Wokes Don't Want You to Know Dissociating is Scientifically Beneficial (The Data)

In today’s episode of Based Camp, we dive deep into the controversial topic of dissociation — why it’s constantly framed as a trauma response or mental health red flag on the left, but the science shows it’s one of the most powerful tools for emotional regulation, wiser decision-making, better relationships, and long-term planning.

From third-person self-talk (talking about yourself like Elmo) to temporal distancing (identifying with your future self), the research is clear: proactively dissociating reduces stress, lowers cortisol, prevents rumination, boosts ethical behavior, and makes you a better spouse, parent, and human.

We argue that constantly “embodying” your feelings and obsessing over “me, myself, and I” is the root of modern misery, victimhood culture, and urban monoculture brain rot. True freedom comes from dropping the ego and viewing yourself as a temporary vessel for your values and future generations.

This episode is part of our Techno-Puritan religion series — dissociation as spiritual practice. Calvinism meets pragmatism.

As this was a Simone-outlined episode, we can share the episode outline below. The transcript for this episode follows. Happy New Year!

Episode Outline

Based Camp - The Case for Disassociating

* Occasionally, I’ve heard of people talk about disassociating

* ESPECIALLY when people are talking about abuse

* And invariably disassociation is framed in a negative context

* But this strikes me as add, as whenever I come across research on the effect of perspective taking, I find that what I would imagine to be disassociation—basically the equivalent of thinking of yourself in a more abstracted way, e.g. in the third person, as an outsider)—is a very POSITIVE thing

* And for a while, I have been operating under the assumption that we basically should be thinking like Elmo talks

* So I dedicated to educate myself on what people mean when they negatively talk about disassociation and also check whether my memory is deluding me and see if contextualizing oneself as a third party is not actually productive

* And ultimately, I think we should ALL disassociate

* And people who frame it as a bad thing are missing the point

This matters because a recurring theme in our discussions has been contextualization:

* How we view ourselves and consciousness

* Where we draw the definition of “self”

* Identity politics and the damage this emphasis has caused

* Victimhood mindsets and the external locus of control versus the internal locus of control

So I think we all need to think more carefully about how we play around with the word “I” and experiment with how dropping it may serve us well.

Disassociation: What are People Talking About

The Definition

People are usually describing dissociation: a mental “shut‑off” where the mind disconnects from feelings, body, or surroundings to get through something overwhelming or unsafe. It is a common, often automatic trauma response in ongoing abuse.

What dissociation is

* Clinically, dissociation is a process where thoughts, feelings, memories, or sense of identity become disconnected from one another.

* It exists on a spectrum from mild “zoning out” to more severe states where a person feels detached from reality or from themselves.

Why it happens in abuse

* Trauma and abuse can overwhelm the nervous system; when fight or flight are impossible, the brain may “check out” to reduce the emotional and physical impact.

* This can offer a kind of internal escape when there is no external way to leave, which is why it is especially common in children or adults who are trapped in abusive situations.

What it feels like subjectively

People use language like:

* “I was watching it happen from outside my body,” describing depersonalization, or feeling detached from their own body, thoughts, or actions.

* “It felt like a dream / like a movie,” describing derealization, where the world feels unreal, foggy, muted, or separated by a glass wall.

During vs. after the abuse

* Dissociation can occur during abusive episodes (e.g., going numb, going blank, “leaving the body”) and also after, when reminders or triggers bring back that detached state.

* There may be patchy or missing memories of events, difficulty feeling emotions, or a sense that what happened is far away or happened to “someone else.”

When dissociation is frequent, uncontrollable, and interferes with daily life, it can be diagnosed as a dissociative disorder (e.g., depersonalization/derealization disorder, dissociative identity disorder).

* BTW: Dissociative disorders are mental health conditions in which a person has ongoing problems with memory, identity, perception, or sense of self because of repeated or severe dissociation, often linked to trauma. They go beyond ordinary “zoning out” and start to interfere with daily life, relationships, and functioning.

* Main types

* Dissociative amnesia: episodes of memory loss about personal information or life events (often traumatic) that are too extensive to be ordinary forgetfulness, sometimes including “fugue” states where a person may travel or wander with no memory of it later.

* Depersonalization/derealization disorder: persistent or recurrent feeling of being detached from one’s own body or experiences (depersonalization) and/or feeling that the world around is unreal, foggy, or dreamlike (derealization), while still knowing intellectually that it is real.

* Dissociative identity disorder (DID): formerly called multiple personality disorder, involves two or more distinct identity states or “parts,” along with recurrent gaps in memory for everyday events, important personal information, or traumatic events.

What I Think is Actually Happening

First: Obviously it’s horrible when people are mistreated, but what I think may be happening is that extreme hardship has uncovered a survival mechanism that is both useful in these extreme scenarios AND useful in more mundane, everyday life.

And here’s the thing: The research backs it up.

The Research

Several lines of research suggest that taking a third‑party or “distanced” perspective on one’s own life (third‑person writing, future self, age‑progressed images) can help with emotion regulation, planning, and some health‑relevant behaviors.

(The following is from Grok, cross-checked against Perplexity, which found mostly the same research)

Self-Distancing—i.e. Taking a Third-Person Perspective or Visual Fly-on-the-Wall View

Research led primarily by Ethan Kross and Özlem Ayduk demonstrates that adopting a self-distanced perspective (e.g., thinking about oneself in the third person, using one’s name, or visualizing from an observer’s viewpoint) reduces emotional reactivity and promotes adaptive reflection on personal situations, including pain, conflicts, and stress.

* Kross et al. (2005) and Ayduk & Kross (2008): Participants reflecting on negative experiences (e.g., anger or depression) from a self-distanced perspective showed lower emotional and physiological reactivity (e.g., blood pressure) compared to a self-immersed (first-person) view. The self-distancing facilitated reconstruing events rather than recounting them, reducing distress.

* Ayduk & Kross (2010): Spontaneous self-distancing during reflection on conflicts predicted less rumination, lower emotional reactivity over time, and more problem-solving behavior in couples’ interactions.

*