Recognizing Dissociation in Clinical Practice

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Most clinicians learned to recognize dissociation through its dramatic forms: lost stretches of time, depersonalization, derealization, identity fragmentation.

 

In everyday practice it more often appears in subtler ways. A client who spoke with real conviction last week can barely locate that conviction today. A client goes flat partway through a sentence and returns a few minutes later without a clear sense of what was said. Something that felt vivid and personally real to a client in one state becomes remote or unreachable in another.

 

These moments are easy to read as avoidance, low motivation, depression, poor follow-through, or disengagement, and sometimes those readings are accurate. This training helps clinicians notice when dissociation may also be part of what is happening, describe precisely what they are observing, and decide what to find out next before deciding what the treatment requires.

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What the training covers

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• Recognizing both obvious and subtle shifts that may indicate dissociation

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• Noticing disruptions in continuity involving the body, affect, thought, memory, agency, time, and relational contact

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• Observing transitions and state changes as they happen in session

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• Separating what you actually observe from the explanation you place on it

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• Weighing other explanations for what you are seeing, including trauma responses, depression, ADHD and executive dysfunction, avoidance, freeze and shutdown, substance use, sleep deprivation, and medical or neurological factors

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• Deciding what to investigate next, before moving from noticing a shift to choosing a treatment response

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What you will leave with

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By the end of the training, you should be better able to recognize when dissociation may be part of what is happening with a client, describe what you are actually observing, distinguish a dissociative explanation from competing ones, and investigate what has changed before deciding what the treatment requires.

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Who This is For

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Practicing therapists, counselors, social workers, and other clinicians in private practice, outpatient, community, and agency settings. No specialization in dissociation is assumed. The training focuses on three clinical capacities that fit within 90 minutes: recognizing what may be dissociative, distinguishing it from other explanations, and investigating what has changed.

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If you work with trauma clients, this training helps you better differentiate what you are seeing. If you have never worked with a dissociated client, this training will give you specific ways to recognize it. 

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Details

Date: Friday, December 11, 2026

Time: 12:00–1:30 PM Eastern

Format: Live online, 90 minutes

Tuition: $25, recording included

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All registrants receive the recording. It will later become part of the CEI self-paced training library.

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Partial scholarships are available. Write to sarahozolshore@gmail.com for more info. 

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