Dissociation is a learned program which “protects” us from a cruel environment; like a trip to the moon which buffers us from an uncomfortable reality. Moments of stress reminds us of bad times during our childhoods and makes us dissociate from our surroundings.
Dissociation may take many forms, some people get tough and repressed, others are shy, others are paranoid and afraid, others are upset and cranky, still others are dreaming awake, etc, etc. A person is absent from him or herself all the while he or she is “unconscious” of their actions. Some people don’t have a conscious memory of what they did during the moment of dissociation. Others do have the memory or they remember retrospectively, but they have the sensation that they were out of control and when the stress trigger event is no longer present, or when the old wounds are not poked any longer, they come back to their senses and become more conscious of their acts.
Myth of Sanity by Martha Stout is an excellent book about the subject. The author knows hundreds of survivors of childhood or adulthood trauma as a therapist. She describes with eloquence the “myth of sanity” which everybody can relate to because after all, we all dissociate to one extent or another, so we all are a bit “crazy”.