Dissociation and Mental Health Disorders

Dissociation requires a physical process to occur in the brain (and very likely body). People who have near death experiences often report a sensation of feeling above their bodies watching what is happening below. So too, do some people who report dissociating from traumatic events. Interestingly, the temporal lobe seems to be affected both by sexual abuse and by near death experience. It's also considered the home of the religious experience in the brain (as usual other brain regions are involved as well-- modular brain models are problematic so we are told).


Dissociative experiences can involve other bodily sensations of "not existing". The parietal lobe is considered to be the part of the brain most responsible for the bodies awareness of itself and spatial awareness. The resulting temporal and parietal lobe epileptic activity whether full siezures, pseudoseizures, or partial siezures seems to be correlated with dissociation during sexual abuse. According to the following study, somatic, not psychological dissociation was most correlated with subsequent siezure activity.




http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/1999/12000/Dissociation_in_Temporal_Lobe_Epilepsy_and.2.aspx


"Also, PES patients significantly more often reported sexual traumatic experiences." PES is pseudoepileptic siezures. This begs an interesting question of whether pseudo siezures are a result of the brain deliberately dissociating from an event identified as too stressful to fully feel--- and perhaps ES is more rooted in... something else (But What?!!)


Just wanted to call it first. Somatic dissociation is going to be highly correlated with abnormal funtioning in the parietal lobe.


The angular gyrus is also highly correlated with out of body experiences.

But where are we going?!

Another aspect of these studies are the implications they have for other neurological disorders which are currently (badly) diagnosed as psychiatric illnesses with disregard for the biological processes and traumas that are going on. (Yeah I'm looking at you shitty DSM whatever edition)

For example "Borderline Personality" is highly correlated with altered functioning in these brain regions. Why, oh why, did they claim these adult women "with histories of severe abuse" are "borderline personality disordered" women and not that they have PTSD? Why would they say this:

"Compared with control subjects, BPD subjects had significantly smaller right parietal cortex (−11%) and hippocampal (−17%) volumes. The parietal cortex of borderline subjects showed a significantly stronger leftward asymmetry when compared with control subjects. Stronger psychotic symptoms and schizoid personality traits in borderline subjects were significantly related to reduced leftward asymmetry. Stronger trauma-related clinical symptoms and neuropsychologic deficits were significantly related to smaller hippocampal size."

And not conclude that BPD is more likely a traumatic disorder than a "personality disorder" at all?

Fucking scientists.

Further more medical models of treatment with drugs will miss the point. If a person wants to escape their body you can't pump them full of meds and make them stay. A person has to make a conscious decision to be fully present in their body and increase their capacity to face the suffering in the reality of their life. The deeper the capacity to withstand the suffering and the deeper the drive to exist despite the suffering and be fully present, the more normalization of these kinds of symptoms you're going to see.