Conclusion and Recommendations

To conclude, this research looked into whether there is a perceived impact of loneliness as a trigger on the use of dissociation as a coping mechanism in dissociative disorders (DD) population. It also aimed to collect practitioners’ viewpoints on the most successful therapeutic modalities for DD patients. In terms of the study’s research question, findings point to a two-way relationship between loneliness and dissociation. Loneliness can indeed cause DD patients to dissociate to cope with the discomfort, and vice versa; dissociation in itself causes patients a deep sense of loneliness and “existential emptiness” (P7). Having a supportive network is indeed pivotal to the grounding of DD patients, alongside their therapy processes (Saltzman et al., 2020; Wild et al., 2020). As for recommended therapeutic techniques and modalities as discussed with participants, trauma-based modalities are best suited for grounding and keeping DD patients grounded (Cusack et al., 2017; P12; P14). Cognitive therapies such as CBT, DBT, and so forth are best for uncovering and altering patients’ negative core beliefs developed as a result of traumas (ISSTD, 2015; Mosquera & Steele, 2017; van der Hart et al., 2017).