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How To Stop Dissociating- 3 Ways To Deal With It!
Dissociation is a bothersome experience for all, here are some useful ways you can use to learn how to stop dissociating from yourself and the environment.
Dissociation occurs when the brain separates itself from the physical world. You might be feeling right now that you are not mentally involved or present in the environment. People often dissociate themselves when they are dealing with any sort of mental trauma or psychological stress. When the mind becomes too overwhelmed, dissociations seem the only way to cope up with situations. You can always start by recognizing the dissociative episodes, as it is necessary to address them.
Next thing involved in grounding yourself in the present which helps you stop dissociation. If you wish to know how to stop dissociating, you must overcome recurring and persistent dissociation by going for therapies.
How To Stop Dissociating
You can use three ways to learn how to stop dissociating yourself from the environment and people attached to you. The first method explains recognizing dissociation, the second method is about grounding yourself in the present scenarios and the third includes going for therapies.
1. Recognize Dissociation
This is very important as to know how to stop dissociating you must know how to spot it at first hand. Here are some things you can do to recognize if you are going through this phase.
1.Watch For Common Symptoms
When you keep a watch over the symptoms, it helps you figure out when you are having episodes. You can always write down the symptoms you are dealing with and what is happening at that time. You must know that dissociation occurs on a spectrum, with zoning ut or daydreaming on familiar dissociative experiences. On the opposite end of this spectrum lies dissociative identity disorder which is quite a serious mental condition. Some of the common symptoms include:
- Feeling spaced out and mentally detached.
- Mind-wandering or feeling absent-mindedness.
- Derelaisation in which you perceive the world to be unreal or depersonalization occurs in which you lose the sense of self.
- Observing your own body as an outsider.
- Not being able to tell how you feel and facing emotional numbness.
- Excessive sleepiness and fatigue.
- Experiencing delayed reactions to events happening in your life.
2. Take a note of how you feel while you dissociate
This is a crucial step in determining episodes so that you can know how to stop dissociating yourself. Try to pay more attention to your thoughts, feelings, and sensations. You should also pay attention to triggers that keep occurring as it may help identify the main causes that lead to dissociating in your case. All these steps are crucial to overcoming dissociation. Ask yourself questions like these and make a note:
- How do I feel now? For instance, you feel foggy, detached, or as if you are floating above the events.
- What am I wondering? You might face trouble in forming thoughts and you may experience that your mind has no thoughts at all it’s blank.
- What is happening with me right now? This can help you identify what is stressing you so much that it led to dissociation.
3. A journal to note down your experience
Journaling is probably the best way one could have a way to work through their emotions and cope with certain not-so-nice experiences. Not only if helps you keep a record and track of episodes, but it also helps you learn to process those and process your past. Through a journal you can learn more easily how to stop dissociating as it will help you find out the triggers.
- Try to note down a journal every day to document what has been happening and what you have been feeling lately. Also, note down your dissociative experiences.
- When you notice an episode of dissociating, record how you felt and what led to the episode.
- In some cases, you may even bring your journal with you when you go for therapy sessions as it will help you understand better.
4. Know that Dissociations are of several types
Mild detachment is often a sign or normal psychological response to any stressful event happening around, some people may experience this detachment for a long time and it may be chronic than usual. When the dissociative episodes are prolonged and severe, they are signs of a mental illness. If you have been thinking about how to stop dissociating for a long time now, it is important to seek help from a mental health professional. If you genuinely feel the experiences are getting bitter and too much, go for therapy as soon as you can.
Below mentioned are few conditions in which dissociating is a common and most prominent symptom:
- Depersonalization is one such condition in which you start feeling detached from yourself or your life.
- Dissociative amnesia is a condition that occurs when you do not recall some parts of your life to mask the trauma you have been through.
- Dissociative fungus is a condition that occurs when you cannot recall who you are and often travel to an unfamiliar location.
- DID or dissociative identity disorder occurs when your brain splits into several individuals all having separate personalities as a response to some severe traumatic situations you have undergone.
- DDNOS or dissociative disorder not otherwise specified occurs when you experience symptoms of dissociation but you do not meet the requirements for diagnosis.
5. Ask for help to identify when you dissociate if necessary
It is completely normal if you do not know when you are dissociating even after writing it up. If you want to learn how to stop dissociating you can always seek help from your close ones. Luckily, it is more likely that the person staying with you can identify when you are dissociating. Ask them to help you recognize when you dissociate. You can ask them when you spaced out and they will be happy enough to let you know in case it happens in the future.
2. Ground Yourself In The Present
This is another method through which you can figure out how to stop dissociating. Here are some things you can do:
1. Describe where you are at that moment
This is a really simple way to remind yourself about where you are. You can always start by telling the location and then try to notice all the details about the place. When you start doing this, you will be easily able to come back to the same place rather than feeling detached from it.
2. Identify all the things around you
This is an important step to help you engage with what is happening at that moment. This helps you ground yourself at the moment itself. It is quite similar to “I Spy” which you may have played a lot as a child. Here are few ideas using which you can perform this activity:
- How may blue items be here?
- How many round things do I see?
- What are the patterns here?
- What do I smell right now?
- What do I hear here?
- How are my senses engaged?
3. Try to active your senses
Your senses are a great way to provide you the link between yourself and the present. They also make you more aware of the situation and where you are. When you feel detached, begin with triggering your number 1 sense and then try to engage others as well. Here are some possible ways to do this:
- Tru to rib a piece of ice or ice cube on your skin, snap a rubber on your waist or run cold water on your hands, this helps to activate the senses.
- Apply a drop of any essential oils on the pulse and sniff it.
- Et something you like or simply take anything to know its flavors
- Listen to the sound of everything happening around you
- Describe what is present around you.
- Try to stand on one foot only and balance so that your body re-engage with yourself.
4. Use Mindfulness
Learning how to stop dissociating is not as easy, you should stay grounded. Mindfulness is a practice in which you live in the present which makes it most helpful to learn how to stop dissociating. It is immensely helpful for those struggling with dissociation. You can always refer to some books and read about mindfulness. This skill takes quite time to develop and once it does, it is very helpful. here are some ways you can get started:
- Try to focus on one thing only at a time.
- When you are eating anything, try to focus on the flavors inside it
- F+GO for a walk and see what you hear, taste, smell, feel, to focus on all your senses.
- Focus on each breathe
- Try to meditate. This can be done using an app like calm, timer, etc.
- Try to practice yoga as it increases mindfulness
5. Focus on your feet
You can learn how to stop dissociating by being in the present. Try to focus on your feet when you are on the ground, the best way to try this is being barefoot. Place your feet on the surface and press them. Pay attention to little sensations such as scratchy carpet, smooth tiles, wet grass, etc. Wal Aaron by paying attention to your feet when it touches the ground. All these techniques are useful to activate all your senses and learn how to stop dissociating.
3. Go For A Therapy
Going to therapy can be very useful when it comes to learning how to stop dissociating. Here are few things that can be done.
1. Meet with some therapists who have seen such cases earlier
Great traumatic stress often causes dissociation spit is very important that you take help from a therapist. They have experience working with people who have undergone trauma previously. Ask the therapist about others’ experiences as it helps lighten up a little bit. You can also look at their websites and other details for reviews and decide which therapist to choose.
- You can ask any doctor you know to recommend a good therapist
- Since it requires a safe environment for recovery, try to visit the office and see if the environment suits you. You need to be comfortable when you are undergoing therapy so that it can help you deal with dissociation more nicely and get treated.
2. Undergo talk therapy
You can always undergo talk therapy and discuss the underlying traumas you are going through. It is one of the most recommended treatments for someone who wants to know how to stop dissociating. Your therapists are professions and they help you work through the trauma and stop dissociative episodes you have been going through lately. They are likely to help you with the grounding process which we have discussed above and help you talk through the trauma without going through episodes.
3. Develop coping strategies
By now you know that dissociating itself is a coping strategy our mind uses to deal with some sort of trauma or psychological stress. You will require some alternative strategies to deal with trauma so that you learn how to stop dissociating. Therapists often help their patients with new strategies. For example, you may call your loved ones when you are stressing over something, start taking deep breathes, or engage in a self-care routine.
- Such strategies need a lot of patience and practice to be effective. Do not worry if you cannot achieve everything on the first day itself, give it time.
- Find certain practices that you did earlier and can help you reduce anxiety or stress levels. This may include breathing exercises, grounding exercises. muscle relaxation, etc.
4. Consider taking anti-depressants
Remember, there are no particular medicines that doctors prescribe for dissociation. However, if you are experiencing anxiety or depression during this phase, you can take anti-depressants. This is treatable and normal. You can take it to your doctor as they may help to determine the right anti-depressant for you.
You should know that you have to consult your doctor before taking antidepressants as they have side effects too. Common side effects may include dry mouth, weight gain, increased appetite, constipation, blurred vision, nausea, restlessness, dizziness, insomnia, agitation, and sexual issues. Also, they are not intended to solve all your problems effectively, as they are only designed to help you work through some symptoms you have been facing.
5. Join a support group
You will find many support groups all around the globe that comes together to help people going through trauma and who wants to know how to stop dissociating. They will allow you to share your experiences as they might have had the same earlier. You can learn a lot from these groups as the situation was kind of similar. They may provide you support emotionally on the road to your recovery. Talk to your doctors or therapist about it, they might get you in.
6. Physical therapies for physical symptoms
In rare cases, you might have physicals symptoms too when you are undergoing dissociation. These include loss of speech, partial paralysis, or trouble walking. Luckily, for such people, physical therapies are designed.
You can try sensorimotor therapy as it helps deal with past trauma and dissociation. This is amazing to help you with somatic symptoms so that you can connect with your body again. Most people having dissociative episodes do not have to go for physical therapies as they face no such symptoms, in case someone does, you can talk to your doctor about referral t a physical therapist.
These were the most useful techniques to learn how to stop dissociating.
