Dissociation, by its definition, is “a mental process where a person disconnects from their thoughts, feelings, memories, or sense of identity.” (Victorian State Government, 2023). This process, that a majority of individuals experience at least once in their entire lifetime, can vary in severity from person to person. On the more severe side of the spectrum, dissociation can be debilitating to daily functions such as work, schooling, relationships with friends and family, and more. Signs and symptoms of dissociation can generally be a wide range, but can consist of feeling disconnection from oneself, sudden mood shifts, significant lapses in memory, loss or confusion on identity, depression and anxiety issues, and more. (Victorian State Government, 2023).

The interesting thing that can be understood about dissociation, is that “up to 75 percent of people experience at least one mild or transient dissociative episode, such as zoning out, daydreaming, or feeling detached, in their lifetime.” (Georgetown Psychology Team, 2026). This can be “such as daydreaming while driving home and being unaware of some part of the car journey.” (Wright, Osborne, 2005). Dissociation can occur within an individual for many reasons and with varying severity, but in studying the extreme end of the spectrum, it is found that “up to 90 percent of dissociative identity disorder cases in North America, Canada, and Europe are due to traumatic childhood experiences.” (Horn, 2020).

However, with improved understanding of treatment with mental health over the last several years, there are treatments that can be implemented to help ease one experiencing more severe forms of dissociation. Psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy, is where an individual sits down and simply discusses the issues that are being faced with a professional. In the case of dissociation, working with an individual with a particular expertise in trauma would be most applicable. Medicine is another form of treatment that can help ease the effects of dissociation. While not a pure cure, it may help with the forms of depression and anxiety that may come with dissociative episodes and experiences. (Mayo Clinic, 2023).

Now why would I choose this specific topic? This topic was chosen this topic mainly due to my own personal experience, as there have been times in my own life where I have felt, “not all there” and sort of just going through the motions in a state of almost control. I also chose this topic in a way to bring a little more light on to the specifics of mental health related concerns, as I feel as though there is a heightened level of thought going into mental health, the specifics behind mental health and the aspects of what mental health really encompasses is not up to the level it needs to be.

In my quilt section, I incorporated two distinct depictions. The first being a depiction of an individual in the bottom right. This individual is shown in a fragmented, dissociative state, with stitching within to fully depict this fragmentation of the individuals being. I chose this individual to remain as a grey color, to show the dismal experience going through dissociative experience can be like. The second distinct depiction is the hand reaching out from above in the top left, which is meant to represent reality. Reality in this depiction is reaching out to the dissociated individual to assist their overcoming of the struggle they are experiencing.

Beside the hand of reality, there is a stitch that is the mental health hotline number, that aligns itself with the hand of reality. This is symbolic in the sense of showing a simple and quickly effective resource to assist those struggling, as well as being a first step out of difficult times. Also shown, and written out, is the phrase “I’M HERE NOW”. This phrase is one of many grounding phrases that can be said to bring one back to the moment and can also be a phrase used to state overcoming. In both instances this phrase is impactful for dissociation and individuals experiencing dissociative episodes. The red color is utilized here to make the phrase pop out of the fabric piece. The stitching around the piece is crude to show that our thoughts are not always clear and concise. Like the stitching, we have crude thoughts that can inhibit our life. The background being a sort of spotted blue color was chosen to relate to the experience one may have when dealing with dissociation, the sort of washed out or dreamlike perception.

Dissociation being an inhibitor of a vast majority of people with a variety of severities is something that individuals must consider in understanding mental health. Through improved treatment measures, the understanding of dissociation and mental health is improving day by day. Through bringing this attention to light in my quilt block, and through my artistic choices used in order to portray dissociation in an accurate sense, I hope to get individuals thinking personally about their own life, and simply making sure that can say, “I’m here now”.

Bibliography

Better Health. 2023. “Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders.” Vic.Gov.Au. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/dissociation-and-dissociative-disorders.

GP Team. 2025. “Understanding Dissociation & Dissociative Disorders.” Georgetown Psychology, September 4. https://georgetownpsychology.com/dissociation-a-primer/.

Lynn, Steven Jay, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Harald Merckelbach, Giesbrecht Timo, and van der Kloet Dalena. 2012. “Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders: Challenging Conventional Wisdom.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 21 (1): 48–53. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23213120.

Mayo Clinic. 2023. “Dissociative Disorders - Diagnosis and Treatment - Mayo Clinic.” Mayoclinic.Org,  Mayo Clinic, August 31. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dissociative-disorders/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355221.

Mind Diagnostics. n.d. “6 Must-Know Dissociative Identity Disorder Statistics.” Accessed September 11, 2026. https://www.mind-diagnostics.org/blog/dissociative-identity-disorder/6-must-know-dissociative-identity-disorder-statistics.

Wright, Daniel B., and Jessica E. Osborne. 2005. “Dissociation, Cognitive Failures, and Working Memory.” The American Journal of Psychology 118 (1): 103–14. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30039045.