Chapter 6. The Mechanism of Dissociation (1) Resilience--- Capacity not to Dissociate (6)

Resilience and Dissociation
It is worth mentioning here the relationship between resilience and dissociation. This topic is important as non-pathological dissociation might occur frequently and casually among many us upon stressful events, and it might help us avoid experiencing some of their painful aspects and regain our composure. In that sense, dissociative experiences within a normal range can be a show of our adaptational capacity and resilience. In fact, dissociation can be a very useful tool at least momentarily in order to obviate emotional catastrophe right at a moment. Below is an example of dissociative experiences which can be a show of adaptive capacity and resilience.
A person got injured in a car accident, and had an “out of body experience” and looked down himself from the above. Thus he did not feel any physical or emotional pain caused by the injury as he felt that he was just like a bystander. He could remember that experience and is appreciative that he survived the painful moment in that way without being traumatized by it.
However, many clinicians are also very aware that if dissociation occurs for a prolonged period and on an intense level upon stress or trauma, it can leave many problems later on. As I discussed in the Chapter 4, the diagnostic notion of ASD (acute stress disorder) in the current DSM itself indicates that dissociation experienced upon the traumatic stress (“peritraumatic dissociation”) can be a failure of adaptation as it is considered to be likely to develop into PTSD. Also, if their comorbid depression or somatic illnesses worsen, many people with dissociative disorder show deterioration of the dissociative symptoms as well. Instead of helping the individuals tolerate and survive comorbid symptoms, their dissociative symptoms also get out of control and complicate their whole problem.
Thus, dissociative experience can be a show of resilience or a lack thereof, depending on its nature and the course it takes. If it occurs temporarily without the subject’s loss of capacity to keep it under control, it can be a show of resilience. If it lasts for an extended period of time and makes the stressful event come back later on in a form of flashback, it can be the opposite. In other words, resilience can be defined as one’s capacity to not to have a pathological type of dissociation.