[Jen31]

I have a question or more like a concern. Is it possible to lose time and do something out of character? Like for instance could you walk, talk, and initiate a sexual encounter and not even know?

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Jen31

I have a question or more like a concern. Is it possible to lose time and do something out of character? Like for instance could you walk, talk, and initiate a sexual encounter and not even know?

yes there are many mental, physical and normal things that can cause a person to do things they dont remember doing. it can be as simple as stress related. things like not getting the right nutrients, not getting enough fluids, not enough sleep and other normal issues or it can happen with more challenging physical and mental health issues like bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer, MS, and a host of other physical and mental issues.

related directly to dissociative disorders ...

DID has diagnostic criteria involving memory issues, so does Dissociative Amneisa, and Depersonalization/derealization disorder, as does Other Specified Dissociative Disorder and Unspecified Dissociative Disorder also leaves room for any dissociative symptom that does not fully fit any of the other dissociative disorders.

in short every single dissociative disorder can have the symptoms you describe. in order to find out what the problem in you is you will need to contact your treatment providers who can help you narrow down the cause and which normal, mental or physical health problem is causing this in you.

[montanan4ever]

Yes. It's not very common, but it's possible. To be considered a dissociative episode, no substances can be involved.

[Jen31]

No substances. Just a blackout/dissociative episode from stress and ptsd. So it is possible? Are you in such a state that you are able to give consent? Or worse initiate the whole encounter?

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Jen31

No substances. Just a blackout/dissociative episode from stress and ptsd. So it is possible? Are you in such a state that you are able to give consent? Or worse initiate the whole encounter?

Jen I think we covered this in the other thread about this same issue...

maybe we didnt explain it right....

try something for me...

think about your best friend, your sister or brother or someone else that you know..

pick something you like to eat that they dont like and pick something they like that you dont eat...

maybe you like hamburgers and your friend likes liver.

now imagine you and this other person have to live in the same body..

when you are in control of the body you make hamburgers for dinner and when your friend is in control of the body the friend makes liver. you have no control over what she cooks and eats and she has no control over what you cook and eat. she cant make any decisions when you are in control of the body and you cant make any decisions when she is in control of the body. all you can do is either not know what she is doing or you know what she is doing but all you can do is watch and listen or maybe you can listen but not watch or watch and not hear....

thats what having DID is like....when alters are in control of the body the host has no control the alters live their own lives have their own jobs, purposes reasons for being.

there is no giving consent, there is no conscious choice making.

sometimes after years and years of treatment some people learn how to communicate with their alters, and the alters them but its still a situation where when the alters are in control of the body they make all the decisions and when the host is in control the host has all the decision making power. some take into consideration what their alters need and want but if it goes against what the host believes in then they are not going to consent to having sex against their will..basically having sex against your will is called rape...to put it bluntly no one I know who has DID and was raped would ever give consent to having sex when they are not in control. victims of sexual abuse are more apt to saying no not saying yes to sex when not in control.

[Jen31]

I don't have DID, and I have only had one dissociative episode. This I'm pretty sure of. Yes I have been numb but that's just the ptsd. My trauma is of a sexual assault so I would hope that I would say no.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Jen31

I don't have DID, and I have only had one dissociative episode. This I'm pretty sure of. Yes I have been numb but that's just the ptsd. My trauma is of a sexual assault so I would hope that I would say no.

in my post here in this thread I mentioned we had discussed this issue of someone cheating in reference to DID....

http://forums.psychcentral.com/disso...lp-me-out.html

since you are not talking about you then can I assume correctly you are talking about this situation still.....

here is the page in which you asked about this...

http://forums.psychcentral.com/disso...-me-out-2.html

if you still feel you are not getting the answer you want or we are not giving you the answer you are expecting. you can contact a mental health provider in your location who can tell you more about DID, what it is and whether its a conscious choice where you are or not.

[lucylin]

if you are really dissociative, u can be an entirely different personality. when i was 1st diagnosed i was told by the nurses on the unit i sounded like a young child when i asked them for permission for things when i was in that personality. i had no memory of being a child, or acting like a child. i didn't believe i was dissoc. for a long time.

[lucylin]

if u had one dissoc. episode, what prevents another? maybe a good therapist could help determine the underlying causes of your behavior. even if it's PTSD, & not DID, that's still no walk in the park.

[Jen31]

Well I'm not saying that I did that or anything. I was just wondering if something like that could happen to you. Basically if you could go out and retraumatize yourself again. Or if its like being in an alcohol blackout where you act different. That's what I worry about. Also I have a small child and I'm a single parent so I worry like if I would be so off that I would forget he is there and leave him alone of something. That is what concerns me.

[innocentjoy]

People can dissociate without it being a disorder, I'm wondering if that's what you mean. In a traumatic experience, often the person will dissociate and not remember parts of the event. However, this is usually in response to a perceived threat at the time. You wouldn't dissociate beforehand, it would be a reaction to the event.
Are you thinking something has happened, or are you worried about something happening? If you're worried about something happening, that is something to work through with whoever you're seeing for the ptsd. If something has happened, perhaps a little more context might help out...

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Jen31

Well I'm not saying that I did that or anything. I was just wondering if something like that could happen to you. Basically if you could go out and retraumatize yourself again. Or if its like being in an alcohol blackout where you act different. That's what I worry about. Also I have a small child and I'm a single parent so I worry like if I would be so off that I would forget he is there and leave him alone of something. That is what concerns me.

Jen yes it is possible for normal people and people with many different medical and mental health problems including dissociative problems can and do forget their children and leave them alone. almost every day in the news, somewhere someone forget they had their child with them and walked off and left their children in their cars, at school, on play grounds, at rest stops along the high way....

as for can people retraumatize their self yes they can people retraumatize their self all the time. Just yesterday I was cleaning out the kitchen cupboard trying to find the lid to a storage container. I hate spiders, I have a huge fear of spiders and I know spiders like places like dark cupboards, especially if you have the type of cupboard that sits down into the flooring where the earth meets the cupboards. I know darn well theres spiders under there but I still have to get that storage container lid. I pulled the lid out and screeched as I threw the lid into the sink and shaking turned on the hot water to kill that dang spider on the lid. my wife come running and Im standing against the door frame feet away from the sink shaking crying and having a panic attack.

I know a few people who purposely do things like seeking out rough, abusive sex even though they had been raped in the past. but they do it because thats whats normal to them, thats what turns some on, thats what makes them feel those things that became their normal.

normal people and people with mental and those with physical health problems too retraumatize their self for all kinds of reasons.

in another post you stated ...

Originally Posted by Jen31

I don't have DID, and I have only had one dissociative episode. This I'm pretty sure of. Yes I have been numb but that's just the ptsd. My trauma is of a sexual assault so I would hope that I would say no.

since you only dissociated once and nothing like what you are asking about has ever happened, meaning you never had an affair/initiated having sex while dissociated and havent left your child alone during that one dissociative event you had, its a pretty fair guess (not diagnosis) that you have nothing to worry about.

but just in case my suggestion is contact your treatment providers. they can discuss this with you and do some tests to find out if you have the type of normal, mental or physical problems that would cause you to forget your son somewhere and leave him unattended.

to answer your other question is dissociative type forgetting like an alcohol black out no it isnt. in fact the diagnostic criteria states alcohol induced type black outs have to be ruled out. meaning the persons dissociative problems cant not be because of having an alcohol type black out.

do people with dissociative disorders act different...some times yes sometimes no. your treatment provider can tell you if you acted different when you were in your dissociative event.

[Jen31]

I worry what happens when dissociating. I have small children and I have dissociated once after a huge argument I had. That's never happened to me before so it scared me. I wonder if I could wander off like that and leave my children alone or if something could happen to me while being in that state. This is all new to me so I don't know what I look like in this state. I'm asking to find out what it's like for others. Thank you Amanda I just seen your post after I posted already. It freaked me out is all and my T said it was due to the stress from the argument and just general stress. However, since he has never seen me in that state he can't tell me if I'm catatonic, zoned, or just slowed down. I appreciate the replies. It just kinda makes me feel better to hear of other people's experiences since I really don't know my own.

[Jen31]

I don't know how to add hugs or I would hug you Amanda lol

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Jen31

I don't know how to add hugs or I would hug you Amanda lol

hugs button is at the bottom of the post and to the right....next to the reply, quote, quick reply and thanks buttons. just click it and it adds a hug to the post that you are reading.

if you mean inside your post you are writing look to the right, theres a bunch of smilies. and click on he one you want.

example....

you can also put the person's name in brackets that you want to hug

(((((Jen))))))

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Jen31

I worry what happens when dissociating. I have small children and I have dissociated once after a huge argument I had. That's never happened to me before so it scared me. I wonder if I could wander off like that and leave my children alone or if something could happen to me while being in that state. This is all new to me so I don't know what I look like in this state. I'm asking to find out what it's like for others. Thank you Amanda I just seen your post after I posted already. It freaked me out is all and my T said it was due to the stress from the argument and just general stress. However, since he has never seen me in that state he can't tell me if I'm catatonic, zoned, or just slowed down. I appreciate the replies. It just kinda makes me feel better to hear of other people's experiences since I really don't know my own.

I understand your fear....I waited until after my alters were integrated and then waited some more just to be sure, before I had my children.

question when that dissociative event happened did anyone around you....friends family, the person you had the argument with or any one else tell you how you were looking?

if not then you dont have anything to worry about because you looked just like you normally look. people tend to notice things like when someone is zoned/catatonic, appearing to be slow. if they didnt say anything to you then you just looked how ever you normally looked and they didnt even realize you were different because on the outside you looked the same as you always did even though you may have felt different.

[Jen31]

Originally Posted by amandalouise

I understand your fear....I waited until after my alters were integrated and then waited some more just to be sure, before I had my children.

question when that dissociative event happened did anyone around you....friends family, the person you had the argument with or any one else tell you how you were looking?

if not then you dont have anything to worry about because you looked just like you normally look. people tend to notice things like when someone is zoned/catatonic, appearing to be slow. if they didnt say anything to you then you just looked how ever you normally looked and they didnt even realize you were different because on the outside you looked the same as you always did even though you may have felt different.

No unfortunately the person wasn't around after argument nor anyone else but my 18 month old. I know during the argument I zoned out once and caught myself and snapped out of it quickly when something was said that really made me mad. I also remember feeling fuzzy and kinda like a feeling of being high or something. It was weird. My trauma that caused my ptsd just happened a year and half ago so I am still relatively new to this.

[ThisWayOut]

When I dissociated really badly a few years ago, I looked and acted normal apparently, just have no memory of it. I actually was more help-seeking at the time and "woke up" in the hospital a few days later. I don't know if that helps or not, but that was my most recent experience that I am sure of. I have suspicions of at least one more time within the last few months, but no way of knowing for sure.
(Hugs) it all might be a good topic to bring up in therapy again, especially if you are worried about your child during any lost time.