Dissociation Made Simple: A Stigma-Free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Daily Life

Another variation you can use for this exercise that can be powerful, especially if you identify as having a system or working with different aspects of yourself, is to allow each member of the system or part to make their own playlist.

There are a variety of ways to incorporate your music and playlists into the healing process. We’ll begin by inviting you to make an “After Therapy” (or other healing art) playlist.

Basic Dissociative Profile Take out some paper or open up a word processing program on your computer. Make two columns. Title the left-hand column “My Dissociative Tendencies,” and title the right-hand column, “What Helps Me Return to the Present Moment.” Take as much time as you need to make a list of the ways in which you tend to dissociate or se

An important word of caution is in order here. Some of the skills uncovered in this chapter are simpler and subjectively safer to try than others. Take, for instance, pushing against a wall. That is something you can try right this moment without putting in a lot of time or effort. After every skill, you can take a pause and notice what you notice.

Clinical social worker Deb Dana7 breaks down the three main components of polyvagal theory: autonomic hierarchy, neuroception, and co-regulation.

The “Safe Enough” Harbor and Other Grounding Exercises Recovery sponsors (mentors) will often say, “Write down a hundred things that make you feel good that do not involve drugs, alcohol, or acting out.” Some examples include the freshness when you pop a mint into your mouth, or the potentially pleasant sensation when taking that first morning stre

Autonomic hierarchy is the organization of the nervous system from oldest to newest. The dorsal, or rear side, of the vagus nerve formed 500 million years ago in the earliest animals and is responsible for mobilization strategies and part of the parasympathetic nervous system. Next, 400 million years ago, came the sympathetic nervous system, which

Parts is a general term used in the psychological and helping professions that can refer to many different things. I see it as the most generic term possible that can be used to describe aspects, sides, or facets of self that do not necessarily represent the presence of another ego state. Some people even conceptualize their parts as the various ro

Many of our contributors noted this sense of complete safety with their guide through healing as imperative, even if they didn’t experience total safety in other places in the world. Other contributors noticed that even if they have moments of feeling unsafe with a therapist, which sometimes happens on bad days or if they are transitioning into a s