Physical Illness and Psychological Disorder: Reviving Common Sense in Healthcare
Structured Abstract
- Background: The Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM) and the Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH) framework challenge the compartmentalization of addiction, trauma, and physical illness. Symptoms currently misdiagnosed as primary neurological conditions (e.g., Absence Seizures and Fading Memory Disorder) are, in the ADM view, expressions of an addictive, trauma-related need for survival.[1]
- Hypothesis: A wide range of neurological and cognitive symptoms, including Dissociative Seizures (PNES) and FMD (MCI), should be recategorized as Trauma-Related Dissociative Spectrum Disorders within a transdiagnostic framework. This shift is necessary to align medical practice with Recovering Common Sense—the inherent wisdom that the body is the unconscious and its seemingly pathological responses are primitive survival mandates. The misdiagnosis (e.g., PNES as epilepsy) reflects a systemic dissociation (a “collective denial system”) that avoids confronting the widespread prevalence of trauma and the body’s relentless fight for homeostasis.
- Conclusions: The medical misinterpretation of AS and FMD represents an ethical failure to treat the root cause of suffering. Adopting the PWH/ADM approach, which is centered on self-awareness and Trauma Resolution via memory reconsolidation [1], offers the integrated path necessary to validate the client’s embodied experience, heal the dissociative bond, and ultimately resolve the physiological collapse of the Thalamic Gate.
1. From Pathological Symptom to Adaptive Survival Mandate
The core misunderstanding that Fading Memory Disorder (FMD) and Absence Seizures (AS) represent lies in confusing an adaptive response with a primary pathology. The ADM redefines the loss of control inherent in these states—whether the conscious surrender to a lapse in awareness (AS) or the inability to retain explicit memory details (FMD)—as a survival mandate driven by the unconscious body.[1]
- Absence Seizures (PNES): When life is experienced as an inescapable threat, the unconscious body attempts to “turn off” the conscious processing system to survive the overwhelming experience. The physical display of this—the dissociative seizure—is the body forcing a profound numbing via the Endogenous Opioid System. Mislabeling this as “psychogenic” or “epileptic” denies the biological reality of the trauma-driven defense mechanism.
- Fading Memory Disorder (FMD): FMD reflects the brain’s conditioned inability to integrate new information due to the constant drain of processing unresolved, implicit trauma memories. The energy and neurochemical resources required to maintain the dissociative split (the addictive bond to a safe/numb state) diverts resources away from higher-level cognitive functions.
2. The Ethical Imperative: Recovering Common Sense
The Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH) framework challenges professionals to confront their own biases, particularly the system’s reliance on Recovering Law and institutional control over Recovering Common Sense. Recovering Common Sense mandates that one acknowledges the profound wisdom of the organism—that the body, as the psychological unconscious, is relentlessly programmed to heal (tear and repair) and survive.[1]
The failure to recognize AS and FMD as dissociative disorders is an extension of the collective denial system—a systemic dissociation that refuses to see how trauma impacts the entire community. By isolating the symptom to a specialized neurology clinic, the medical system avoids the ethical and societal necessity of addressing the root cause: widespread trauma and chronic exposure to environmental toxins.[1]
3. The Solution: Dissociative-Affirmative Recovery
Recategorizing FMD and Absence Seizures requires moving beyond simply treating the symptomatic manifestations.
- Validating the Body’s Wisdom: The healer must affirm that the seizure or the memory lapse is not a failure, but an attempt by the Emotional Part of the self to regulate.[1]
- Targeting the Dissociative Bond: Treatment must focus on neutralizing the addiction memory—the conditioned bond to the dissociative state—via Memory Reconsolidation (MR).[1] Trauma resolution therapies, which utilize therapeutic dual attention to safely process the embodied, implicit material, are essential for restoring the cognitive function and regulating the thalamocortical circuitry.
- Restoring Coherence: By resolving the trauma, the relentless survival imperative is extinguished. The body is no longer forced to deploy the extreme dissociative defense (the seizure or memory block). This ultimately restores psychological coherence and integrated consciousness, which is the core goal of recovery and a true spiritual awakening.
The misinterpretation of these core dissociative symptoms as isolated medical disorders is a critical blind spot in modern medicine. The ADM and PWH offer the necessary framework to unify these symptoms under the umbrella of trauma-related dissociation, leading to more accurate diagnoses and profoundly more effective, humane treatment.
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References
O’Brien, A. (2023a). Addiction as Trauma-Related Dissociation: A Phenomenological Investigation of the Addictive State. International University of Graduate Studies. (Dissertation). Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/
O’Brien, A. (2023b). Memory Reconsolidation in Psychedelics Therapy. In Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/
O’Brien, A. (2023c). Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2024a). Healer and Healing: The re-education of the healer and healing professions as an advocation. Re-educational and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2024e). Path of the Wounded Healers for Thrivers: Perfectionism, Altruism, and Ambition Addictions; Re-education and training manual for Abusers, Activists, Batterers, Bullies, Enablers, Killers, Narcissists, Offenders, Parents, Perpetrators, and Warriors. Re-Education and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2025). American Made Addiction Recovery: a healer’s journey through professional recovery. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
*This is for informational and educational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.
