Healing, One Trigger at a Time

Photo credit: author – the last of the snow on the pond, hopefully

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with a dissociative disorder — Dissociative Disorder NOS (not otherwise specified) (DDNOS).  Dissociative disorders exist along a continuum, with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder) at the most extreme end and DDNOS at the more mild end of the spectrum.  My diagnosis co-exists with a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) stemming from chronic trauma in my childhood.  I discuss dissociation and dissociative disorders a bit further, in what follows.  I’ve also written about these things previously, here and here, as well as touched on them in some of my other posts.

All of us dissociate — detach from our emotions or thoughts or our bodies or separate our minds from what is going on around us — from time to time.  A common example is…