Self Protection

It is quite normal to dissociate; we go into a trance-like state. Sometimes when we are tired or bored or our mind wanders, we can go off in our heads to a more interesting thought than the thing we are doing at the time. We can lose ourselves in a book or some programme on the television. Time passes and we haven't realised that we have been off somewhere.

Dissociation is self-protecting behaviour; it is a disconnection from full awareness of self and time and external circumstances

Dissociation

Dissociation is a common phenomenon. Children dissociate more readily than adults and will dissociate when experiencing trauma.

When a child faces abusive behaviour from adults, or has to deal with frightening experiences, they will flee into a safer place in their heads. Those who have been sexually abused move off into a fantasy world where they are safe and protected by some imaginary circumstances.

A child will cut off from the external environment in order to survive the abuse. This becomes a defensive pattern that continues on into adulthood; it becomes a way out of painful emotional experiences.

Post traumatic stress is a form of dissociation experienced by someone who has been in a traumatic experience; like a road accident or a near death incident. They will go through a level of dissociation in the post traumatic stress. It is therefore easy to see that when a child experiences some form of trauma - like physical or sexual abuse or living in a frightening environment - then they will readily use the dissociation to escape from the situation.

Here and Now

I am introducing the idea of dissociating because in the main, when we use food to self-soothe or suppress emotions, we are moving into the realms of cutting-off from the reality of the moment. It is a form of moving away from the here and now and hiding. I am suggesting that mindless eating or comfort eating is a form of dissociating from the reality of the present.