Dissociation
What is Dissociation?
Dissociation is a psychological response in which a person feels disconnected from their thoughts, emotions, memories, body and/or environment. It is often described as feeling detached, unreal, emotionally numb, or “not fully present”. It can occur during periods of stress, trauma, fatigue, anxiety or emotional overwhelm, and develops as a coping or protective response during distressing experiences. Dissociation can range from a mild ‘spacing out’ feeling to a more distressing disruption in awareness and memory.
Dissociation is a symptom and can be part of a range of different psychological conditions or disorders. It is normal to feel ‘off’ sometimes, and occasional mild dissociation can occur during stressful periods, however usually this goes away on it’s own. Some common signs and symptoms of dissociation are listed below. It may be time to seek support if you feel like these symptoms are life-interferring or causing you significant problems in your life. Our psychologists offer safe trauma-informed treatment for dissociation and other trauma conditions. We offer counselling in Footscray and our psychologists service the Western suburbs of Melbourne. If you’re feeling, stuck, scared or overwhelmed, we’re here to help. Please contact us to learn about our psychologists in Footscray or to find out more.
Why do we dissociate?
Dissociation is actually a very useful coping strategy – it’s out body’s way of protecting us from experiencing something that might be too painful. Dissociation could also be decribed as a break down in the way your mind handles information. The good news is that there are treatments that can help rewire some pathways, and allow you to experience your pain and suffering in a way that is adaptive, as part of your recovery journey.
There are several treatments that have a good evidence-base and can help. While the particular treatment your psychologist may do will depend on your personal case, therapies that might help include Cognitive Processing Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy or Schema Therapy. A useful dissociation handout with information and tools can be found here, and Mind in the UK also offer this useful webpage with psychoeducation and strategies to help manage dissociation.
Symptoms of Dissociation:
- Feeling detached from yourself or your surroundings
- Feeling emotionally numb or “shut down”
- Memory gaps or difficulty recalling events
- Feeling unreal, foggy, or as though you are observing yourself from outside your body
- Difficulty concentrating or staying present
- Losing track of time
- Feeling disconnected from emotions, identity, or relationships
When to seek support:
- Occurs frequently, more often than not
- Becomes distressing and hard to manage
- Interferes with daily life, work, study, or relationships
- Is linked to trauma, anxiety, panic, or depression
- Involves significant memory loss, identity confusion, or feeling unsafe
- Leads to self-harm thoughts, suicidal thoughts, or concerns about personal safety
So, what can I do?
A psychologist can help assess symptoms and experiences, provide support, and develop strategies to improve grounding, emotional regulation, and overall wellbeing to support dissociative experiences.
Our clinicians practice from a trauma-informed framework and offer evidence‑based support for dissociation. Please get in touch with us to find a psychologist in Melbourne who is a good fit. We have a range of helpful therapies that can help.
We have Medicare rebate psychologists available, and we offer telehealth psychologists, Workcover psychologists and TAC psychologists.
Psychology FAQs
Have a question? Take a look below… these are some of the common questions we get.
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Please get in touch today to have a chat to our friendly team so we can match you with an appropriate psychologist. If you are an existing client, you can book online.