Defence Mechanism: Disssociation

Dissociation is the result of trauma we have experienced in our life. And by dissociating from  the intensity of the trauma, we can minimize the suffering caused. 

With these experiences being subjective in nature and usually extremely overwhelming for the individual, they may however seem insignificant and even trivial to other people in the same situation. Once the event is pushed out of the conscious mind and into the unconscious, it is very often forgotten about. This form of selective amnesia can last for years and even as long as a life time in certain instances.

While it may be beneficial in the short time, one of the main consequences of long term dissociation is in losing our ability to function in the world as a whole human being. Although we can repress the experience from our mind, our reality will always show this conflict in one way or another. And due to the pain that is felt after a traumatic event we can go to the extreme of cutting ourselves of from our heart, with it being too painful for us to feel anymore. This can then lead to a whole myriad of personal and societal problems.

Once we lose our own ability to feel it can then create a separation from ourselves and other people, and a consequence of this is in losing our ability to empathise with other people. As if we can't feel our own pain, then it is very difficult to feel another person's pain. This then makes it possible for us to become abusive to other people and also to our environment and often without ever being consciously aware that we are doing so.

Another consequence of cutting ourselves off from our own being is in living a life of extreme extroversion and becoming caught up in the dramas of life. Which is the result of not being able to make the correlation to see that what is going on outside is a reflection of what is going on inside.

A pertinent example of something that can create and prolong dissociation, is the media. By constantly filling our mind with fear, trauma and anxiety, we are further creating disconnection from our heart and from ourselves. So in a way, it could be said that the very act of constantly exposing ourselves to the news has the potential to create harm, as opposed to stopping it. The complete opposite of what the media is supposedly for

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Oliver J R Cooper
http://www.oliverjrcooper.co.uk/