what is the "true" definition of dissociation?

[qilora.livejournal.com]

and by "true" i mean (obviously) the: "modern medical definition" of the word...

every time i will sit and actually *think* on the word, and try to figure out what it is supposed to mean and how do we feel it (or not), i just end up looking at a bunch of blank faces in-house as the whole of us go "man, i have no friggin idea"....

for instance, how would doing things like "tuning out" background noise to concentrate on something you are trying to read, fit into the definition of dissociation?

thanks

- Jules.

Comments

[judiff]

i've never met any mental heltlth people that would take that extreme view of it (i'm not like saying no one would). We have had some problems with getting lost inside/dissoation and the professionals that have worked with us (even ones that have been cluless and stupid about other thigs) have always definded it as getting so lost in a thing that you can't take enuff notice of whats going outside to be safe etc.. No one has ever told us being able to concentrate is a bad thing or that it's a probelm to get a bit caught up in somthing like music.
Is that a uk/us diffenrece or are you taking about a few really extreme people's ideas?

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

Some of them are pretty extreme. According to Dr. Joyana Silberg, who's supposed to be an expert on dissociation:

Dissociative symptoms and disorders are often indicators of severe traumatic stress. Practitioners often feel stymied when children and adolescents display memory problems for their own behavior, periods of episodic rage, involvement in imaginary worlds and identities, and difficulty in attachment to protective caregivers.

Having an imaginary world is a form of dissociation. Ain't it grand?

I suspect

[spookshow-girl.livejournal.com]

That you are looking at this from different perspectives.

Although it is considered a method of keeping "safe" among professionals, it is also considered bordering on disorder if it goes on for too long. Thusly it is dangerous. The psych may feel that it's good that you can keep yourself safe, but they will view it as something where you have to be careful, because if you do it too much, it has crossed over from coping mechanism to disorder. Therefore, it is dangerous from their perspective. If it wasn't considered dangerous, they wouldn't monitor that sort of behavior for changes, or excess. Dangerous by way of becoming a crutch, is still dangerous, and this behavior is considered to have decent risk of becoming a crutch, among people with backgrounds they would want to escape from.

From the patient perspective, depending on the arbitrary views of a psych, you can get tagged unnecessarily with a disorder, for spending too much time thinking.

--Me