Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders

In Laymen’s Terms

There are many terms in psychology which, if you are not in the know, may seem obscure or strange. In my experience in speaking in public, dissociative identity disorder (DID) is one term that many folks have never heard or are find confusing and even something to be desired. More understanding of what DID is needs to be spread among the public so that movies and television programs that attempt to use the effects of dissociation to sell movie tickets and advertising spots, lose their flavor. Awareness is the driving force behind the writing of this explanation of dissociative identity disorder in layman’s terms.

Dissociation

All humans dissociate. Dissociation is a fancy word for “zoning out”. This is the human brain’s way of dealing with overwhelming circumstances, and boredom. However, this defense mechanism can be taken to the extreme, and then it becomes a life-changing obstacle. This problem is then called a dissociative disorder. There are four major types of dissociative disorders, with the most extreme expression of them being dissociative identity disorder.

Dissociation isn’t an unusual or unhealthy mental mechanism. A good example of a common dissociative incidence most people find familiar is felt in the movie theatre. Allow me to explain.

You go to the theater to see a movie you have been looking forward to for months. You sit down in an empty row with your popcorn and soda, and the movie…