Dissociation can take different forms such as a state of feeling disconnected from one’s surroundings, or, as laypeople may call it, “being zoned out” or “spacey.” Dissociation can range from getting lost in a daydream to a more severe detachment from physical and emotional awareness. According to the American Psychiatric Association, it is “a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception of the environment.”

Our ITR therapists see that most dissociation comes from experiencing the Instinctual Trauma Response so we consider it a brain-based process. We teach people to use grounding techniques and to practice the ones that work best to bring a person back to the here-and-now so the therapy session can continue. It is common for people that have experienced multiple traumas.