Dissociation Addiction Disorder is not a mental illness with a biological cause

Dissociation Addiction Disorder is not a mental illness with a biological cause, but rather the result of a series of developmental adaptations in the brain to a difficult early life environment. It is now widely accepted that DAD results from trauma and disrespect in childhood, starting at a very young age, generally at the hands of a caregiver. Although the child's parents may not have been directly involved in the abuse, there has usually been some inability on their part to help the child to process or recover from whatever trauma they have experienced. The traumatic events therefore remain sealed off - dissociated and unprocessed - from the main conscious awareness and developing identity of the child. This can result in either complete or partial amnesia for what has happened, and 'gaps' in the person's narrative account of their life. One of the principal functions of DID is 'denial' - to allow the person to continue with life, unaware of the extreme abuse that they have suffered, by blocking it out of their memory and mind.