Structural Dissociation?

[shimmerz]

I am reading what this is online but having a hard time with understanding somehow. I am wondering if this is what I used to do. Not DID but instead coconscious. Does anyone know of this term or been told they are structurally dissociated?

Thank you! :hug:

 

[Lucycat]

Yes. I was told about it by my psychiatrist.
https://www.myptsd.com/threads/structural-dissociation.44021/

 

[shimmerz]

Eureka! @Lucycat thank you! So right, it is so confusing. I get it now though. I can see now how this dissociation came and went so abruptly and how I was so high functioning. My EP was in hiding until it wasn't and then it came out full force. Makes so much more sense. Thank you.

 

[Eleanor]

I started this a while back... didn't get back to it...

https://www.myptsd.com/threads/a-po...ural-dissociation-and-childhood-trauma.48575/

It can be an outcome of neglect as well....

 

[Ronin]

To be honest, I think it's bit bollocks categorization.
As in level of co-consciousness is more telling about the person's momentary circumstances and how far they are in processing their trauma, than be taken for a 'type' of D.I.D. Yet here we are, so many therapists that treat D.I.D. going with co-con as determining factor for 'how much is one D.I.D.' Not something useful for healing, I reckon. 0.02.

 

[shimmerz]

Yet here we are, so many therapists that treat D.I.D. going with co-con as determining factor for 'how much is one D.I.D.

I agree to some extent but I believe as well that co-con is a very different experience from DID. I have been dx'd with DDNOS. That is not a helpful diagnosis when healing. I feel like I am working with 'parts' but in fact am not -- but it still really feels like I am. This structural dissociation explains a ton but I feel like I am getting bogged down with the information as it seems --- not consistent? I don't even know. Would love to hear more of your thoughts on this @Kaia

@Eleanor - thank you so much for the link. My head is not focused enough to really get through it tonight but will look at both yours and @Lucycat's posting tomorrow.

 

[Deleted member 28403]

Thinking about dissociation, memory loss and all that is messy... I'm not sure how do I even function for the most part. I am pretty sure that I don't split off, but then, there is quite a lot of memory loss, so I'm not sure if I could differ one type of memory loss from another... Should read a bit more on the subject but seems interesting!

 

[shimmerz]

@otakujome , I had a girlfriend who video taped herself to see if she split off during those times of memory loss. It was a really effective tool for her. ;)

 

[Ronin]

@shimmerz, what might help, treat the information about your life as a lil bit of investigation. Different parts/compartments are different witnesses to the same event/series of events. The work isn't to determine what's true in the beginning, but what is it you've seen/experienced, from that angle. Aka, what was perceived, not what happened; you can dig that out after that. (Buried emotions work the same way.) You can find out where happened the perception glitch and disconnect with reality and what not later, but after you're clear on a, what effected you in a /roundabout way/, b, how it effected you, and c, it becomes something that's not needing to play hide with you.

And I hate to say this one, but sometimes records of the abuse actually can help. (Personal or by other people.) It's still *something* to count on, other than own memory.

Ohh and one more thing: Self care, self care, pauses to ground. Super necessary. You don't get to get to everything at the same time, and whatever's truth & healing, it waited with you all these years: it will wait for you more. ;)

Okay, this again was too much talk and no studies. I admit, studies on dissociation tend to boggle the hell out of me, after I duck with similarly dissociative mentors and demand explanation in some normal talk about what on earth I'm supposed to think of it.:D

 

[Deleted member 28403]

My serious problem is complete lack of self-care, self respect, any good image of myself...

 

[Ronin]

@otakujome, PTSD amnesia & memory loss and dissociative amnesia even though can stem from the same issues, are two different and distinct phenomena.

 

[Eleanor]

If my read of the theory is right - (and I could be missing something...) the idea is to get the different activation states to co-activate - which makes the grounding and self-care CRUCIAL. That keeps the activation overall lowish and trending down so that connections and cross talk between the emotional activation systems can happen. And it would seem that repetition is important. One is, after all, growing one's brain - more specifically neural connections. Memory is encoded/sorted by emotional activation. So we remember ALL the stuff that made us mad when we are angry, and it is a lot more difficult (and if structurally dissociated nearly impossible) to retrieve memories when we were happy, or playful, or felt secure. When the emotional systems are properly calibrated (meaning they don't under or over react drastically to what is going on at the moment) and integrated we have access to most of our memories most of the time...

There are other things that can cause memory glitches too, but this will certainly do it.