Dissociation Disorder:

Dissociation:

Dissociation and dissociative disorders represent one of the most important areas in the study of human mental life. These phenomena are vitally important for psychology to understand and assimilate. There are many reasons for this. The development of the dissociative disorder is primarily linked to the experience of overwhelming psychological trauma. 

    Dissociation may be of an everyday type like daydreaming. It has been explained in a study that dissociation is a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception of the environment. Many psychologists and psychiatrists view dissociation as a coping mechanism designed to deal with overpowering stress. 

    One well-known form of dissociation is depersonalization, in which individuals feel disconnected from themselves, they may feel as if they are watching themselves from a distance. Another form is derealization, in which individuals feel disconnected from reality; they may feel as though they are in a dream.

Dissociation is usually understood in one of three ways:

·         As a pathology

·         As a psychobiological process

·         As an intrapsychic defense

    Dissociation is defined as a form of psychopathology: a disturbance or alteration in the normal integrative function of memory, identity, or consciousness.

    On the other hand, it is also defined as a process 

that produces an alteration in a person’s thoughts, 

feelings or actions so that for a period of time certain information is not associated or integrated with other information as it normally would be. This process produces a range of clinical and behavioral phenomena involving alterations in memory and identity that play important roles in normal and pathological mental processes. In extreme cases, it gives rise to a set of psychological problems known as dissociative disorders.

    As a form of intrapsychic defense, dissociation has recently been understood as a defense not simply against memories of warded-off unconscious wishes, but rather as a defense against the traumatic experience itself.