Disorders of Disembodiment

Disembodiment and inflammation

It could be said that any kind of disease, disorder or discomfort that we can bring to mind whether personal or social, has at it’s root a theme of disconnection, and a subsequent diminished flow of energy and information.

Disembodiment, if viewed as a disconnection from any part of the self, physically or psychologically could be considered an inflammatory phenomenon. In the sense that it invokes a kind of separation that can emphasise a theme of ‘otherness’ or ‘not part of me’ dynamic. The term ‘disembodiment’ implies that there are, for some reason, one or more aspects or parts of myself that I don’t feel connected to any more. I may or may not be aware of this. The experience of disembodiment is subjective of course but the presence of ‘it’ has consequences for the health of ourselves, society and wider still.

Inflammation is a term used to describe the action of the immune system to defend against some external agent which has damaged or threatens to damage the integrity of the body. The description has a flavour of war about it. The dictionary tells us that the term ‘inflammatory’ is a call to ‘incite anger and hate’. The word incite here is interesting, implying that there is some kind of appetite for the ensuing battle. This also infers that there has been a foreclosure of any meaningful connection or exchange of information and that conflict is inevitable and required. In order to act as a defender and destroyer of something, the phenomenon of separation and othering needs to have been established.

The separation dynamic

This tendency we have for ‘othering’ is actually normal and necessary for us of course, in order to organise the world so that our very important need to establish an identity is met. But the separation dynamic is potentially very dangerous if wielded blindly and without wisdom.

In certain contexts this sense of detachment from self instigates the defence response of inflammation. This particularly occurs when the ostracised ‘other’ in question, cannot for some reason be properly understood and integrated into the human system. In the same way that an actual foreign body, such as an unfamiliar virus, bacteria or even a splinter will provoke a defence cascade from the immune system, so too will a body part, or even a personality part that the psycho-immune system has defined as ‘not me’ or a threat to integrity.

How the body can turn on itself

This can play out in surprising ways, Gabor Mate the well known authority who writes on societal and psychological perspectives on disease, talks about how an immune system that has been trained to see self as bad, through childhood attachment wounding for example, can actually turn on itself. This a very complex move, one part must conceptually disconnect from another and see itself as foreign and dangerous. And so, he speculates, begins the process of auto - immunity, the basis of so many common disorders.

Experimentally too, the direct effects of a disembodying exercise have been researched and documented. The rubber hand illusion is a well known exercise whereby a rubber hand is cleverly substituted for a subjects real hand, using concealment and mirrors. The experiment very quickly (within 15 s) causes the nervous system to adopt the rubber hand as real and to ‘disown’ the real hand. Amazingly the body immediately starts to mount an inflammatory response towards the exiled limb.

The social implications of the ‘disconnect’ dynamic are important to consider too, in the context of embodiment. Our western cultural history of colonialism has at it’s core a presumption of power over others. An implicit feature within this model is the declaration that ‘your body belongs to me’, necessitating the ‘enforced disembodiment’ that comes with coercive control. This highlights the enormous gulf of understanding embedded within that mentality. The belief that me and you are separate and different, closes down the possibility of connection and therefore love. No surprise then, when the familiar signs of inflammation appear, this time within a socio political context.

Defence but also healing

The internal conceptual manoeuvres we have to make in order to wage war, whether that be against ourselves or others can become a particularly tight and tricky puzzle to unravel. It’s necessary to disconnect from the heart in order inflict violence, otherwise it just can’t be done. But then the violent act itself further contracts us and we begin to lose the capacity to feel anything at all and so we can end up numb and capable of anything.

The inflammatory response brandishes a tone of confrontation. Although it also has an important role as a mediator between self and other, it’s defensive hackles seem to be always at the ready. In our bodies, the immune system manages the inflammatory response in close collaboration with all other systems - nervous, endocrine, musculo-skeletal, psychological etc. It all functions together as a highly complex and intelligent super system and when it’s properly integrated, it can and does navigate, negotiate and ‘incorporate’ otherness - particularly when a symbiotic relationship wants to happen.

Interesting then, the idea that this system is tasked not only with defence, but also the discerning capacity to broker productive relationships, and therefore maintaining greater resilience, adaptation and life enhancing capacity.

So whilst the disconnect could be seen as an instinctive ‘distancing’ in order to get perspective as a tool of self identity and communication, this should happen in lieu of a movement towards either immediate defence or a move towards integration. It’s important to notice that the immune/inflammatory pathway is responsible for mediating both of these opposing dynamics.

When connection and balance is lost

The open ended persistence of the distancing and defence process in itself, is not at all conducive to health. Indeed chronic disembodiment/ disconnect and chronic inflammation go hand in hand, each spiralling around the other in a perpetual dance. It can become to feel like a hall of mirrors where each reinforces the other and reality begins to lose traction.

This is how we can enter the shadowy world of chronic disease and the same dynamic is reflected in the in the social context as an ongoing conflict or war. When we become stuck in this place, nothing feels like it makes sense any more – the world looks and feels scary and we’re only prepared to hear and accept information that confirms our view. This same pattern repeats from the cellular to the societal - without connection, compassion and communication, all systems, whatever they are, start to fall apart.

Getting back into the body

Even when balance is lost however and the disconnect and defend dynamic pulls us out of reality and into it’s echo chamber, equilibrium can be found again. The antidote of course is opening back up to love, trust and connection, but how? This is the million dollar question. Sometimes it happens by luck, sometimes by grace and sometimes things have to properly fall apart in order to pick up the thread again.

Sometimes though, we can hear the distant call to health and we instinctively recognise it. We reorient, take a chance and make a move. A lot of the time people come and see me as a Craniosacral therapist because they feel this call, but feel lost and don’t know what to do next.

How Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy can help

Craniosacral therapy specialises in remaking the connections to self and others through working with presence, trust and relationship. We facilitate the return through the rekindling of the capacity for deep listening to the body.

A reconnection to self allows the body based feeling sense to wake up. Our internal world again, begins to feel familiar, like home and the ballast of psychological safety returns. With this, the need to close and defend softens in response, everything calms down and clarity is again possible.

If you would like some help to get back into your body, please get in touch.