Dissociative Disorder Awareness
Dissociative Fugue also known as Derealisation, Psychogenic Fugue is a means of escaping (within the mind) and disconnecting from one’s thoughts, feelings, memories, and sense of identity. It usually occurs when the person is in a certain uncomfortable, fearful, situation that is occurring at that time. Whatever the present situation is that is occurring is thought of as a potential threat. A dissociative fugue trance can last for minutes, days, weeks, months and in rare cases can last for years. They can be very scary as you yourself are aware of what is going on but are not in control of what is going on, as a different identity/personality has taken over with the aim of protecting the person (original part of the mind). Depending on how long the person is in the trance, new identities can be formed. In most cases the person suddenly has no memory of their past. If the fugue trance has lasted for quite a few months, especially years then when they come out of it, they come out to a whole new life that is completely different to how it was before and have little recollection as to how it all came about. It could almost be described as waking up to a whole new life.
Hypnotherapy
With the help of Hypnotherapy and other therapies that I use, I can help to teach people how to manage and minimise the fugue trances (so as not to get stuck in one like I did for 4 years). It's like you are walking around with a protective see through bubble surrounding you.
I spent a long time finding different triggers to the disorder and looking at different ways to manage them, stemming from stress levels to diet along with a lot more. I also took a lot of time to establish what the cause/causes were as to how I developed dissociative disorder and spent a long time doing a lot of therapy on myself and slowly things started to fall back in place.
Generally, if someone has dissociative disorder then it is not their fault, and they need to be supported. Dissociative Disorder can be a build-up of different traumatic events throughout a persons past. It is said to take anywhere between 10-15 years plus for the symptoms of the disorder to become present and can be triggered by anything. Usually, it is triggered by something that brought back some kind of memory from the past.
Dissociative Disorder is more commonly associated with severe abuse and trauma in early childhood. It has, however, now become apparent that Dissociative Disorder could also be the result of traumatic events that occur within adulthood, such as, war, traumatic events, abuse.
Examples of abuse and trauma could include:
physical abuse
sexual abuse
mental abuse
emotional abuse
and neglect.
It can take years before someone is diagnosed and offered the appropriate help and support. Some of the symptoms are very similar to that of other disorders, for example, a head injury can cause cognitive problems and amnesia and some disorders, such as, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder have some similarities in regard to some of the symptoms of Dissociative Disorder.
If Dissociative Disorder is left untreated it can lead to major complications and disruptions within the person’s life.
Some examples of this could be:
Self–harm
Substance usage
Eating disorders
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia
Relationship problems
If someone is using drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism it can make the symptoms of the Dissociative Disorder harder to recognise and vice versa. Someone may not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs but it may look like there are to others due to the changes in identities/ personalities and other symptoms and the fact that they have a disorder may get pushed aside and the blame for their behaviour may go on alcohol or drugs usage.
Dissociative Amnesia
A person with memory loss due to Dissociative Disorder usually does not know they have lost their memory until it starts to come back. Their memory quite often will not return until they feel safe and secure and comfortable in the surroundings that they are in, or the person they are with.
There are different types of Dissociative Amnesia and it is possible for someone with Dissociative Disorder to experience all the different types at different stages.
for a time there is no memory of the traumatic event/events.
patchy incomplete memories.
problems remembering details of their entire life.
particular & specific memory loss.
Different therapies can help to a certain degree with the amnesia, and you can learn how to best manage it. Quite often people suffering with Dissociative Amnesia experience multiple symptoms every day. Having random conversations with people can bring back memories from the past.
You can be in the middle of a conversation with someone and something they say suddenly takes you back to a post event and you can recall the event as if it was yesterday. Going to different places may also remind someone of something from the past and the same thing happens. Quite often however, the memories that come back are not pleasant memories and often the memory of it disappears again, perhaps because the memory is seen to be too traumatic for the mind. This can also, through therapy, be managed and different strategies can be learnt so the person can live a manageable day to day life.
Identity Alteration & Identity Confusion
Identity alteration is when a person switches from one identity to another and is often not within the persons Control. With the use of therapies, I can help people manage when they switch and to which identity they switch to. There are also certain techniques and strategies that can be used so as the person knows which identify they are in, which minimises the confusion part of it and always keeps the person in control.
People with Dissociative Disorder sometimes say that they have a child identity and an identity that protects them in potentially threatening situations. It could almost be described as a child trapped in an adults body, but is the identity that protects the person, protecting that person or could the identity also be protecting the trapped child. Inner Child Healing therapy can help free the child so as they are no longer trapped and are free to come and go.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) occurs when there are 2 or more known identities, how many different identities people can have varies from one person to another. Generally, all the identities can in fact be completely different to one another, meaning they all think and behave differently. Imagine how many different thought's go through a person's (with dissociative disorder) head every day, e.g. someone that has 6 identities that all think differently have many more times the amount of thought's going through their heads than the average person. With the use of my therapies the different Identities can be trained to behave in a way that the person wants them to.
Depersonalisation and Derealisation (Fugue Trances)
The mind of someone that has Dissociative Disorder is quite often always overly active, even when sleeping. Depersonalisation can also occur in one’s sleep, as if you are watching yourself in a live movie (association) or sometimes you are watching yourself in the movie from the outside (Dissociation).
Either way it is not a pleasant experience and different to a dream. You open your eyes to try and get away from it, but as soon as you close your eyes, you're back to the exact point you originally were at. With the help of therapy this can be minimised and managed. When a similar thing happens when you are awake it is as if you are floating out of your body, this is called derealisation. It feels like you have tunnel vision, only focused on what you are doing at that time and things can appear as if in slow motion.
When this happens it usually implies that the current situation that the person is in is seen as a huge overwhelming threat, and their stress levels are probably sky high. By learning to manage your stress and learning what your triggers are this can then also be managed by the person. A common symptom associated with dissociative disorder is that the person's eyes may appear glazed.
Certain triggers can be dealt with and overcome but some may not be overcome, making it more advisable for the person to perhaps avoid these triggers because of the negative, harmful effects, that it could have on that person’s health, sometimes this can be difficult if the trigger happens to be a person.
Quite often people suffering with depersonalisation only gets a few hours sleep at night. Depending on what is currently going on in that person’s life and how high their stress levels are determines how the person sleeps, which shows just how important it is for people with Dissociative Disorder to learn different ways of managing their stress levels. Diet has also shown to be a common factor and can influence their sleeping pattern.
Because I suffer with it on a day-to-day basis it makes it easier for me to relate to, and perhaps, also easier for the person suffering with the Dissociative Disorder to talk about to me.
Inner Child Healing Therapy
The Inner Child can be described as innocent, playful, mischievous, happy, cheeky, curious, trusting, innocent, naive, unaware of how cruel life can be and unaware and does not understand the cruelty of people. A damaged and hurt inner child can lead to multiple problems that can continue with the person into adulthood such as:
Problems decision making.
Problem solving issues.
Always dependant or reliant on others.
Emotional problems.
Financial problems.
Academic/work problems.
Impulsivity.
Insecurity.
Lack of confidence.
Substance abuse.
Entering relationships with abusive partners.
Trust issues.
Behaviour problems.
Healing the inner child can help with all the above. Inner child healing therapy is not a quick process and will vary from person to person as to how long the therapy will take. It took me 15 months to do the therapy on myself and now with the knowledge I have learnt I am using it to help others.