On the psychodigital components of cyber traumatization and dissociation: A psychosocial depiction of cyber societies as dissociogenic

Abstract

Digital communication networks can be told to have accelerated the psychosocial change and transformation in today’s societies to a large extent. With all their unique rules and mobile communication styles, it is almost inevitable to be a member of these cyber societies. These digitalized communication networks and technology-based mediums of communication enable individuals to undergo significant transformations on a psycho-sociopolitical base and normalize dissociation by revealing new human profiles that differ considerably in comparison to those in the recent past. Such dissociative experiences, in particular “cyber dissociation” which bridges the gap between clinical dissociation and actual life dissociation refer to the transformation of absolute reality into its cyber counterpart, are the consequence of part-time identity transitions between actual life and cyber life. The prolonged use of cyber identities eventually turns into a psychodigital “cyber alter personality”. In this paper, we aim to explain the basic components of cyber dissociation as a clinical picture as well as discuss its psychosocial dynamics in a comprehensive way mentioning novel notions specific to the aforementioned digitalized picture. Child-rearing styles, communal tendencies as well as individual processes in regard to cyber traumatization, identities and dissociation have been explained and discussed with reference to traditional mediums of communication and classifications of clinical pictures.