James Donaldson on Mental Health - Dissociation: Signs and Causes in Children

When should parents seek help for a child who dissociates?

If dissociation is frequent, distressing, or associated with changes in your child’s functioning, seeking professional support is appropriate.

“If something dissociative happens, and there’s a really big change in your child’s functioning, then I would be concerned,” Dr.

Signs it may be time to reach out include: Memory gaps after the episode Noticeable personality changes Difficulty at school Withdrawal from friends or activities Significant distress or confusion A good place to start would be talking to your pediatrician, who may refer you to a mental health professional.

“If your child is displaying behaviors that seem out of the ordinary, you should trust your instincts,” Dr.

How to identify dissociation To determine whether a child is dissociating, a mental health professional gathers information from multiple sources, including parents, the child, and sometimes teachers, asking about the child’s behaviors, history, and any recent stressors or changes in behavior.

“The first thing would be a structured diagnostic interview with a qualified clinician,” Dr.

“Parents bring the history and describe the behavior, and then the clinician meets with the child.” Clinicians also consider whether dissociation might be a symptom of another condition , such as post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, anxiety (especially panic disorder), and depression.

“It’s really gathering history, meeting the child, observing the child, and figuring out what this cluster of behaviors leads to,” she says.

It’s more frequent to find that dissociation is a result of another disorder than an actual dissociative disorder.