need treatment, though, if your dissociation is happening because you've had an extremely troubling experience or you have a mental health disorder like schizophrenia.
Passing feelings of depersonalization or derealization are common and aren't necessarily a cause for concern. But ongoing or severe feelings of detachment and distortion of your surroundings can be a sign of depersonalization-derealization disorder or another physical or mental health disorder.
Dissociation involves disruptions of usually integrated functions of consciousness, perception, memory, identity, and affect (e.g., depersonalization, derealization, numbing, amnesia, and analgesia).
When one is pathologically angry due to chronic dissociation or repression of existential or appropriate anger, the threshold for anger is gradually diminished. Almost anything can then evoke irritability, annoyance, anger, or even rage—all inappropriate overreactions to the current circumstance.
Experts in PTSD support and treatment believe disassociation is a common feature of post-traumatic stress disorder. The same events and experiences that cause PTSD, can result in the individual experiencing some degree of emotional detachment from reality.