[Carnival Doll]

as it turns out i have been dissociating (depersonalization and derealization mostly) since i was really young! i can't remember when it started but i was super young maybe 9? and i got scared and didn't tell my mom about it when i looked it up. this really worries me. i don't remember a specific trauma before then!! anyone else in this situation?

[finding_my_way]

Originally Posted by Carnival Doll

as it turns out i have been dissociating (depersonalization and derealization mostly) since i was really young! i can't remember when it started but i was super young maybe 9? and i got scared and didn't tell my mom about it when i looked it up. this really worries me. i don't remember a specific trauma before then!! anyone else in this situation?

derealization and/or depersonalization don't necessarily occur from trauma. even just a child being overwhelmed in general by emotions/feelings (such as anxiety) can cause it.

[Carnival Doll]

Originally Posted by finding_my_way

derealization and/or depersonalization don't necessarily occur from trauma. even just a child being overwhelmed in general by emotions/feelings (such as anxiety) can cause it.

that makes sense! and it makes me feel a lot better. thank you!

[Biteplate]

I have had the same thing. I've had derealization and Depersonalization since I can remember. I am a person that has had anxiety for years though and feel stressed out a lot. I've also not had a childhood trauma experience.

[Fuzzybear]

[Heal_connect]

I dissociated severely at age 8. It was chronic at that time. I was stuck in it. My parents brought me to the doctors but they were too ignorant to know what it was. I ended up just deciding to pretend it wasn't happening anymore because being reminded of it caused it for me. But yes, it started young for me too.

[Michael W. Harris]

I now know that I have been dissociative since early childhood. But I do not remember dissociating back then. I have no memories of it. My memories of these other sides of me did not come until I was older than 36. The age of 36 was when I realized that I was doing and saying things that I did not remember. I had known something was wrong with me since my teenage years but I chalked it up to being a weak person. The weird thing is that it never entered my brain to go to a therapist.

My Dad was a family medical doctor for ten years before he became a Radiologist. He took care of all my medical problems. If he had promoted me to get mental health therapy I would have done it. He never told me that I was mentally ill so I did not know until 36. The dysfunctional family promotes the mental illness. Until we can get away from them the mental illness can stay hidden even from ourselves.

I've had the same when I was younger, it still happens now when I get really nervous. I'd feel like I'm not involved with this world, a sort of out of body feeling. Even when I talk to people, I feel very stressed, I'd zone out.

[Hippie]

I get lost. Literally. Started at age 5. Very scary to suddenly find myself in unknown territory. As I got older it happened while driving. One second am fine and next am in a place I don't recall driving to. Now I don't drive much.

Does anyone else get lost?