Do people with Bipolar dissociate?

I don't really know what it means. I don't think I have ever done it.

[Bpdbpbec]

I get dissociation/derealization in any situation I don't feel in control. Everything starts feeling fake and like im watching my surroundings like a movie instead of being part of the situation. Everything seems artificial. It's really messed up. Apparently it's a coping mechanism for feeling unsafe even if you consciously don't feel in danger.

[cmorales]

I have, before starting meds, had days where I disconnected from reality. Sometimes it is silly, like forgetting how to do simple things - almost like being a spectator to life, not a participant. Others it can be more dangerous... forgetting how to drive while driving. Other times, it is a distorted sense of time; for example "knowing" it was this day and this time, but being certain it was really another day and another time. Other times it would be more intense, like the time my vision heightened, my arms 'elongated' and I felt I was living in a cartoon.

i thought i dissociated... and maybe i do, maybe not... i dont know enough yet, and cant remember much to know if i have dissociated.... i havent had any negative experiences for a while, so i cant tell....

but anyway, turns out, im actually agoraphobic... which is pretty bad in itself lol... but it has very dissociative traits, which made me suspect it was...

[penname]

I dissociate. It got really bad after some stuff happened in my life. though, I suspect that I dissociated before and just never had a word for it.

[faerie_moon_x]

I do. I don't feel real, everything around me feels fake. I also start having panic attacks about not existing any more. It's usually when I'm in a really bad mixed state and heading toward an episode.

Originally Posted by faerie_moon_x

I do. I don't feel real, everything around me feels fake. I also start having panic attacks about not existing any more. It's usually when I'm in a really bad mixed state and heading toward an episode.

yeah... thats what i get too... i mean, not anymore but... when i had it happen, it felt horrible... i think the last time it happened was when i was heading into a full-blown breakdown though...

[faerie_moon_x]

Originally Posted by vendide

yeah... thats what i get too... i mean, not anymore but... when i had it happen, it felt horrible... i think the last time it happened was when i was heading into a full-blown breakdown though...

Even when I'm not dissociating, I have a tenancy to look around me, especially when I'm outside. I try to look at natural things. Trees; the sky, flowers, or out into the horizon. I look at these things and focus on them to help me feel more real and part of the world. It does seem to help.

[WibblyWobbly]

I have PTSD so I dissociate anyway but I also dissociate when I'm in mixed episodes. When I am really agitated I sometimes don't remember things I said or did, it's all a blur. During one of my hospitalizations I made threatening phone calls to family members every day and I don't remember any of that. I was also shocked to find out I had been there 3 weeks when I was discharged. I thought it was a week or two.

I went to a PTSD/DID program and they said everyone dissociates a little bit. You might remember a time when you zoned out while someone was talking to you or drove home and not really remembered the drive.

[Nammu]

I used to, but it was from the PSTD. I don't any more although it sometimes feels like it when starting, stopping certain meds. If its interfering with life you can work on it in therapy. They have therapist who are trained specifically for this type of thing.

Thanks everyone.
My eldest son and I, saw a family therapist a year or so ago and he said he "saw" me dissociate. No, what I was doing was daydreaming until he was done talking to my son because I didn't want to interrupt and argue.

I told him I didn't think I did it.

I think I am starting to understand it a little better.

I didn't think I did it. I thought going off into my own little world was a good coping strategy. I do it a lot in crowds I can pull off looking like I am having fun if my brain is not all there

Weed makes it worse but honestly I don't know its a bad thing. It works, I am productive and have little stress

Everybody dissociates to one degree or another...even normal people do, it's not an uncommon thing.

In the dissociative spectrum, illnesses go from PTSD, C-PTSD, DR/DP, to DID which are attributed to periods of trauma.

Drugs can cause dissociation all the way to not getting enough sleep.

If you feel like you are having a problem with dissociation, consult your mental health provider.

I don't know the difference between dissociating or daydreaming or going on auto-pilot.

I thought dissociating is more of a coping strategy.

[Pikku Myy]

I have disassociated and used to do it a whole lot more due to very bad life situations. It feels exactly as has been described in previous comments. Fake, not there...

from an earlier thread

There are many different kinds of dissociation. One type is not being physically present. Another type is cutting off some aspect of your current experience. So if you cut off your emotions while you're talking about something traumatic, you're dissociating. Or if you forget pieces of information related to a trauma, you're dissociating. Or if you feel overwhelming emotion with no reason why, you're dissociating.