Dissociation in Addiction

Multiple personality disorder (now known as dissociative identity disorder) is a common subject for Hollywood Movies (e.g., Sybil [1976] and Split [2016]). It describes a state where two or more personalities exist within the same person. Each has a separate stream of consciousness, mode, character and inter-personal relationships. When an event is experienced by one personality, the memories of that event are not available to the others. Memory is just one aspect of the dissociation between individuals, which also extends to:

• identity
• perception
• emotions
• sense of self
• behaviour

While full-blown dissociative identity disorder (DID) is rare, aspects of the condition can contribute to addiction through disruptions in psychological development. Each of us pass through the same stages of mental and physical development as we transition from childhood to adulthood and beyond. During this process we will experience events that shape our self-perception in negative ways. These might be traumatic in nature, or embarrassing, humiliating, hurtful or emotionally devastating. We might seek to forget that these events ever happened to escape the pain associated with them, and there is some value in not dwelling on such things.

The Shadow

Basing our lives on the fears and hurts of the past, or anxiety about our future predictions, reduces our quality of life. Accepting the past while refusing to give it sovereign control over our lives is a productive strategy. The damage comes when we judge ourselves as deficient in some way because of past events. Our developing brains are unable to process these judgments because the emotional pain they bring is so intense, so we deny these aspects of ourselves and create an alternate narrative in which they play no role in our lives.

The negative self-perceptions that ail us are usually identified through trigger words like lazy, incompetent, useless, wimp, liar, vindictive and many more. What we fail to understand is that everyone is capable of exhibiting the attributes we refuse to acknowledge in ourselves and each of them has played a positive role in our past. Exploring the benefits that each of these attributes contributed to our lives is healing, but the healing nature of this contemplation process is not something we understand intuitively. Instead, we deny their existence and push them into our unconscious, where they continue to exist as dissociated identity fragments. Jung referred to these unconscious characteristics, in aggregate, as the shadow. In denying these shadow aspects we allow them to grow within us unrestrained.

What is projection?

We fail to see them in ourselves, but we love to point out their existence in others. In doing so, we are, in the language of the New Testament, trying to remove the speck from our opponent’s eye while ignoring the plank in our own eye (pot calling the kettle black). This behaviour also corresponds with the statement “every accusation is an admission,” because while trying to remove the speck from our opponent’s eye we reveal the plank in our own. Through our accusation we are unconsciously admitting our own, much bigger problem.

It is through denying the aspects of ourselves that unconsciously amplify our levels of emotional pain that many a maladaptive behaviour comes into being, including our addictions. The solution is to integrate these dissociated identity fragments into our consciousness and deny them no longer. While the processing and acceptance of trigger words is effective eventually, the neural structures that gave form to our shadow take time to dissipate, and that may introduce challenges.

A Tool for Shadow Integration

One tool that some have found helpful is presented in the Bible, which in addition to its function as religious text can play the role of early psychology textbook. Deuteronomy 6:8-9 instructs its readers to bind the words of the law to their foreheads. The conscious presence of these words so close to the seat of thought and reason acts as a reminder of commitments made and values to uphold. A small fragment of the law in a box, or phylactery, might effectively serve this purpose, but walking around with a box attached to our forehead today would definitely attract some unwanted attention.

A more contemporary approach for those trying to integrate their shadow is shown in the image above. This solution keeps the message close to the seat of executive control (the prefrontal cortex) and uses the psychological benefits of the phylactery while adhering to 21st century social norms. The only word presented is “Unity” a state of mind where all shadow aspects have been accepted and embraced as inescapable realities of the human condition, each with their own benefits and strengths. The circular glyph is broken into two parts which form a whole, showing that without integrating opposing influences into the psyche it lacks unity and balance.