Types of Dissociation and How to Come Back

By George A. Boyd © 2021

Q: How do you comeback to grounded awareness if you remain continually dissociated?

A: It’s important to identify what type of dissociation you are experiencing:

Type one – You are dissociated because of delusional beliefs and disorganized thinking. This type arises from psychosis, and you may need the assistance of psychotherapy and a psychiatrist.

Type two – You are voluntarily keeping your attention in union with an ensouling entity, and you disidentify from your life and your personality. This type of dissociation comes when you identify with an ensouling entity or nucleus of identity and you choose to remain in this state of awareness—you may believe that it is the Supreme Reality and you choose to embody this essence. Followers of Vedanta and Advaita schools of Jnana Yoga practice this type of dissociation, with an aim to realize union with Brahman.

Type three – You remain in an altered state of consciousness to avoid facing a painful life experience or trauma. This type of dissociation is found in those who try to stay high with alcohol or drugs, or those who seek out ecstatic spiritual experiences to avoid focusing on core issues of pain, shame, or fear.

Type four – You maintain a state of consciousness of being present, where it appears that your life unfolds on its own. You stay in the flow state and witness your life occurring without you making any choices. This type of dissociation occurs in those who attempt to remain in a state of mindfulness, and is found among those who practice Taoist and Zen contemplative detachment from life.

Type five – You are so abstracted into mathematical or theoretical modeling of the world that you no longer identify with your life or your Self, but you see them as theoretical constructs or ideas. Those who are philosophers, mathematicians, or physicists can dissociate from their normal lives through abstraction into science and philosophy.

Type six – You identify with a spiritual essence, or with the loving, devotional mindset of a nucleus of identity and become abstracted into union with that spiritual essence. You regard the world from this lens of love and virtue, and you may forget your Self and your life as you live from this consciousness of pervasive love. This type of dissociation is found in saints, and devotees of Bhakti Yoga and traditions anchored in the Transcendental Sphere.

Type seven – You involuntarily identify with a nucleus of identity or ensouling entity when your Kundalini rises and becomes fixed in that spiritual essence. Here your attention becomes dissociated from life and your personality, and you re-identify with this spiritual essence.

At the bottom of several types of dissociation—particularly types one, two, three, four, and six—is the sense that it’s not OK to be in your normal awareness. You feel or believe that it’s somehow unworthy or demeaning to be in this normal state, and you seek to be present in a transcendent state.

Other types of dissociation appear to be trance-like states that arise with deep concentration—these are typical of types four and five. While it might be all right for someone to be in the waking state of awareness in these perspectives, the depth of their contemplation keeps these individuals dissociated while they are engaged “following the Tao” or seeking a deeper layer of truth and meaning.

In two types of dissociation—types one and seven——you experience detachment and dissociation as largely involuntary. You might wish to return to your waking state of awareness, but powerful intrapsychic forces keep you locked in an altered state of consciousness, regardless of what you might wish.

The Possibility of Coming Back from Dissociation

Remaining in altered states of consciousness through dissociation can bring with it a series of untoward symptoms. Among them are:

  • Derealization – this is the sense that the world is unreal.
  • Depersonalization – this is the sense that your life and your personality are unreal.
  • De-motivation – this is the loss of desire to pursue personal goals and dreams.
  • Emotional numbing – this is the inability to feel your feelings.
  • Disembodiment – this is the sense that you are viewing your body from outside from the standpoint of being in your astral body.
  • Mental silence – the experience of absolute silence and stillness in your mind, so that you cannot think.
  • Volitional paralysis – this is the inability to choose or carry out voluntary behavior.
  • Heightened suggestibility – this occurs when your reality-testing mechanism is shut off in an altered state of consciousness, and you come to believe in conspiracy theories and delusional ideas—and follow unquestionably the suggestions of charismatic leaders who come to dictate many aspects of your belief and behavior.
  • Perceptual decoupling – this is the experience of beholding the world from a mythological or mystic viewpoint that is divorced from any practical application in your life.
  • Cognitive disorganization – this is the experience of hearing voices that lie to you about what is real and what your life means, and that construct delusional beliefs.

Among the keys to coming back from dissociation are:

  1. Recognize you are in an altered state of consciousness—either voluntary or involuntary.
  2. Remember the waking state of awareness, and move your attention back to that state.
  3. Notice what comes up as you place your attention in your waking state of awareness—whether you feel it is not OK for you to be there
  4. Process any beliefs you have that make it not OK for you to be in your waking state of awareness, until you can feel complete comfort in being fully grounded and present in your life.
  5. Set criteria for when it is appropriate to be in an altered state of awareness, and delimit the time you spend in these states, so you can balance personal life with your spiritual life.
  6. Address any traumatic or painful issues through effective self-help methods, psychotherapy—or psychiatric intervention, if required. [We teach some of these self-help methods in our intermediate meditation classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.]
  7. Learn to lower your Kundalini back to the fully grounded state. Those of you who are having difficulty with this may wish to request a Kundalini Recovery Services consultation from us.

Some temporary dissociation is commonly experienced in prayer, meditation, and hypnosis. If you return to normal awareness again after this experience and take the time to integrate what you have learned and discovered, you will strengthen your ability to function as a human being.

If you remain in a dissociated state, however, this can lead to a variety of issues that can disconnect you from your life and detract from your ability to function as a human being. We encourage you to be able to experience and operate in your inner worlds of mind and spirit, but also to be able to live in this world in your authentic human life.