What is “Dissociative Trauma” or Extreme Trauma Disorders?
At Denver Emotional Health, we treat a variety of trauma-related disorders, including those who have suffered extreme trauma. Often times, these individuals are seen to be untreatable by many, but we are hope merchants and believe we can offer healing that is needed to shed these disorders. The two main types of trauma disorders we work with are 1) depersonalization/derealization, and 2) Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called multiple personality disorder).
Depersonalization/Derealization Disorders:
Depersonalization refers to the sense of being outside of your body or feeling as if you are observing your life from an outside perspective. Imagine if you were floating outside of your body, and you could see your body. While roughly 50% of adults will have at least one episode of depersonalization, it is classified as a disorder if the depersonalization has a negative impact on a person’s relationships or work life. This usually becomes apparent to the person suffering from the disorder very quickly. Further derealization may occur along with depersonalization, and this refers to a feeling of being detached from one’s surroundings or sense of reality.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
What has been formerly called multiple personality disorder syndrome, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a real, and treatable disorder. Identity confusion and identity alteration may occur to varying degrees with this syndrome, with a person’s personality “split” between one or more alternative personalities, but the reality is that these are individuals who usually have suffered lifetimes of trauma before they could even walk or talk at times.
Trauma and Dissociation Disorders
The reality remains that there is a very strong link between trauma and dissociation. Ongoing trauma, especially childhood physical, sexual, or emotional abuse and/or neglect is a very significant risk factor for the development of dissociative disorders and is thought to be the root cause in at least 90% of people with these conditions.
In fact, dissociative disorders are associated with the highest frequency of childhood abuse and neglect of all psychiatric disorders. While ongoing abuse, frequently in childhood, is most common, a single but catastrophic episode of trauma in either children or adults (such as natural disasters, military combat, torture, or violent crimes) may also precede the development of dissociative disorders. For individuals who experience both, their odds are obviously exponentially higher.
We Offer Effective Treatments for Dissociation
At Denver Emotional Health, our therapists and counselors will help you learn how to develop a new relationship with your Self and parts, and learn to manage life and protect yourself without the need for dissociation to occur. Dissociation in the setting of chronic trauma is considered to be a coping strategy, at least partially and initially, and we will help relieve dissociative parts of their jobs once appropriate measures of your Self are taken. In the past, dissociation may have served you as a helpful, self-protective survival technique in that you were able to escape unbearable cruelty, neglect or abuse as a child. Perhaps life as a child may not have been possible without these parts, but we are here to re-write the story. You Yourself can heal the parts of you that work so hard and let them off the hook, and take on new qualities of life that serve you in the present.
Emotional abuse and neglect in childhood are often hard to acknowledge, admit, or recognize. They are definitely more invalidated /dismissed at times than any victim of physical or sexual abuse would be, and often experience all of these types of trauma. So, while dissociation can initially be a coping strategy that allows a person to manage severe stress and personal threats including their extinction, problems occur when dissociation takes on an extreme role in your life as an adult when the threat is no longer present externally. This means these parts are activated constantly and occur in situations where the real danger is not actually present. And since dissociation usually occurs without conscious awareness, people do not usually realize that they are using it as a coping strategy and this part “takes over at the wheel,” and you are later left to deal with the consequences of those actions.
Contact Us Today To Learn How We Can Treat Your Dissociation
At Denver Emotional Health, we focus on utilizing the most effective trauma-informed treatments that surpass therapies such as basic exposure therapies or EMDR. We utilize science and research-backed methods such as Internal Family Systems Therapy, Exposure Therapies, and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy to treat complex, dissociative trauma and other stress-related disorders. If you are in or around the Denver area and feel that you would benefit from treating your PTSD, CPTSD or Dissociative Trauma Disorder, contact us today for a free consultation.
Learn more about how we treat trauma and dissociative disorders.