Dissociative Addiction Disorder

Addictive Dissociative disorders develop as a result of dissociation being used as a survival strategy repeatedly during childhood.

Addictive Dissociative disorders develop as a result of dissociation being used as a survival strategy repeatedly during childhood. It is as if a ‘groove’ or ‘track’ in the mind is formed — in other words, certain neural networks are strengthened, and the mind develops with a propensity for dissociation as a coping mechanism for all kinds of stress, not just traumatic stress. Using dissociation repeatedly means that a child is unlikely to develop alternative coping strategies. This therefore affects their emotional and personality development.
The nature of dissociative addiction disorder is that the trauma is hidden from view, ‘dissociated’ behind usually quite strong amnesic barriers in the mind. For this reason people can be well into middle or even late adulthood before these protective barriers disintegrate and clear evidence of a dissociative addictive disorder is manifest. .