Dissociation (Psychology)

Dissociation covers a wide range of experiences, from a mild emotional detachment from one's immediate surroundings to a more severe disconnection from physical and emotional experience, marked by a detachment from reality rather than the false perception of reality found in psychosis. It exists on a continuum: at its mildest, non-pathological end it includes everyday experiences such as daydreaming, while at its most severe it includes clinically significant dissociative disorders such as dissociative identity disorder and depersonalization-derealization disorder, both diagnosable under the DSM-5 as well as recognized as a symptom that can appear in other mental health conditions. The French philosopher and psychologist Pierre Janet is credited as the concept's originator, though his own account of dissociation differed from later interpretations over whether it functions as a psychological defense mechanism. Its causes are thought to involve neurobiological mechanisms together with trauma, anxiety, and the use of psychoactive substances.