Addressing Trauma-Induced Dissociated Self-States |
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Dissociated self and other representations can develop from childhood experiences of abuse and rejection.
These experiences can lead to disconnected self-states alternating between submission and rebellion.
Trauma can lead to shifts between fearful submission and explosive anger, disrupting relationships.
Trauma-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy can help patients recognize and integrate split self-states.
In dissociative states or experiences, people can feel detached from reality, themselves, others, and their own emotions (Busch et al., 2021). Dissociation can involve a disruption in the integration of behaviors, thoughts, consciousness, feelings, memories, and/or identity. Severe trauma is a common source of dissociative states, as it can cause memory impairments, intolerable emotions, and bodily distress (Lazarov et al., 2017). People often don’t recognize the links between dissociative states and the trauma they experienced, sometimes because these connections were never formed. Alternatively, dissociative states can act as a defense, warding off the connection to distressing memories, fantasies, feelings, and bodily experiences associated with trauma.
Trauma can also cause fragmentation of identity, including aspects of one’s own self (Bromberg, 1998; Nijenhuis et al., 2010), out of one’s awareness. How might we understand what becomes dissociated in these circumstances? As we grow up, we develop models of ourselves and others, which stem particularly from experiences with caregivers (Bowlby, 1973). These models include self-assessments, accompanying emotions, and expected responses from others (Luborsky, 1984), all of which affect our personality, relationships, and potential psychological difficulties (Dutra et al., 2019). When dissociation occurs, individuals in one mode of representation of self and others are unaware of the other mode, disrupting efforts at integration. This dissociation, although not as severe as found in dissociative identity disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2022), can have a profound impact on one’s thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and relationships (Schimmenti & Caretti, 2016).
An example of dissociated representations of self and others can stem from an intense need to connect with abusive caregivers, who may be controlling, critical, neglectful, or rejecting (Busch, 2024). Individuals experiencing such childhood maltreatment on the one hand feel pressured to yield to caregivers’ expectations to avoid........