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Originally Posted by zelaer
I've been trying to figure out if my zoning out/spacing out/lethargy is from dissociation or me being weird. Don't know if it's good or bad if it's either.
I generally can't stay focused on conversations very long, especially if I'm stressed. When my depression wasn't being treated, along with my anxiety, I zoned out a lot during classes and talking to friends, and hardly kept it from being noticeable. A few times one of my friends who had classes with me had to come over and ask if I was okay because I'd been staring at a table for 5+ minutes.  Other issues from zoning out too but it's more noticeble with social situations.
It happens most with therapy though. With my previous therapist, I only remember one time she fussed at me at the beginning of a session. It was because I didn't remember going to therapy the previous week at all and we had apparently done some mindfulness thing where I laid on the floor with breathing or something. Never could remember it. She was obsessed with getting me to learn mindfulness stuff. My depression got worse and I was almost always zoning out. Joked about being half asleep some. Rough few months.
With my current therapist, for a while I knew generally what we did but when we started talking about trauma I was having breakdowns and not really remembering the sessions. Had another breakdown at home and refused to go to a session because of stress from it. We've not gone over much at once since then and I haven't had issues going either. Also able to remember what we did somewhat.
I know the blocking out with therapy happens when I get really tired suddenly and I'm just responding with "okay", "yeah", "not really". I think she notices it but she's never said anything. Kind of scared to ask her about it because it probably means talking about trauma and figuring out how I respond to it and yeah I'm not okay with it. It was only a few months ago I got to switch over to just talking about depression and anxiety instead of trauma stuff.
I just know for sure it makes me sleepy but I don't fall asleep from it. Is this considered dissociation or is it supposed to be called something else? |
Im sorry but I cant help you figure out if this is dissociation in you or what you call "being weird"
what I can tell you is that this kind of thing happens to me due to many different problems...
in me sometimes its called medication side effects, MS (a physical health problem) symptom, my depression, my bipolar disorder, my Acute stress disorder, sleep deprivation....
gosh I could go on and on about all the stuff that causes me the same problems.
the spacing off during therapy i take with me a textured item that I made. I took a kids wooden block. on one side I glued some sandpaper, another a piece of furry fabric, another beads, another side I put a gel filled square and the other two sizes had raised alphabet letters that came on the blocks. when ever I start feeling spacey I feel the various sides of the block. this is a grounding technique my treatment provider and I came up with that works for me..
my suggestion talk with your treatment provider, maybe they can help you to develop a grounding tool that will work for you.