Remember that dissociation releases opioids (enkephalins and endorphins), your own painkillers. If a person without a sensitized dissociative response cuts themselves, their body releases a little bit of these opioids so that they can tolerate the cut; the amount released would be pretty small and proportional to the little cut. But when someone with a sensitized—overly reactive—dissociative response cuts themselves, they release a lot of opioid. It’s almost like taking a little hit of heroin or morphine.
