Im not Schizoaffective but I do have a friend that is and went through this and this kind of thing was why she thought she had a dissociation disorder. Her psychiatrist explained to her that dissociation happens no matter who you are and what disorder you have.. he told her that things like having sex and tuning out or thinking about her grocery list or what color to paint the kitchen was normal dissociation that happens to everyone everyday. so you can stop worrying. regardless of the disorder your looking out the window and tuning out the conversation in the car is completely normal dissociation stuff. according to my friend and her psychiatrist it would be on the dissociative disordered (not normal side of things) if you got majorly upset about something or you were in the process of being attacked and then went into a dream world that you created to feel safe in and when you were not daydreaming you were no longer in the car. Then you would have one or more of four or five different dissociative disorders.

thinking thoughts and then train of thought triggers from one thing to another.. I don't do that because I have DID where when I am triggered just once by something Im in my dream world and my body is an alter. So I don't experience train of thought triggers upon triggers but I do know someone that does. she had to work with her therapist to train herself to say stop when she reached the first triggering thought and either locate the trigger or change the negative thought to a positive. It sounds funny when you first see her do it.. walking down to the store suddenly she will say STOP IT. I will not scare myself by continuing this train of thought. I am safe walking with Crystal and we are going to the store and then we start talking about things we see along the way.