I had 2 major episodes of dissociation last week, in response to anxiety provoking situations. I am trying to figure out if this is a bipolar/anxiety thing or PMDD thing, or is it all connected anyway?

I dont remember it happening before, and I didnt even know what it was until my pdoc said thats what was happening. There was a definite trigger in both cases, and last week I was depressed due to PMDD anyway (but I didnt realise at the time).

Can anyone shed some light for me? Is dissociation common in Bipolar?

[noshadows]

Hello Supanova, please can you explain the dissociation, I'm not sure what you mean?
I think that being able to identify a definite trigger makes it possible to do some work regarding 'the next time that trigger happens'?
Good luck x

[Moose72]

Dissociation definitely happens to me. You start to feel like everything around you isn't real. Sometimes it happens with depersonalization where you feel that you are not in your body.

[wildflowerchild25]

I'm not sure what doctors have to say about it but I have a problem with dissociation during severe depression episodes and also during anger outbursts. I always have. I call it losing time. That's one of the signs I was really in trouble over the winter last year - I lost two months of time, which hadn't happened since my son was born.

[medicalfox]

I have dissociation during anxiety, it's a coping mechanism that your body may develop from repeated severe stress. Dissociation is quiet common in people who have PTSD.

[middlepath]

yep...i dissociate at times of high anxiety. I think it is much more about anxiety than BP for me. I don't know for sure though. It is usually pretty short-lived when I do experience it.

Thanks for the replies.

The way I described it to my doctor was that I was shutting down. It was like I completely shut down. I felt like my body was this big heavy object that I couldnt make move or do anything, there were no thoughts or feelings at all. I wasnt numb but I couldnt feel anything, if that makes sense? It wasnt unpleasant, but I did feel like my body was holding me down and I could not make myself move. My brain felt disconnected to the rest of my body.

The triggers were things that do not happen regularly, and hopefully will not happen again anytime soon. They have happened before without this reaction. I am wondering if the fact that I was very clearly depressive last week has any influence in my reaction.

[ultramar]

It sounds like, unconsciously, you were protecting yourself by shutting down in this way, from the overwhelming depression and/or anxiety? Dissociation can be a coping mechanism, maybe this is it's role here. I don't think it has a direct link to BP though insofar as it's used to cope, yes, if that makes sense.

It sounds scary -did you feel like you were outside of your body/yourself? I've felt that way -especially when feeling very scared (due to something/someone triggering old fears).

I forget now if you have a therapist, but if so, I've heard that 'grounding techniques' can help -focusing on things in the room that 'bring you back' to the here and now, to yourself...and other things. It's scary, right? But I think the mind has some pretty wily ways of protecting us sometimes; the important thing is that it not distress you too much, and this where your therapist might help.

I think you're exactly right and my pdoc (who is also my psychotherapist) suggested the same thing, that this was to cope. I feel a bit like a loser because it wasnt life threatening situations or even situations that are particularly traumatic but I still had this reaction.

I didnt feel like I was out of my body, more like my body was holding me down. If I didnt have my big heavy body holding my head on I felt as if it would float away. I wasnt distressed by that at all, it was actually a bit nice to have a break from the constant white noise in my head. The first time it happened I did try to do a mindfulness CD, I recognized I was not right and thought it might help, but 2 minutes in the anxiety was so severe I couldnt stop myself from "floating away". The next time it happened I stayed like that for a fair few hours before turning to drugs, which "fixed" me.

I might do a google on grounding techniques for next time it happens. I hope it doesnt start to become a regular reaction.

[ultramar]

I hope you don't feel bad --it doesn't have to be a big trauma, just anything that is distressing.

It's funny you bring this up because just on Sunday night I had this horrible nightmare that I have every so often, and the next morning I had that feeling of floating, of somehow not entirely inhabiting my body. It was fleeting, lasted just a couple of minutes. It makes me feel uneasy, disconcerted, but like you I haven't found it hugely distressing.

I actually haven't tried grounding techniques myself, I've just heard about it. It doesn't happen much, if it did I guess I'd give it a try. But it can at least be 'useful' sometimes (aside from as a break from emotions) to figure out where it is coming from and why -though I haven't always been able to figure that out.

[Breedingsanders]

dissociation is what my doc said may have happened when major mistakes were made; feel very hyper, cant sleep, anxious and overloaded with pressure now.

[Anika.]

Please dont feel bad. I have dissociation from a pretty young age. It's not something you choose as a coping mechanism with thought.

With me it feels lile everything physical in my environment becomes soft and big and puffy, but, sounds and voices do also and everything just is going soo slow. It's the weirdest feeling. I feel very small and sort of out of my body, kind of like I am floating half in my body half out ..hard to explain really. But I can see from my point of view and from outside myself. I feel resistance to my movement like when you are in water.

When it does happen, which is far less often and I actually find it kind of enjoyable most times although unsettleing at the same time. I'm not sure I ever pin pointed triggers just seemed to happen. But I have had lot of trauma in the past and stress has always been an issue for me.

It's funny because I never knew what it was so I would ask friends and family if they ever felt that. No one ever did say yes. Makes it hard to talk or interact with anyone but I never felt very scared of it somehow. It can be short lived or last for quite few hours, not much of a pattern for me at all. I am sure this is related to my ptsd. But I would think anyone could develop this coping mechanism.

Ground may work well, I havent tried it for that either. Have noticed that I have learnt other ways to deal and work with stress and anxiety that this seldom happens anymore. I don't have anxiety aytacks anymore either, which is nice. Maybe if you keep working with the mindfulness and try grounding techniques or other ways to manage the stress or the triggers then it may not become a regular thing for you.