How Long Do Depersonalization/dissociative Episodes Last

[zach97]

I am unsure whether or not I am having them and wanted to know how long it lasts for other people. Typically for me, this is how it goes. 30 seconds to five minutes (well I have only been keeping track recently) usually when I am very stressed out in which I forget everything and cannot speak or read anything. If I try I will be able to hear or see what it says but I won't be able to proccess or remember anything at all. I see peoples' mouths moving and even feel myself responding but I won't remember what I said. Sometimes I laugh nervously during it when people ask me something because I cannot proccess what they asked me. I usually feel light headed and concentrate on the edges of my vision like my glasses or my hands instead of what I am supposed to be focusing on.

 

[Friday]

In my experience disassociation can last moments or months.

Certainly sounds like disassociation from how you describe it.

 

[EveHarrington]

Mine typically last days, but everyone is different. I don't think the time span matters so much as the experience you have during those episodes.

 

[Sideways]

I've got DID, and when I do a full switch, it rarely lasts more than a few hours, often only a few minutes. I switched for a full week once, but I suspect it was more like a series of being partially dissociated and switching in and out, just not fully grounding between each switch. I could arguably say months, but those are all times that are likely to have been my Bipolar hypomania.

It's hard to tell when I'm just partially dissociated - usually I'd guess between 1/2 hr to 3hrs or so. I spend weeks (and sometimes months, but rarely) at a time where I'm dissociated more than I'm grounded, but if I'm paying attention, there is always the few periods here and there when I'm mostly grounded.

Since I'm getting better at grounding and getting worse on the agoraphobia front (hard to leave the unit), I'm definitely going down on the dissociation chart, and I'm much better at seeing it coming and intervening with my grounding gettup (go me!) :)

 

[Leigh925]

Anywhere five minutes to ten days. I also get light headed and dizzy. Sound can sometimes be muted too. I go through phases where I dissociate a lot and other times where I seem to be able to stay grounded. Wish I could get s better handle on it though.