Therapeutic dissociation: From non-ordinary states to psychological transformation

Abstract

Common mental health pathologies such as depression, anxiety, addiction, and PTSD have recently seen treatment inroads. These issues share a phenomenological core—a dissociative quality that involves the disintegration of self and other. Interestingly, some of the most effective treatments of these pathologies are themselvesacutely dissociative. For example, psychedelic therapy has been effective at treating these pathologies and involves highly dissociative altered states. This pattern holds across other dissociative methods such as hypnosis, CBT, and meditation, leading some to hypothesize that there is a common pathway from acutely altered states to long-term treatment of conditions that involve pathological dissociation. Among the proposed mechanisms are pivotal mental states, the entropic brain, REBUS, and pattern breaking. In this paper, I highlight the methods and mechanisms behind the observed clinical efficacy in treating pathologically dissociative mental health issues. I also propose a simplified underlying structure and an experimental approach that could result in effective treatment without complicated pharmacological interventions.