When we are helpless, dissociation buffers unbearable reality, but it also creates a division between the self that is going through life (attending school, learning to read, making friends, playing sports) and the self that is holding unexpressed fear, shame, and anger. In essence, we divide into parts. We have an external part who goes through the motions of life and an internal self who hides. Sometimes, we don’t know which self is real.
