[Ziriux]

I never once thought to associate myself with the term before despite being aware of it, but I've recently come to know more of it and I feel like I may have this or at least have experienced dissociative episodes.

The last paragraph is the most important.

I do get spaced out sometimes, and seldom I feel like a minute has passed by really quickly and I'm not sure I was completely there during that time, but it doesn’t really bother me. when I go on car rides, I find that my surroundings look a bit unreal. I do know that they are though, and I'm not overwhelmed by this, but it is interesting to me. If this does mean anything, I think it’s really mild.

I'm not sure if this is relevant, but I also think I have childhood amnesia. I really don't have much to remember since my childhood was very boring and nothing special ever happened, but I feel like I should still remember more than minor details and that my memories should be more vivid. Only these last few weeks have I actually started thinking about this, and it took my all that time to remember a lot of things that I completely forgot about, yet not in detail.

What I’m really concerned about though is during high school, I just realized I may have dissociated a lot, nearly on a daily basis. I would lay for what felt like minutes doing nothing, feeling nothing, being nothing, and time would just somehow fly until I realized 2 hours had passed. I purposefully did this like a coping mechanism. I just shut my brain off when things got a bit too much. I felt like I wasn’t even there during these “episodes”, and that they could have lasted forever had I not been snapped out of it. I haven’t been in these states since I graduated over a month ago. I guess high school in itself was a really stressful time for me and it triggered these episodes. Is this what would be considered a dissociation episode? Does it just go away or am I going to start experiencing them again if I start feeling like I was then? Or do I still have the disorder if I even have it at all if I'm experiencing very mild symptoms?

[Ceridwen18]

hi Ziriux,
I don't know any of the answers to your questions. I wish I could help. I have had dissociative episodes, but not like you describe. Are you seeing a T or anyone you could ask?
Hugs

welcome to the forum, Ziriux (and may i just say i love the quote in your signiture!)

you certainly did a good thing by coming here and asking questions- and hopefully you can get lots of support

[David Kimberley]

Dissociation is brought about through extreme stress or maybe a traumatic childhood, where the mind unknowingly forces itself to vacate or escape reality.
These episodes can very in strength and duration. I have experienced the extreme limits of dissociation which leads me to believe that if you do suffer from dissociation it would not be to serious.
Nevertheless, you might benefit from seeing a psychologist or a healthy professor near you.
Best of...
David

[amandalouise]

Im sorry but we can not tell you whether this is dissociation in you, only your own doctors can answer that.

what I can say is here in america dissociation is an automatic reaction to a trigger. its not something someone does on purpose.

here in america we have two words that often get confused as the same word....

dissociation... automatic response to a trigger, this word has no letter A in between 2 letter s's.

and

disassociation (pronounced dis association) is to purposely stop doing something. this word has a letter A that sits between 2 letter S's

here in america we also have a mental disorder that means a person is purposely causing their self to have a medical or mental health problem. that mental disorder is called ...factitious disorder imposed on self.

you have your location set as canada. canada may do things differently than America does.

my suggestion is if this continues to bother you, to contact a doctor in your own location, they will be able to tell you if this is dissociation, dis association or other mental \physical health problems.

[PsychohcysP]

Hello Ziriux. As for me it doesn't sound like it. In my case a dissociative disorder when I sometimes can't district what is true and false, what really did happen and what was just my imagination and the fact I don't feel like I experienced my past, just like it was someone else and nothing happened to me. Like there wasn't such situation.

Your symptoms reminds me of a "silent" epilepsy - I've heard once about it. Maybe you should read about.

Hugs

[Ziriux]

Originally Posted by Ceridwen18

hi Ziriux,
I don't know any of the answers to your questions. I wish I could help. I have had dissociative episodes, but not like you describe. Are you seeing a T or anyone you could ask?
Hugs

That's alright, thank you anyways though. If by t you mean therapist, then no, I'm not. I don't want to tell my family about any of my problems since we're not close, and I or my family wouldn't be able to continuously afford it anyways. I'm not sure therapy would even work for me. It didn't work the last time I went to my guidance counselor in high school.

[Ziriux]

Originally Posted by David Kimberley

Dissociation is brought about through extreme stress or maybe a traumatic childhood, where the mind unknowingly forces itself to vacate or escape reality.
These episodes can very in strength and duration. I have experienced the extreme limits of dissociation which leads me to believe that if you do suffer from dissociation it would not be to serious.
Nevertheless, you might benefit from seeing a psychologist or a healthy professor near you.
Best of...
David

I recently found out that I may have been traumatized by my childhood, but not in the extreme sense. I think I was emotionally neglected by my mom in childhood and I rarely saw my dad because of divorce which lead me to being quite psychologically damaged if I'm correct about this. However, my childhood isn't what triggered these episodes, it was because how stressful high school life was for me, and I needed to blank out for a while I guess. I would give it a try, but I don't think it's worth it because I really doubt it would work for me. Me and my family wouldn't be able to afford it anyways.

[Ziriux]

Originally Posted by amandalouise

Im sorry but we can not tell you whether this is dissociation in you, only your own doctors can answer that.

what I can say is here in america dissociation is an automatic reaction to a trigger. its not something someone does on purpose.

here in america we have two words that often get confused as the same word....

dissociation... automatic response to a trigger, this word has no letter A in between 2 letter s's.

and

disassociation (pronounced dis association) is to purposely stop doing something. this word has a letter A that sits between 2 letter S's

here in america we also have a mental disorder that means a person is purposely causing their self to have a medical or mental health problem. that mental disorder is called ...factitious disorder imposed on self.

you have your location set as canada. canada may do things differently than America does.

my suggestion is if this continues to bother you, to contact a doctor in your own location, they will be able to tell you if this is dissociation, dis association or other mental \physical health problems.

It was more like I knew this was going to happen and I did nothing to stop it because I felt emotionally exhausted and needed to forget reality for a bit. I would just lay down and I would let that "nothing" feeling wash over me. It's sort of in between doing it on purpose and not doing it on purpose if that makes sense. That is true, but I was hoping by putting this on here that I would find someone who may have had similar experiences to comment on mine and see if it is even related to dissociation. I don't have factitious disorder, I wasn't saying that I had dissociation disorder, but was hoping to find out if I did.

[Ziriux]

Originally Posted by PsychohcysP

Hello Ziriux. As for me it doesn't sound like it. In my case a dissociative disorder when I sometimes can't district what is true and false, what really did happen and what was just my imagination and the fact I don't feel like I experienced my past, just like it was someone else and nothing happened to me. Like there wasn't such situation.

Your symptoms reminds me of a "silent" epilepsy - I've heard once about it. Maybe you should read about.

Hugs

I see. I am able to distinguish what's real and what's not, especially after the "episode". My best description of these episodes were that I felt very detached, like I wasn't even there. As if I wasn't even being and just turned to nothingness. I don't think I have absence seizures, because these episodes lasted for hours, while these seizures last up to minutes. From what I've read, people who experience this are unaware of there surroundings. And while I can't remember exactly how aware I was during these moments, I was able to be snapped out of it by a sudden noise, like a phone alarm for example.

[ruh roh]

If it's not a problem for you now, I wouldn't worry about it as anything more than dissociation that everyone experiences. High school and teen years are very stressful and if you didn't have much support at home, that would make it even more intense. However, if it's a pattern that disrupts your daily life today, then yeah, you would want to see a mh professional to figure out what's going on and how to manage your life with it.

[PsychohcysP]

Originally Posted by Ziriux

I see. I am able to distinguish what's real and what's not, especially after the "episode". My best description of these episodes were that I felt very detached, like I wasn't even there. As if I wasn't even being and just turned to nothingness. I don't think I have absence seizures, because these episodes lasted for hours, while these seizures last up to minutes. From what I've read, people who experience this are unaware of there surroundings. And while I can't remember exactly how aware I was during these moments, I was able to be snapped out of it by a sudden noise, like a phone alarm for example.

Maybe it's a kind of derealisation?

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Ziriux

I was hoping by putting this on here that I would find someone who may have had similar experiences to comment on mine and see if it is even related to dissociation. I don't have factitious disorder, I wasn't saying that I had dissociation disorder, but was hoping to find out if I did.

that was the point of my post. you see when a person goes on a site like psych central which has members world wide, with each country going according to their own diagnostics, what they call a mental disorder, what they call a mental disorder symptom and they post a does this sound like dissociation question, they are going to find many people who have the same problems but their treatment providers call the problem by many different things depending upon each persons individual problem and their own culture, their own locations laws and diagnostics ....

let me give you an example...

your getting spaced out can be.... normal, ms (multiple Sclerosis) depression, bipolar disorder, a medication problem, sleep problem, stress, a vision quest, premonition, and many other normal, physical and mental health problems in me.

if you read the many posts through out this whole site you will find many people with this same problem with their own treatment providers calling the problem all different mental and physical and normal problems.

short version everything you posted will get many different replies saying it sound like any number of issues.

the only way you will know for sure what this sounds like and what it is, is by contacting your own treatment providers.

another point that wasnt in my posts is that since this is a mental health website one thing that concerns me when I see someone asking diagnostic type questions like "what does this sound like" "what is this called" can any one tell me what my problem is" kind of questions is that the person asking is asking people with delusions, psychosis, hallucinations, multiple personalities, suicidal, homicidal, people who are depressed, people who have phobias and yes people who have fictitious disorders (which by the way doesnt mean the problem doesnt exist, it just means the problem was either self caused or caused by another in their real time life)

my point is when someone asks the mentally ill to tell them what their problem may or may not be anything can happen even problems causing more harm then good. which is why there is a disclaimer at the bottom of every page saying nothing you read here is supposed to take the place of contacting ones own treatment provider.

now from a mentally disordered persons point of view yea this sounds like dissociation, it also .....sounds like.. psychotic delusions\halucinations, it also ......sounds like..... maybe a sleep problem, to me if I saw this question during a moment when my bipolar was not being managed I would also say it .....sounds like.....depression, hypo mania and mania.

my suggestion stands if this continues to bother you contact your treatment providers who can tell you for sure what this sounds like and is with in you.