Therapy for Dissociation & Dissociative Disorders
Trauma Therapy in Syracuse, NY
Sometimes surviving means learning how to not be fully here.
Dissociation is the nervous systems most brilliant protective strategy. When something is perceived as threatening, overwhelming, or inescapable the body will utilize disconnection in order to preserve our psychological well-being. It’s actually pretty friggin incredible the depths dissociation can take the mind to.
But to be clear… dissociation doesn’t always look like leaving your body. It can often be quite subtle and can present like feeling
eeling foggy or far away, going blank in conversations, losing access to feelings, functioning on autopilot, feeling like you’re watching yourself, suddenly feeling younger, time feeling strange, knowing something happened but not feeling connected to it, feeling disconnected from your body, or having different “versions” of yourself that don’t quite feel connected.often misunderstood and misidentified, both in every day life and in the therapy world. Understanding the dissociative experience is critical to working with trauma.
For some people dissociation is something that happens during overwhelming moments - or moments your nervous system perceives to be overwhelming (even when you logically know everything is fine). So you might check out of a conversation, go blank when called upon, get completely lost in a daydream, or feel entirely disconnected from your emotional experience.
Dissociation can also be much deeper than that. It can become part of the framework in which you experience yourself, your relationships, and the world around you.
Understanding dissociation matters - A LOT - because it almost always shows up in trauma work. If it doesn’t get named, sometimes it is treated like resistance, avoidance, a lack of insight, or even a lack of motivation. When this happens, therapy stalls.
What is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting is a bottom up, somatic therapy which means that the body and the body’s processes are intentionally included in the therapy. In traditional talk therapy we often process through thoughts, logic, and analyzing— functions that rely greatly on the frontal areas of the brain. Trauma and survival responses, however, also involve deeper, subcortical areas of the brain and nervous system. So in talk therapy alone, we may not always be connecting with everything that is held beneath conscious thought and language.
Brainspotting provides a framework for how to pay attention to what is happening beneath the words and the story…. So maybe that is the tightness in your chest, the heaviness in your stomach, the urge to pull away, the emotion you can feel but can’t quite explain.
In our sessions, we’ll begin by connecting to these somatic experiences. From there, we locate an eye position that seems to deepen or strengthen that connection. This is called the brainspot. You may simply gaze toward that spot, or we might use a pointer to help your eyes stay comfortably oriented there.
From there, you’re invited to simply notice what unfolds. We use focused mindfulness to become aware of thoughts, emotions, images, memories, impulses, and sensations as they emerge. Through dual attunement, I stay connected with you while also supporting you in staying connected to your own internal experience.
Rather than needing to analyze, explain, or figure out everything that arises, Brainspotting creates space for your brain and body’s natural processing capacities to do some of the work.
What can Brainspotting help with?
Brainspotting can be used with a range of experiences, particularly when you understand something intellectually but still feel as though your body or nervous system hasn’t quite caught up.
Trauma and complex trauma
Attachment wounds & relational wounds
Anxiety and chronic stress
Dissociation and feeling disconnected from yourself
Difficult or overwhelming memories
Emotional triggers that feel bigger than present moment
Shame, self doubt, and deeply held beliefs about yourself
Feeling overly activated by previous trauma processing therapies, such as EMDR
Feeling “stuck” despite insight or previous therapy
A note about how I use Brainspotting…..
I often integrate Brainspotting with IFS and other trauma-informed approaches rather than using it as a one-size-fits all technique. We’ll move at a pace that feels manageable, with plenty of room to slow down, pause, or shift course as needed. You are always in control of what we explore and how deeply we go.