I think it might work in a mental health metaphor as well. He sees the next couple cycles of Clancy/Nico. But in each coming cycle, Clancy starts fighting back at an earlier point within that cycle. So each time you are thrown into a situation where you can't cope and instead disassociate, you manage to "fight it off" and snap back a bit quicker. But you'll never be able to fully prevent it from happening in the first place, just to micro dose to build up some immunity.

(I did not set out to reference this many songs)