1
Michael Lorberg
Mr
.
Jehle
Expository Writing 101
September 30
,
2007
“Psychological Dissociation: The Ruiner of Self-Knowledge?”
Psychological dissociation
,
or
,
divided awareness
,
is defined as the psychological
phenomenon in which the mind separates from the body for a period of time determined by the
severity of the dissociation
.
It ranges from the ordinary daydream that lasts a few minutes to
,
“in
heinous circumstances…much longer” (Stout 587
.
) Martha Stout
,
author of
The Myth of Sanity:
Divided Consciousness
,
argues in her book that psychological dissociation is
,
in fact
,
not as
much of a phenomenon as most might think
.
Quite contrarily
,
she argues that it is an all too
common everyday occurrence
.
The spectrum of psychological dissociation can be defined on one end by distraction
,
the
most benign condition that encompasses daydreaming and escape through narratives and various
mediums (such as films
,
books
,
music
,
etc
.
)
,
to dissociation on the other end
,
the most extreme
type and a psychological condition in which one’s “self” could leave the corporeal body for
upwards of
hours
at a time
,
sometimes leaving the victim even wholly oblivious of the fact as the
body carries on day to day tasks entirely independently
.
While distraction is a harmless
voluntary process in which one can relax in for a short period of time
,
dissociation is not
.
It is
This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.
2
highly unpredictable
,
and actually quite life threatening
.
Because the mind is not present during
dissociation, incredibly enough, neither is pain, and presumably, any other emotion.
I don’t want to do die because I can’t feel anything. I don’t want to end up dead
because I can’t feel what’s going in my body, or because I can’t tell the difference
between that psychosomatic pain I’m always getting in my chest and some
honest-to-God heart attack. (Stout 597.)
One of Stout’s patients, elucidated on further below, was saying in of her therapy

This is the end of the preview.
Sign up
to
access the rest of the document.
- Fall '07
- frank
- Psychology, dissociation, Martha Stout, psychological dissociation
-
Click to edit the document details