Understanding and Healing Dissociation
A Comprehensive Neuroscience-Based Approach at Taproot Therapy Collective
Dissociation can feel like watching your life through a foggy window, leaving you disconnected from yourself and the world around you. At Taproot Therapy Collective, we combine cutting-edge neuroscience with compassionate care to help you reconnect with yourself and your experiences. Our approach addresses both the neurological and emotional aspects of dissociation, offering a path back to feeling present and whole.
Evidence-Based Treatments for Dissociation and Amnesia
At Taproot Therapy Collective, we understand that dissociative experiences represent the mind's attempt to protect itself from overwhelming trauma. Our specialized approaches address both the neurobiological and psychological aspects of dissociation:
- Parts-Based Therapy: This approach is foundational for treating dissociation, as it recognizes the internal system of "parts" that may have developed to manage trauma. Parts work helps create communication, compassion, and eventually integration among dissociated aspects of the self.
- Internal Family Systems (IFS): A structured form of parts work that is particularly effective for dissociative disorders. IFS helps identify the roles of different "parts" (like protectors and exiles) and develops internal leadership to create harmony within the dissociated system.
- Lifespan Integration: This innovative approach helps heal dissociation by creating a coherent timeline across memory gaps. The visualization process strengthens neural networks that connect dissociated memories and experiences, promoting integration of the fragmented self.
- Somatic Trauma Therapy: Helps reconnect with the body when dissociation has created a sense of disconnection or numbness. Gentle somatic awareness exercises help clients safely experience bodily sensations without triggering further dissociation.
- Brainspotting: Can help access and process traumatic memories that may be driving dissociative responses, while maintaining sufficient emotional distance to prevent overwhelming the system. This brain-based approach works with the neurological underpinnings of dissociation.
- QEEG BrainMapping: Provides objective data about brain activity patterns associated with dissociation, which can inform targeted interventions to normalize neural functioning and integration between brain regions.
The Neuroscience of Dissociation: Understanding Your Brain's Response
The Brain's Network Dynamics in Dissociation
Recent neuroscience research reveals how dissociation affects multiple brain networks. The default mode network, responsible for self-referential thinking and autobiographical memory, often shows irregular patterns that can be precisely measured through qEEG brain mapping. This network's disruption contributes to the feeling of being disconnected from your own life story.
Key Brain Regions Affected
The anterior cingulate cortex, which normally helps monitor attention and emotional states, shows reduced activity during dissociative episodes. This can be particularly challenging for individuals also dealing with OCD and Bipolar Disorder, where emotional regulation is already compromised.
The amygdala and hippocampus show altered functioning patterns, affecting both emotional processing and memory integration. This can sometimes present similarly to symptoms of ADHD, leading to potential misdiagnosis if not properly assessed.
The insula's decreased activity during dissociative states explains the disconnection from bodily sensations, which can be particularly challenging for those also experiencing chronic pain or post-surgery depression.
How Dissociation Manifests: Understanding Your Experience
Dissociation can manifest in various ways, often intersecting with other conditions such as panic disorders and depression. Common experiences include:
Emotional Manifestations
Many people experience a profound sense of emotional numbness or detachment, which can be particularly challenging in relationships and social situations. This emotional disconnection may be more pronounced in individuals also dealing with grief and loss.
Cognitive Manifestations
Memory gaps and time distortion are common cognitive symptoms. These can significantly impact academic and professional performance, sometimes requiring additional support through our academic performance services.
Physical Manifestations
Physical symptoms often include feeling disconnected from your body, experiencing numbness, or having difficulty tracking physical sensations. These symptoms can be particularly challenging for athletes seeking peak performance enhancement.
The Essential Role of Micronutrition in Dissociation Recovery
Emerging research indicates that nutritional deficiencies can significantly impact neurological function, potentially exacerbating dissociative symptoms. At Taproot Therapy Collective, we recognize the crucial connection between brain health and proper nutrition.
Hardy MicroNutrition: Evidence-Based Support for Neurological Health
Hardy MicroNutrition offers a scientifically formulated approach to supporting optimal brain function through precise nutritional supplementation. Their comprehensive formulations address key neurological pathways that may be disrupted during dissociative states:
- Neurotransmitter Support: Essential precursors for serotonin, dopamine, and GABA production help regulate mood and emotional stability.
- Neural Network Function: Key minerals and amino acids support healthy communication between brain regions often affected during dissociation.
- Anti-inflammatory Support: Reducing neuroinflammation can help improve connectivity in areas like the default mode network.
Special Offer: 15% Off Hardy MicroNutrition Products
As part of our commitment to your complete recovery, we're pleased to offer our clients a special discount on Hardy MicroNutrition products.
Use offer code: Taproot at checkout for 15% off your order.
Learn MoreOur Comprehensive Treatment Approach
Primary Treatment Modalities
qEEG Brain Mapping and Neurostimulation: Our advanced brain mapping technology allows us to create detailed maps of your brain's activity patterns, identifying specific areas affected by dissociation. This information guides our treatment approach and helps track your progress toward recovery.
Brainspotting: This innovative approach helps identify and process stored trauma that may be contributing to dissociative symptoms. Through specific eye positions corresponding to neural activation, we can help release deeply held patterns of disconnection.
Somatic Trauma Mapping: This body-based approach helps reconnect you with physical sensations and emotions stored in the body. It's particularly effective for addressing the physical manifestations of dissociation.
Emotional Transformation Therapy: ETT provides innovative ways to process and integrate emotional experiences, helping you reconnect with feelings that may have become inaccessible through dissociation.
Supporting Treatment Approaches
Jungian Therapy: This depth-oriented approach helps uncover and work with unconscious patterns that may be contributing to dissociative experiences.
Meditation and Mindfulness: These practices help develop greater present-moment awareness and provide practical tools for managing dissociative symptoms in daily life.
Somatic Experiencing: This gentle approach helps regulate the nervous system responses that contribute to dissociation.
Lifespan Integration: This approach helps create a more coherent life narrative, addressing the temporal disconnection often experienced in dissociation.
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP)
For many individuals experiencing dissociation, Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) offers a powerful pathway to reconnection and healing. This evidence-based approach directly addresses the emotional avoidance that often underlies dissociative symptoms.
Current Research and Understanding
Our treatment approaches are continuously informed by the latest research in neuroscience and trauma therapy. Recent studies published in leading journals demonstrate the effectiveness of integrated treatment approaches that address both the neurological and psychological aspects of dissociation.
Recent Research Findings
A 2025 study identified preliminary risk profiles for dissociation in 16- to 25-year-olds, finding that everyday stress, childhood trauma, loneliness, and marginalization significantly contributed to felt sense of anomaly dissociation.
Machine learning analysis revealed that for 16-20 year-olds, higher dissociation severity was associated with being female, having childhood trauma, and experiencing high levels of marginalization, depression, and negative self-beliefs.
For 21-25 year-olds, dissociation was linked to marginalization, trauma, anxiety, negative beliefs about emotions, and maladaptive coping strategies like emotional suppression and substance use.
A 2023 study found that cognitive appraisals of dissociation and perseverative thinking mediate the relationship between anxiety and dissociation in adolescents aged 13-18.
Understanding Dissociation and Its Relationship to Other Conditions
Dissociation rarely exists in isolation and often accompanies or stems from other mental health conditions. Understanding these connections is crucial for effective treatment:
- Complex PTSD: Dissociation is a core feature of C-PTSD, developing as a survival mechanism during chronic or repeated trauma. The relationship between trauma and dissociation is so fundamental that effective treatment must address both simultaneously.
- Anxiety Disorders: Anxiety and dissociation often co-occur, with panic attacks sometimes triggering depersonalization or derealization. Conversely, the disorienting experience of dissociation can itself trigger anxiety, creating a self-reinforcing cycle.
- Depression: The emotional numbing and disconnection that characterizes some forms of depression can overlap with dissociative symptoms. Additionally, the internal conflict and isolation created by dissociative experiences often contribute to depressive symptoms.
- Somatic Symptoms: Physical symptoms without clear medical cause may sometimes represent somatized trauma that couldn't be processed emotionally due to dissociation. The body remembers what the mind has separated from conscious awareness.
- Personality Disorders: Many personality disorders, particularly borderline personality disorder, include dissociative features. Unstable identity and self-states in BPD can be understood as related to dissociative processes stemming from attachment trauma.
- Substance Use Disorders: Many people with dissociative symptoms attempt to self-medicate with substances that either enhance dissociation (providing temporary relief through escape) or that reduce it (temporarily providing a sense of being present).
Our Dissociation and Amnesia Specialists
Alice Hawley, LPC, LMFT, NCC, MA
Alice specializes in working with dissociative disorders and brings a unique blend of approaches to this complex work. Her treatment of dissociation includes:
- Parts work that helps identify and build relationships between dissociated aspects of self
- Jungian shadow work to integrate dissociated material from the unconscious
- Creative and intuitive approaches that help express and process experiences that may be difficult to verbalize
Pamela Hayes, MSW LMSW
Pamela's extensive experience with Internal Family Systems makes her particularly skilled at working with dissociative processes. Her approach includes:
- Internal Family Systems therapy to identify and work with dissociated parts of the self
- Somatic Experiencing techniques to help safely reconnect with the body
- Lifespan Integration to create coherence across dissociated memories and experiences
Marie Danner, LICSW-S MSW CCTP-II
As a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, Marie brings specialized expertise to treating trauma-related dissociation. Her approach includes:
- Brainspotting to process traumatic memories underlying dissociative responses
- Lifespan Integration to create temporal coherence and strengthen autobiographical memory
- Attachment-based approaches that address the relational roots of dissociation
Kristi Wood, LICSW MSW PIP
Kristi's training in attachment issues and EMDR provides valuable tools for working with dissociative experiences. Her approach includes:
- EMDR adapted for dissociative clients to safely process traumatic material
- Brainspotting to address trauma while maintaining emotional regulation
- Attachment-focused work that addresses the relational wounds often underlying dissociation
Additional Resources for Dissociative Disorders
In addition to the specialized treatment services offered by Taproot Therapy Collective, there are several national and international organizations that provide valuable resources, support, and advocacy for individuals with dissociative disorders:
- International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD): A professional organization that provides education, training, and research resources related to trauma and dissociation.
- The Sidran Institute: A nonprofit organization that offers information, resources, and support for individuals with trauma-related disorders, including dissociative disorders.
- The Dissociative Initiative: An international collaboration of researchers, clinicians, and advocates dedicated to increasing understanding and improving treatment for dissociative disorders.
- An Infinite Mind: A website that provides educational resources, coping strategies, and support for individuals with dissociative disorders and their loved ones.
These organizations can serve as valuable complements to the individualized care provided by mental health professionals, offering a sense of community, validation, and empowerment for those navigating the challenges of dissociative disorders.
Begin Your Journey to Recovery
At Taproot Therapy Collective, we understand the profound impact dissociation can have on your life. Our evidence-based approaches can help you reconnect with yourself and your experiences in a safe, supported way.
Contact Us Today