[thelonecat]

Sometimes (mostly when i'm out in public) I start to detach from myself and from reality. It's like I can see & hear what's going on, but I'm just not there. I've drifted somewhere else. I don't really know what triggers it, although I kind of think my social anxiety does. It's kind of like while i'm away, something or someone else comes in and takes my place.

Sorry if I suck at explaining things, I just felt like I needed to share this for some reason.

[Armadillo Roll]

Sounds like DID, but of course I'm not sure.

[finding_my_way]

they can definitely overlap and co exist.

Me2! Sometimes when my anxiety hits critical mass and my world is caving in, it's like I withdraw in a daze and watch myself freaking out, walking talking doing it's own thing.

Of course, many moments of everyday I'm someone else.

I too have bad social anxiety so much that I normally dissociate and go into near heart attack anxiety/panic attack. I mumble so many different things and come across as lost. It's like I'm so withdrawn that my mouth just carries on in a mindless kind of way, saying what ever it wants changing from thought to thought. Of course, I have no idea what was said, how it was said, or even if it made sense.

I get some of the weirdest looks.

This is a big reason I quit going to AA.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by thelonecat

Sometimes (mostly when i'm out in public) I start to detach from myself and from reality. It's like I can see & hear what's going on, but I'm just not there. I've drifted somewhere else. I don't really know what triggers it, although I kind of think my social anxiety does. It's kind of like while i'm away, something or someone else comes in and takes my place.

Sorry if I suck at explaining things, I just felt like I needed to share this for some reason.

welcome...

we can not tell you what this is... only your own treatment providers can tell you that. i see in your profile you have ADHD, social anxiety and depression. I can tell you that in general what you posted does happen with those mental disorders...

plus it happens with all kinds of other normal, mental and physical health problems..

in other words theres no way any one here can tell you for sure what this is.

what we can tell you is whether we go through the same thing and what our own treatment providers called it in our selves...

in me... my treatment providers call this suddenly happening with out knowing why normal. the brain is an amazing thing it takes in everything we think, feel and go through\experience. when the brain gets to the point where it needs a break it naturally makes us slow down by shutting some of our senses down a bit. kind of makes a person feel disconnected, foggy minded, sometimes to the point of knowing what is going on but yet like someone else, not really ourselves....this is normal reaction to being a human being with a brain that allows us to think, concentrate, daydream, let our thoughts drift off to other things.

this normal stuff becomes a mental disorder when it affects all aspects of our lives. for example if you had the mental disorder DID you would be having these same problems at home, at school, at work, when you are with your friends, when you are alone, when you are eating meals....in every part of your life.

there are dissociative disorders that this can happen to but again the dissociative disorders dont just center around just being outside\out in public. all the dissociative disorders they affect all different aspects of a persons life. its a defining feature for say a person who has social anxiety their symptoms only happen in public\when they have to be in social situations.

Im taking a guess since your profile does say you have social anxiety that this.....may ....be part of that. this is just a guess mind you. only your own treatment providers can say for sure...

my suggestion is that if this continues to bother you, contact your treatment providers who diagnosed you with social anxiety. they can explain to you the hows and whys you were diagnosed with that rather than a dissociative disorder. They can also get you set up for the lengthy testing process for dissociative disorders if you believe you may have a dissociative disorder.

[thelonecat]

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies. I'll definitely remember to tell my psychiatrist in my next appointment so I can really get a solution as to what's going on...