Both Baxter and I describe the sensation of stepping outside of ourselves, looking over our shoulders at the event scene, and in Baxter’s case, of being aware of multiple voices interrogating a situation. We both recall feeling stunned, numb, and a bit dazed. I experienced these dissociations very briefly, only at the accident scene. Merriam Baxter, on the other hand, experienced dissociation multiple times. These dissociative symptoms represent criteria B for Acute Stress Disorder (Appendix E). Thought to be a primary mechanism for avoiding pain at the time of the event (McFarlane, Atchison & Yehuda, 1997), initial dissociation is not considered maladaptive (Spiegel, 1997). However, for reasons not yet understood, the degree, frequency, and duration of dissociation around the time of trauma—and memory of it—strongly correlate with the development and intensity of PTSD (McFarlane et al.; Spiegel). When dissociations continue to occur in diagnosed PTSD, psychologists classify them as avoidant behavior— conscious and subconscious efforts to escape trauma memories and reminders. Dissociation is most pernicious when it persists because it affects both memory formation and storage (van der Kolk et al., 1997).