Getting lost in "lala land" or auto-piloting IS dissociating. It's just on the low end of the continuum, and something like DID is on the high end.

Just because you dissociate, it does not mean that you have DID. It means that some part of you needs to detach from what is going on around you at that moment. It's a coping mechanism.

I suspect that everyone does a bit of dissociating every now and again - day-dreaming, highway hypnosis, getting lost in a memory. Those things are not a problem. It becomes a problem when you use it as a coping skill (whether intentional or not) or you lose large amounts of time or it's in response to a trauma or trigger of some kind.

I dissociate when my anxiety levels are high. I feel like I'm walking around in a fog, not really connected to anything, not even really present in my body. I feel like I'm just an observer rather than an active participant in my own life! In isolated incidents that are triggered by panic, I will completely check out and I'm just mentally not there...lost in panic or memories...it takes either waiting it out, a conscious effort to ground myself, or both, to stop dissociating and be present mentally.

Just because your T asked if you dissociate, does not mean she is asking because she thinks you have DID. She may just be trying to see if you need to learn some skills to help you stay grounded (present) or she may be trying to see what symptoms you experience in general or she may be trying to see how you cope with stresses. You won't know where she was going with that question and what she was trying to get at unless you ask.