Because this process can produce changes in memory, people who frequently dissociate often find their senses of personal history and identity are affected. Most clinicians believe that dissociation exists on a continuum of severity. At the other extreme is complex, chronic dissociation, which may result in serious impairment or inability to function. To family members, co-workers, and neighbors with whom they interact daily, they apparently function normally. Any evaluation of a person's ability to be a successful parent should be based on the circumstances of each particular case, and not on the fact that a person has been diagnosed with a dissociative disorder.
Dissociative disorders develop under fairly consistent circumstances.
This ability is typically used by children as an extremely effective defense against acute physical and emotional pain, or anxious anticipation of that pain. By this dissociative process, thoughts, feelings, memories, and perceptions of the traumatic experiences can be separated off psychologically, allowing the child to function as if the trauma had not occurred. Over time, however, for a child who has been repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted, defensive dissociation becomes reinforced and conditioned. Often, even after the traumatic circumstances are long past, the left-over pattern of defensive dissociation remains. Chronic defensive dissociation may lead to serious dysfunction in work, family, social, and daily activities.