Just FYI for those who may not know ...
Dissociation and disassociation are two things that mean similar things but one is specific to psychological medicine and the other is a more general term for disconnecting from anything. A lot of people interchange these but you shouldn't.
There are 4 stages of dissociation. Each exists to help someone regulate their response to situations or tolerate/adapt to difficult stimulus. Psychological dissociation is a triggered response not a conscious one.
@thewebrecluse I usually think of it in psychiatric terms, as in Dissociative Identity Disorder, but that's due to my work background. I never though of it as a coping mechanism.
@Lindy there are about 5 different dissociative disorders and DID is one of them. However there are 4 stages of dissociation. Like the stages of grief in a sense ... you go through them sometimes in order, sometimes randomly, but remaining in them is where the diagnosis of a specific disorder comes in. But yes dissociation is a coping mechanism primarily ... it's one of many ways the brain works to protect the body.