Survival, Attachment, and Healing: An Evolutionary Lens on Interventions for Trauma-Related Dissociation
Psychology Research and Behavior Management June 1, 2024 Lisa Burback, Christine Forner, Olga Winkler et al. 7 citations
Pathological dissociation—a persistent, maladaptive form of the normal threat response—is linked to severe trauma, insecure attachment, treatment non-response, and harmful coping behaviors such as substance use and self-harm. A systematic review of 69 studies found that most interventions, primarily psychotherapy (72.5% of studies) and some medications or neurostimulation, reported positive outcomes, though only a minority targeted dissociative symptoms as the primary objective. The authors argue that effective treatments facilitate an internal or relational sense of safety, grounded in neurobiological and evolutionary perspectives, and call for more research on treatments specifically for dissociative symptoms.