Fearful Or Anxious Situation And Falling Asleep

[ragdoll]

Does anyone find themselves in a fearful or anxious induced situation and fall asleep?
I have found myself in situations where the fear or anxiety is so intense. Trying to use the steps to manage these situations is virtually impossible.
It's as almost I've been knocked unconscious and then I wake after 5 mins or so.

 

[Tinyflame]

Yes. I wonder if it's due to very shallow breathing?

 

[desiderata310]

I've had similar problems. I think that for me it's dissociation taking over. Brain is kicking in and saying, 'know what? this whole thing just sucks. Time to shut down for a bit." It's like a hard reset on the computer. Computer freezes up, gets caught in an (il)logic loop. Only thing for it is to unplug, count to 10 and reboot and see if things are better.

 

[asldjfasldjf]

I've had chronic fatigue for almost a decade, since I was 13, and I believe that it's at least partly a physical mechanism to protect me from/process my trauma. There are other people on the website who fall asleep/freeze up/go into catatonic states due to trauma/triggers. You're not alone :hug: Literally losing consciousness like that is a pretty dramatic and strong reaction, so I would definitely talk with your therapist about it and pinpoint which trigger leads to the loss of consciousness. It's probably the deepest trauma wound you have.

 

[Finding Maeve]

I've dissociated most of my life through sleeping. I could, and would, sleep whole days away. Right before I went inpatient for a breakdown, I lost a job less than two weeks in because I fell asleep at my desk. It wasn't until after I was diagnosed with PTSD and forced to face it that I began to understand how my exhaustion was related. When I left the hospital and began outpatient group therapy, I couldn't stay awake. No matter how much sleep I got the night before or how much coffee I drank, once we started talking about painful things, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I even held ice packs on my forehead or on my eyes to try and stay awake. Nothing worked, but once I left, I felt normal again. But then, in private therapy, the same thing happened. It took a long time of therapy and medication adjustments, but it's getting a lot better. I have a part-time job in the afternoons that I'm always on time for. That's new for me.

 

[theshadowoftheliving]

I confuse dissociation and exhaustion all the time. It's hard to parse their differences. And sometimes I do fall asleep when I dissociate - although really just at home, on the days when I'm hiding under the covers in my bed.

 

[shimmerz]

For me this is dissociation. I used lemons/hot candies/spicy food. If I eat something like that and suddenly 'perk up', I know (for myself) that I am dissociating and that I was triggered.

 

[Go Hungry]

I do this sometimes when I'm dissociating, but on purpose. When I'm having a bad anxiety attack, sometimes (when I can remember to) I'll lay down and sleep. It does the trick. So there is that...

But I do think that on some occasions I have gotten crazy sleepy while talking about my past with my T.

Strange, I never thought of that.

 

[Anarchy]

I think sleep is one of my safe places. I can find it hugely difficult to get out of bed, and can "need" inordinate ammounts of sleep when I'm stressed.

I was once in a relationship where her usual time for initiating a five hour "we need to talk!" state of the relationship discussion was 1AM, when I needed to be out of the house at 6am for a long drive and an important meeting...

 

[J.Nem]

If it wasn't for sleep, I would have truly been section 8 a long time ago. I don't mean that in any way as a poor joke - sleep can be a life saver.
Sometimes when it gets so unbearable, I just pray and stop fighting and let God carry me into sleep and just surrender everything.
This has been one of the toughest weeks in several years and sleep is the only peace I have.