Dissociation is a spectrum; "autopilot" is on one end, getting lost in a book or a project and losing time..... all the way to a trauma or accident where a person can't remember the details or if they try they "go away", can't connect to it..... to the other end of the spectrum of prolonged trauma, POW, etc where the info can't be accessed or if the person remembers something, the mind may react and "go away" to get away from the remembered fear or pain or threat of death. In these instances, it is harder to get "back in body", or even to have any connection to the body. For years parts of my body didn't have feeling. I didn't know it, until now when they have feeling. I also didn't know I had a selective mute state as well as a selective "smell" ability until I had reason to note the difference.