ANXIETY DISORDERS: DISSOCIATION IS AN EFFECT OF A PANIC ATTACK
It has been assumed that dissociation is an effect of a panic attack and some people use these states as a form of ‘escape’ from the anxiety or the attack. While I have seen this in some cases, other people are aware it is the dissociation which triggers the panic (ArthurJones 1994).
People who do dissociate ‘may display high hypnotisability and high dissociative capacity’ (APA 1994). It may be this ‘high hypnotisability’ in some of us which triggers the spontaneous attacks.
Inducing dissociative states when we are vulnerable to them is incredibly easy. Over the years I have noticed the extent to which many of us stare. At the walls, at the computer, at the TV screen, at a book and also when we are driving. We stare at a red light, at the car in front of us, at the road ahead. When we are vulnerable we can induce a trance state very quickly and without our realising it. Without warning, we can feel the various sensations of dissociation.
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