The 3 Types of Dissociative Disorders
By Christine Hammond, MS, LMHC In the middle of a conversation about weekend plans with her husband, Margaret stood up, waved her finger, and angrily yelled at him. Instead of reacting at the moment as he had done in the past, her husband stayed still. About three minutes later, Margaret returned to her seat, appeared calm again, and picked back up on talking about the weekend. If this was the first him Margaret’s husband experienced the event, he might have acted differently. But this time, they were in counseling and their therapist had witnessed the entire thing. After Margaret sat down, the therapist asked her if she remembered standing up and yelling at her husband. Margaret gave everyone a blank stare and just said, “No.” During a dissociative episode, a person experiences a disconnection or detachment from the present moment. It can occur for a split second or last hours depending on the nature of the dissociation. It is a way of escaping reality when the