Anchoring Dissonance
The Weight of Living Between Two Realities, by Glymm. Arctos Media, 2026.
About the book
Anchoring Dissonance is a field guide written by the partner of people living with trauma-formed dissociative identity: the person the book calls the anchor. It maps one household's lived experience in the language of engineering, submarines, bulkheads, and bridges, for readers standing watch beside someone whose mind survived by compartmentalizing.
It is a work of personal experience, not a clinical text. The author is not a medical professional, and nothing in the book diagnoses, treats, or cures any condition. It was written in the hope that one family's map might help another family feel less lost.
Complete content notes
The book asks readers to protect their own psychological safety. In detail, it discusses:
- Childhood abuse and neglect, addressed throughout as the origin of traumatic dissociation. The book discusses these realities directly but does not depict abuse in graphic detail.
- Complex trauma and post-traumatic stress.
- Dissociative identity disorder as lived daily: switching, dissociative amnesia, time loss, and age regression.
- Flashbacks and somatic distress, described in close physical detail, including prolonged crying, panic, and post-crisis collapse.
- Suicidal ideation and psychiatric crisis, discussed directly, including guidance on when and how to contact crisis lines and emergency services.
- Caregiver exhaustion, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress.
If any of these topics are dangerous ground for you right now, please put your safety first. The book will still be here later.
Crisis resources (United States)
These are the resources printed in the book, maintained here so they stay current. Last verified: August 19, 2026.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. Free, confidential, 24/7. You do not have to be the person in crisis to call; loved ones can call for guidance. 988 is a conversation, not a dispatch: it does not see your exact location, and the overwhelming majority of contacts involve no one being sent anywhere.
- Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741.
- 911: for immediate danger to life. State clearly that it is a mental health crisis and ask whether a crisis intervention team (CIT-trained) officer or mobile crisis co-responder is available.
- SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357. Free, confidential, 24/7 referrals for mental health and substance use treatment.
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788.
- RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673.
- Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988, then press 1, or text 838255.
- The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ young people): 1-866-488-7386, or text START to 678678.
Outside the United States: findahelpline.com and befrienders.org list crisis lines by country.
Privacy and anonymization
The book is published under a pen name. Names, locations, timelines, and identifying details of the people it describes have been altered, compressed, or anonymized to protect their privacy, dignity, and psychological safety. Arctos Media does not comment on the identity of its authors.
Contact
Publisher inquiries: contact@arctos-media.com.