Had trouble getting a clear answer on this via Googling. I read once that it is possible to have (via stroke) temporary brain damage that hinders the perception of the body even having boundaries - not "loss of proprioception"; it was described as feeling more like "temporarily one with everything/no separation from anything" so, 1 - Do you know what the technical term for that would be? and 2 - Would my character(s) be correct or incorrect to describe that sensation as a type of "dissociation"?

That sounds a bit like “depersonalization”, where someone feels that their own bodies / sense of self becomes less real. It is indeed a subset of dissociation, so it would be accurate to describe it as such - it’s just a little less specific.

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Psych Terminology: Dissociation

Dissociation is the psychological process of becoming distant or detached from reality. While it can occur as a symptom in many different mental illnesses, it is also a very common reaction to a traumatic event - a character might feel like they’re floating above their body, or that the trauma is happening to someone else, etc.

Dissociation can be a symptom of many different mental illnesses, and in fact has its own category of dissociative disorders, which includes:

Depersonalization / derealization disorder (see here)
Dissociative amnesia (see here)
DID (see below)
OSDDs (see here)

The most well known of these is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) (see here), where a person dissociates to the degree that alternate personality states are created.

Note - One thing that kinda bothers me is when people use or say “disAsociation.”

There’s no “A” in between “dis” and “sociation”. It’s simply “dis-sociation.”

The same goes for “dissociative” - it’s not “disAsociative identity disorder,” it’s “dissociative identity disorder.”

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Anonymous asked:

Can a character going through a traumatic experience (for instance, being kidnapped and kept prisoner) somehow compartmentalize so that they don't really feel the trauma while they're experiencing it, but once they're safe, they feel everything they were keeping down during the traumatic experience? Thanks!!

Yes. This is actually one of the more common reactions to a trauma - the character dissociates, mentally distancing themselves from their surroundings, themselves, or both.

These two kinds of distancing are:

Depersonalization - which is often described as an “out of body experience.” The character would feel like the trauma isn’t actually happening to them; instead, they’re observing what’s happening rather than feeling it.
Derealization - a character would feel like reality itself isn’t real - everything around them feels disconnected and dreamlike. This makes the character feel like “this isn’t really happening.”

As to the second part of your question, PTSD (and acute stress disorder) itself is an extended emotional, physical, and cognitive reaction to experiencing a traumatic event that often involves re-experiencing the emotions felt during the trauma.

For more information, check out my tags on these subjects:

http://scriptshrink.tumblr.com/tagged/depersonalization

http://scriptshrink.tumblr.com/tagged/dissociation

http://scriptshrink.tumblr.com/tagged/ptsd

http://scriptshrink.tumblr.com/search/acute+stress+disorder

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real-did

Guide to the OSDDs

OSDD stands for Otherwise Specified Dissociative Disorder, and it’s the last catch-all category in the dissociative disorders (including DID, DPDR, dissociative amnesia, OSDD, and unspecified dissociative disorder, or USDD). The diagnosis DDNOS (dissociative disorder not otherwise specified) was used prior to the DSM-5.

It’s split into several subtypes of OSDD.

OSDD-1 is “almost DID,” but lacking one of the diagnostic criteria for it. OSDD-1a is DID without sufficiently distinct alters, whereas OSDD-1b is DID without amnesia.

OSDD-2 is a change in identity/dissociation caused by coercion, such as a result of torture, brainwashing, thought reform, indoctrination, recruitment into cults/sects/terror organizations, etc).

OSDD-3 is typically a temporary diagnosis for a dissociative disorder brought on by recent trauma. These symptoms tend to not last longer than a month but can include intense dissociation, depersonalization, amnesia, lack of physical abilities and coordination, etc.

OSDD-4 is dissociative trances, when individuals slip into highly dissociative states and may be unconscious of events going on around them, may be confused or amnesiac afterwards, or otherwise slipping in and out of dissociative trances. This diagnosis is only given when the trances cannot be explained by something else, like seizures, drugs, religious or cultural activities, etc.

USDD is diagnosed when a dissociative disorder is present but does not fully meet the criteria for DID, DPDR, dissociative amnesia, or one of the OSDDs. USDD may also be used when the clinician does not choose to disclose more information about the dissociative disorder being diagnosed or is diagnosing quickly in emergency settings (indicating that there’s evidence for a dissociative disorder but not time to diagnose specifically).

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Demystifying the DSM-V: Depersonalization / Derealization Disorder

This is one of the dissociative disorders, and in the same category as dissociative identity disorder and dissociative amnesia (which I’ve already posted about for this series!)

Your character has to experience EITHER of the following, for a decent chunk of time, and on multiple occasions:

1. Depersonalization, which is a weird feeling of unreality, out-of-body experiences, and/or being kinda on the outside looking in on their own thoughts, feelings, body, or actions. Sometimes this is described as feeling like a ghost.

2. Derealization, which is a similar feeling of unreality, but this time they feel like their surroundings aren’t real. Everything might seem dreamlike.

They also MUST be able to tell that what they’re experiencing isn’t completely real. This means they have to describe it as “it feels LIKE the world isn’t real”, not “Nothing is real.”

As with many other disorders, this disorder must cause the character stress or make their life much more difficult in some way.

Interestingly, around half of adults in the US have experienced depersonalization or derealization at some point. So there’s a good chance you may already know what this feels like! But what separates depersonalization / derealization from a normal experience is how frequent and how intense it is.

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