How To Get Out of a Dissociative State?
Dissociative states occur in almost everyone around the globe sometimes. Modern psychiatry claims that dissociative states are at the crossroads between neurobiology and psychology and they are true phenomena [1]. They say that dissociation is a coping process and that is how our mind sometimes reacts to extra severe stresses. The whole concept of dissociation is unclear as every person experiences it uniquely. In some cases, a dissociative state is just a temporary reaction, yet, sometimes, it leads to more complex mental impairments, like dissociative disorders and dissociative identity disorder as their most mysterious type. Yet, it is not a rule that only persons with DID suffer from dissociative states. Sometimes, they happen to mostly healthy people resulting in the following symptoms:
- You may feel dizzy and consciousness.
- You feel disconnected from your body and its reactions and actions are unwilling.
- You feel disconnected from your thoughts and memories and you think they are not yours.
- Time perception may also change and you can fall into a trance without tracking time.
- You feel disconnected from your surroundings and this leads to depressive states.
- Memory gaps are also characteristic of dissociative states [2].
At last, a distinct symptom of dissociative states is that you feel you are another person than you are in reality. That’s what happens, for example, to people suffering from multiple personality disorder. They have several altercations that are not similar to real personalities.
Why Does Dissociation Happen?
The first and foremost cause of dissociation is traumatic experience which cannot be overcome in another way than falling into dissociation with your memory and feelings. This can be a military surviving trauma or traumatic memories of an accident. For split personality disorder, the main cause is continuous child abuse cases that happened during early childhood. Also, people who survived natural disasters, criminal cases, and tortures are prone to dissociative states.
Yet, that is not the only reason. Others sound like as follows:
- Some drugs and psychedelic substances have dissociation as one of their impacts is loss of identity and time perception.
- Self-hypnosis and trance practices may also lead to dissociation.
- At last, dissociation can be caused by some mental illnesses like PTSD or schizophrenia spectrum disorder manifesting in this way.
How to Get Out of a Dissociative State?
Except for the most severe cases of schizophrenia and DID, people can try to get out of a dissociative episode themselves. According to the tips provided by leading psychotherapists from URP Behavioral Health Treatment Center, you can learn how to get out of a dissociative state. Let’s check them in this article.
The first thing you should learn is that if you experience some weird symptoms of dissociation like those we listed above it’s time to stop and comprehend what’s happening. Since you say to yourself that you feel dissociated, you are on the right way. Then you can try the following techniques and methods.
Learn to Breathe
Deep breathing and breath relaxation practices are your #1 helpers in returning to reality and maintaining a re-connection with your personality. One of the most effective breathing techniques to work with your dissociation is so-called box breathing. It is one of the mindfulness activities and you can pick up its simple rules to stabilize your connection with yourself [3].
- Breathe deeply and slowly while counting from 1 to 4.
- Hold your breath for 4 seconds.
- Exhale the air from your lungs through the mouse or nose slowly for 4 more seconds.
- Once more, hold your breath for 4 seconds.
You can repeat this exercise as many times as you need to feel more concentrated and connected with your body and thoughts.
Another breathing technique which can help you cope with dissociation is belly breathing. For it, you need to fix your hand on the upper chest and another below your ribs. Then inhale the air through your nose slowly until you feel the lungs are full and your diaphragm moves. Work with your stomach muscles to exhale the air trying to keep your upper hand still. Then repeat it.
Try Some Grounding Methods
Grounding is a spectrum of calming methods which work well to stop panic or anxiety episodes and they also are helpful for dissociative state mitigation.
- Try so-called toe/heel breathing. You need to sit comfortably and look at your toes. While you take a breath you point your toes up and when you exhale, you should lower them.
- Give yourself a squeezing hug. For this, you should cross your arms around your chest like giving a hug. Then squeeze your arms around the torso as much as it feels still comfortable for you. Then take a couple of deep breaths and continue squeezing for a while.
- Make a self-push exercise. Push your palms one to another and press a little while you are deeply breathing.
- Count your fingers and toes moving each of them while doing that. It helps to focus and feel more concentrated and distracts from dissociative feelings.
- The 5-4-3-2-1 technique is one of the most popular grounding methods. When you feel dissociated, please, stop and count 5 things you see around you, 4 items you can touch right at the moment, 3 things you can hear now, 2 things you can taste or smell, and 1 breath to end the exercise.
Find Safer Ways to Check Out
You need to be safe during your dissociative episode. The best thing is to stay home and find the most comfortable and preferable activity. It can be simply watching a TV show or scrolling your news feed on Facebook. Although you may not feel anything at the moment, being safe and feeling protected helps your brain faster overcome the moment.
Change the Temperature
One more situative method for going out of dissociation is fast temperature change. It can be a splash of cold water to your face or you can toss an ice cube in your fingers. If you are in a cool place, a hot shower may work the same.
Build Out a Support Team
If your dissociative episodes happen from time to time or regularly you shouldn’t remain alone during them. Your friends and relatives can be your support team. You need to tell them what you feel at the moment of dissociation and ask them to track your state and provide you with care and support so you can successfully come out of your dissociative state.
If you have no one close to you to trust your dissociative states, your support team may include your therapist and psychologist, or a supportive group of people with similar states in one of rehabs.
Keep a Journal and Start Identifying Your Triggers
Dissociative episodes are rarely sudden as they are the results of traumatic experiences, and recalling these experiences triggers your mind to fall into dissociation. That’s your task to learn what triggers you. It can be some memories or feelings, colors or pictures, smells or tastes strongly associated with the trauma. If you are not sure what triggers you, please, take your time to start a kind of journal or a diary of your dissociative experiences. Each time when you feel dissociated, please write down what happened before the episode, how you felt and what you experienced, which aftermath you had. These observations can help you better understand your triggers and further avoid them.
Get an Emotional Support Animal
If you are a pet lover it’s your lifesaving strategy. Pets are healing, and if you have a cat, a dog, or just a parrot in a cage, they can help you. The only thing is you shouldn’t take a too young pet as training it and caregiving can be traumatic. An adult animal with a calm but devoted nature can help you feel loved.
At last, if you at least once felt dissociated, do not be ashamed to get professional help. Sometimes, timely therapy makes miracles and diminishes further risks of dissociative states to zero. In URP Behavioral Health, you will find caring and professional support from our therapist. We work with a wide spectrum of mental health issues and provide patients with effective treatment to withstand dissociative episodes which include psychotherapeutic, behavioral, and medication methods custom-tailored for individual needs. With us, you can come out of a dissociative state and return to your well-being.
