Did - does anyone else have this?

[LostinSpaceGirl]

How do you deal with disassociating if there are times you don't know you are doing it until another person tells you about it later? Just thinking about this causes me to go off to lala land.

 

[SevenWolves]

The goal is co-consciousness, which can be achieved by communicating with your insiders. It's a long process and takes a lot of work. It's also not a guarantee. I have a lot of insiders that I'm co-conscious with but others that I'm not so there are periods where I still "lose time".

 

[surviving_it_all]

For sure... I do it and then someone mentions it. When I want to be conscious but my mind just slips, I try to mention it to the person I am with. Its embarrassing but what else do you do when you want to be conscious with the people you are around. I tend to say, excuse me I am in my head. They look at me funny and dont truly understand but I am reminded to join reality again.

 

[SevenWolves]

When I'm co-conscious with an insider/alter I'm aware of what's going on. It's the ones that fully take over that cause the dissociation where you "lose time" (which isn't the best word for it). Dissociation is difficult to deal with when it gets to that point because you have no idea what happened until you come to the front again.

Working on whatever is causing the dissociation can help. Might be a certain place, a movie (I for the life of me can't remember ever watching The Mummy but according to my sister I've seen it over 25 times), a family member, a smell even a taste. Figure out what the trigger is and come up with ways to deal with it.

For me, I've found that the more things I can handle on my own, the more present I remain.

 

[surviving_it_all]

I am just learning that this is what I have been doing for years. I never noticed it. I just found myself weird. I have never got to the point where I "lose time". I am slightly aware of what is going on. I have to pause and replay what people say or what went on in order to now what to do when I have to come out of a slip of reality. Therapy stopped the progression of my dissociation. After a therapy session yesterday, I realized I was slipping like 4 or 5 times today. People do not get it but like when you are being hit, you can totally not feel so much. You can escape a bit. Maybe its similar. This is how I personally experience it.

 

[Estacia]

I've done this my whole life. It's feel like nature to me, even though I know it is not.

 

[Shellbell]

I dissociated badly in therapy this week. There was at least 30 minutes of grounding, breathing etc before I was out of it.

And I am getting more aware of how often I do it. I am now at the point where I am so anxious that I will dissociate or have an anxiety attack in front of my friends, that I now pretty much do not socialize.

I think there are a few things, dissociation included, that have given me the phrases people love to tell me - like I am 'kooky', 'quirky', endearing, 'special'. All code for 'not normal' but in a nice way. My 'zoning out' as I used to call it is one of the things people have always noticed about me.

Meh :(

 

[2narcissa]

Yes, lately a few people that I politely zoned out on said, "you ain't the same". I thought about it, and they never really cared to know in the first place.

People are so critical of other's, they fail to take a step back and look at themselves. I can't stand when people say, "are you ok"? "I wish I could help you" or my favorite "I love you soooooo much!". It seems like the second I confide in them, the second I show them myself, they are the one's that are the disser's. Most quickly turn the subject back to themselves in some way.

So in reality, do they really care after all? or are they just pointing it out because they wish they could go to "la la" land with us?? I think it's a great place lol...A place in our mind where nobody can intrude, and we can be in our own private little world.:p

 

[2narcissa]

The goal is co-consciousness, which can be achieved by communicating with your insiders.

This sound's interesting to me, never heard of it. Is it something like being on auto pilot?

 

[Abstract]

Hi,
I am assuming that SevenWolves is referring to Dissociative Identity Disorder type of dissociating whereas maybe most here are talking about depersonalisation type (the type I have) of dissociating. I think some think of it as structural dissociation or non structural dissociation although this is just a theory. Co-consciousness is when different parts of the personality or alters are both present at the same time and aware of each other and able to communicate.

With structural dissociation someone would possibly not remember because a separate part of the personality has taken over but with other dissociation one would not remember because we have gone into a different level of consciousness. In some ways it is like only being half awake.

But to answer the question, I have done it most of my life and only recently realised what is happening and am often zoned out without knowing it and just realise afterwards these days as time disappears.

Tricky to prevent. If I know I am at risk and notice pre signs I start grounding then and try to keep moving my body and not stare at a fixed point. I try to check in on myself often to check to see how present I am.

 

[maggy]

I never know I'm dissociating. I knew something happene,d but I thought I must have been daydreaming and couldn't remember about what, or that I was so immersed in doing something I lost track of time. I was in serious denial & since I had no clue what was going on I tried to pass myself off as forgetful. I can drive, cook, have conversations apparantly. This is the one of the most disturbing symptoms for me. I do remember when the doctor told me about it. I don't change my personality. He reasssured me. Wow, I got really upset thinking about it. One of my daughters recognizes a slight change in my accent. I refused to believe the doctor and then he pulled out a recording..... that was horrible!

 

[Ayasha]

It's actually a bit reassuring for me to see that other people have this problem too.

I have multiple examples of this from the past year and I think the majority of my life I've been 'in my own world'. It was a coping mechanism and I suppose it still is but I am ready to replace it with something new, you know?

Often if I get too stressed and am confronted with one of my triggers then it's like my brain shuts off and the next thing I know someone is calling my name, trying to get my attention. I've ended up in places and not known how I got there or what caused me to dissociate so badly. It's terrifying and I don't always know when it's going to happen.

My counselor has asked a few times where I go when that happens and the truth is, I don't 'go' anywhere that I know of. My mind is just...blank. Is that normal?