Skip to content
Call our advice line 01773 746 115 (option 1 - 7 days a week, 24 hours per day)
  • Quick exit!
SV2

SV2

  • Home
  • Help & Support
  • Resources
  • Fundraising
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Donate

Coping Mechanisms – Dissociation

March 7, 2019

What is Dissociation?

A coping mechanism is what you might use to help you cope with difficult emotions. Dissociation is a coping mechanism that is used at the time the abuse is taking place.

It is an adaptive defence in response to high stress or trauma characterised by memory loss and a sense of disconnection from oneself or one’s surroundings.

It can be a reaction to early abandonment, severe sustained pain, near-death experiences and/or prolonged neglect.

What is Dissociation

It is a way in which some survivors (specifically children under the age of 7) survive abuse by escaping mentally while the abuse is happening.

It is the opposite of ‘association’ i.e. when two things are associated, they are in relationship with each other, they are linked and connected. When two things are dissociated, they are disconnected from each other.

It is a response to severe relational trauma in which an individual adapts the survival mechanism of ‘friend, fight, flight, freeze and flop’ and dissociation is the flop response.

What happens when someone Dissociates

The body and the mind seem to separate. 

Whilst the body is being hurt, the survivor no longer feels it because the mind manages to “escape” to a perceived safe place.

Different survivors may dissociate in different ways. One example is “leaving” the body and floating on the ceiling over the bed where the abuse is occurring. The individual may even watch what is happening but it is as if it were happening to someone else.

The survivor is able to feel nothing. So even though they may remember aspects of the abuse experience it is as if it happened to someone else.

Observations of Dissociation

An averted gaze; Eyes hidden behind hair; Peeping out; Staring at something intensely;

Drooping or fluttering of eye-lids; Jumpiness; Not hearing you; Things do not add up

e.g. the indivdual functions well in certain circumstances, but collapses in others;

Inappropriate childlike speech, behaviour, feelings and body language; Sudden change of mood.

Back to resources
information_icon
Help and support
Our team are here to help you and offer support for recent and past vicitims of sexual abuse. See how we can help you to move forward.
Find out more
selp help icon
Talk to us
We offer person-centered support to anyone who has experienced sexual abuse.
Get in touch

© 2022 SV2 LTD
Website by Fluid Ideas

Helpful links
  • Work For Us
  • Referral Forms
  • Contact Us
  • Client Complaint Policy
  • About Millfield House
  • SV2 Equality Diversity and Inclusion Policy
  • Feedback Form
Privacy Policies
  • SV2 Privacy Policy
  • Client Privacy Policy
  • Client (Young Person) Privacy Policy
Follow us

 

 

MAKE A DONATION