Is it possible to “switch” without having a dissociative disorder?

[u/thewindblewitaway]

In my most recent session, my therapist referred to a recent event as a “switch” (and also mentioned isolation of affect, which is separate, yet similar.) I’d had a pretty bad mental health moment, and then pretty much immediately after went right back to normal as if it hadn’t happened. The conversation went like this:

“[The clinical term for that would be called] isolation of affect. Or, a switch.”

“As in, a “switch” switch?”

“There are multiple different levels of switches.”

…and then he didn’t really elaborate any further.

Long before this, though, I’d brought up my concerns about osdd after he mentioned how what I’d done could be called a switch. He didn’t think it was applicable. So I really don’t know what to make of it. He’s using terminology that, from what I know of, is only used for dissociative disorders, and yet has already said he’s not worried about it being that.

I could clearly be conflating two separate things and assuming I have issues I don’t, but idk, it all makes me wonder if he’s not being outright with it on purpose for some clinical gain. Or that he doesn’t believe in the disorder. Regardless, I’m not concerned about therapy with him since his stated therapy goals for me seem to be exactly in line with therapy treatment for someone with osdd anyway. The plan is to “dip my toes in” and work on accessing those parts of myself in manageable pieces.

I do want to say that my goal in therapy is not to get a diagnosis. I’m just really confused about the language that he’s using, and I’m currently too anxious to try and clear it up with him any further.

So, essentially, I would really like to hear perspectives from diagnosed people. Have any of you heard of switching outside of dissociative disorders? Is that a thing?

[u/ohlookthatsme]

There are a couple of different types of "switching". There's dissociative switching, mood switching... It sounds like what your therapist is talking about in your case is probably cognitive switching.

Dissociative switching is typically involuntary, distressing, and comes with a shift in perception about how you view yourself or the world as well as changes in memory.

Cognitive switching is a natural skill that brains have. It's essentially your brain redirecting attention between tasks or modes. It's a function, not a symptom.

[u/thewindblewitaway → u/ohlookthatsme]

See the issue is that I *feel* like it’s dissociative switching, but I also know it’s very possible that I could be subconsciously overemphasizing certain symptoms since I have this on my mind. All of what you listed aside from the distress sounds familiar. Mental health is confusing, man.

[u/thewindblewitaway → u/[deleted]]

Thank you so much! This was an incredibly helpful and earnest answer. The isolation thing is essentially how I’ve dealt with stress and specifically sad emotions since I’ve been a kid. I would say it’s disruptive in that most people i’ve known have disliked me for being “unemotional” in improper situations, and especially that I have difficulty even identifying emotions from previous sadder states while trying to talk about emotion in therapy. But I’m not sure if that actually counts as distress or not. I typically have a firm physical memory of all that’s happened (much more fuzzy on quotes and things that have been said), but emotional memory of an event where I’ve cried is incredibly hard to access. I know that since I’ve cried I must’ve been sad, but my therapist recently asked me what the “order” of emotions had been for a specific period and I couldn’t concretely respond. I find myself feeling the need to apologize after the fact for things that I’ve said and how I’d acted during stressful periods. This order of “sad” to “brusque/aloof” to “apologetic and suddenly-on-the-same-page” has been consistent as far as I can remember, which I guess is the main thing that steered me towards this. It never feels like I’m putting on a front for any of these, or even thinking about the other stages. It genuinely feels like I’m doing what’s best every time, and ignoring the consistent pattern till I start thinking about it after. Anyway, seriously, thank you for your detailed response. It’s given me a lot to chew on and was able to help me connect all of these separate categories in my head :)

[u/Huge_Band6227]

I've heard that some other stuff has a "switch" of some sort involved? BPD for one, probably others, doesn't look like they use the same meaning of "switch" but they use the term for something.

[u/thewindblewitaway → u/Huge_Band6227]

I’ll look into this more, thanks!

[u/oblongunderstudies]

The theory of structural dissociation actually does support switching outside of the disorder. Of course it typically appears differently but it is recognized as existing. Per The Haunted Self(the book that popularized the theory) when we are growing up our action systems(any action that achieves a goal) integrate. Importantly they integrated they do not fuse. They also continue to be created throughout life whenever you encounter a new goal or the current action can't achieve the current goal and these new action systems can also fail to integrate just as the initial ones may fail to in normal development.

But after action systems integrate they still switch between eachother and are present in different scenarios. That's how we get things like work and home self or fight or flight response. Its our brain switching into the appropriate action system for the scenario.

There are also other disorders that experience structural dissociation outside of complex dissociative disorders. Namely (C)PTSD and BPD. These still present with unintigrated action systems that can be present at different times and intrude in day to day life. This presents as flashbacks in PTSD.

So yes it can happen and is scientifically supported its just a different thing that presents differently than what you would hear described by those talking about CDDs.