I find it interesting that I rarely see the topic of dissociation discussed among people who are parenting traumatized adopted children. The reason this surprises me is that dissociation is one of the most talked-about topics on message boards for adult survivors of child abuse, and those traumatized people learned how to dissociate in childhood.

Dictionary.com defines dissociation as…

A psychological defense mechanism in which specific, anxiety-provoking thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations are separated from the rest of the psyche.

In layman’s terms, the traumatized child “checks out” in her own head. It is like the body is there, doing whatever it is supposed to be doing, but the essence of the child is “gone.”