So I have searched this forum and found the definitions for these two things which seem to affect me in the dissociation faq at http://www.isst-d.org/education/faq-dissociation.htm mentioned in one of the stickies.

I tend to wander around half inside myself, daydreaming or shut down, sometimes checking into what's going on around me, mostly to see if I'm in any danger like of being hit by a car, or if there are dangerous situations developing, or people I should watch out for. I've walked right by people calling my name and not seen them.

Sometimes I have a sense of unreality like I'm walking through a movie and wonder if I actually exist, or I feel like I'm walking through molasses. Everything goes fast, but my body can move only slowly, even though I'm trying to do more. When I look in the mirror that image doesn't look like me, I wonder who that person is looking back, it just seems alien. I feel like my mind and body are separate, or that I'm numb a lot. I also feel intense rollercoastering emotions that I can't seem to control. I don't always know why my moods come and go.

I know I experience a lot of anxiety, am particularly anxious around other people so I partially shut down to mitigate it.

I'm not sure what you do about that though. I'm told that to cope with anxiety you need to keep doing what makes you anxious until the fear goes down, but I don't know how to "reconnect".

I have a friend who notices everything around him. He comments on things he sees: "Did you see that guy? He was talking to himself" I could have been looking right at that guy, but not seen him.

I wonder how people process the outside world so effectively without being overwhelmed. I didn't have any real traumatic experiences in my life, so I don't know how this could be trauma related, which seems to be the focus. So I don't know what's wrong with me.