Fragmentation and Dissociation

I have been requested by a HUB reader to discuss a specific topic; this topic is the “fragmentation reaction” which is a stage of the dissociative continuum. The full dissociative continuum is discussed in detail in my book, Separated from the Light. But for the purpose of this article and the request I will simplify and target my remarks.

The dissociative continuum is the description of the movement an individual symbolically travels internally to separate themselves from a painful life event. An individual accomplishes this by escaping into one’s mind while disconnecting from the body which is trapped overwhelming emotional and physical pain. When the body is in a life event that is so overwhelming and painful, stressful, abusive or traumatic that the individual cannot physically escape or emotionally process. I term the process the “unfolding of self”. The individual’s life feels so threatened that the only way to escape is to “mentally dissociate”. Mental dissociation is the” ability to turn what is real into unreal”. Other elements an individual uses to complete the act of dissociation are their consciousness, creativity, perception, power and strength. The dissociative continuum is a description of that movement of a human to survive (see dissociative continuum diagram in my book ).

It is not only my belief but I have witnessed, in all my years of working with the Dissociative Disorder and Dissociative Identity Disorder population, that anyone who survives a horrific life event is creative, intelligent, strong and powerful or they could not have lived through such a tragedy.

That being said, as seen in the diagram above fragmentation reaction is Stage 5 on the continuum. Fragmentation goes past separation of head and body which occurs in Stage 2 – Dissociative Reaction. Simply, the fragmentation stage focuses on the division of personal functions when disconnect of thought (mind) from emotional and physical pain (body) does not cut off the reality of reoccurring traumatic life events. Fragmentation reaction is not the breaking apart of the individual but the creative disconnecting of the functions of all aspects of the individual. Fragmentation is defensive reaction to further separate the individual from the reality of what is happening to them.

An example of this is the protection act of an armadillo. When an armadillo is threatened, it will roll up into a ball to protect its core. The greater the threat the tighter it will curl up. Each layer of skin takes on more and more independence and responsibility in an attempt to save the inner core.

Human dissociation mimics this example. The greater the threat the more creative and intelligent the response is to save the inner core. So when the outside is under attack, more effort is put into separating the mind from a harmful reality (diagram 1/stage 2). If that does not keep the pain away then all energy is put into compartmentalizing characteristics, skills, traits, and qualities (diagram 1/stage 4). If all that effort creativeness, strength and power fail then emphasis is placed increasing the effectiveness of the individual’s functions (diagram 1/stage 5). So I will stop there because the explanation of the last two stages is so much more complex for this article.

Truly what I have discussed is a normal and healthy human response to an abnormal and painful life event. There are many recorded cases in history of abuse survivors, trauma survivors, combat soldiers and veterans demonstrate what I have discussed in this article. Every survivor is creative, intelligent strong, and powerful. Extraordinary survival against all odds is a fact and there are many stories through the ages to support it.

Learn more by visiting http://www.drbilltollefson.com/separated_from_the_light.html