is this a form of dissociation?

I'm not actually asking for myself so I hope you'll help me anyway. I have a very good friend who has recently revealed to me a behavior that I would term dissociation but I'm not sure.

She has a place she goes to inside her mind to escape from reality. It's intentional and she goes there a lot. When she's there she looks sort of glazed over and you can't really reach her to talk to her.

You guys seem to be the experts and I can't find help anywhere else. Is she dissociating? If not, any suggestions on where to look for other explanations and support?

Thanks so much.

I certainly would not put myself in the expert class. I will try and answer to the best of my knowledge so take it for what it is worth. OK?

There are many, many kinds of dissociation. Some are very mild and do not effect the person's life at all. Others are very "drastic" and cause the person a lot of problems or help them through a lot of problems or both.

It does sound to me like your friend is intentionally dissociating. Perhaps much like one would when meditating or "wool gathering". It sounds like she has control and goes there when she needs to.

What would concern me is why she feels she needs to go there so often and why is this her means of coping with problems. If it were my friend I would encourage her to talk to a real expert and find perhaps ways to deal with her problems instead of having to go away from them.

I hope this helps some. Take care.

Can I ask how old your friend is?

Another question: if your friend goes there 'intentionally', does she do it in front of other people? Like, in the middle of a group conversation?

YES. This is dissociation. I echo what place said, about encouraging your friend to look into why she copes this way, and talk to a professional.

Best of luck to you and your friend...

LMo, Yes she goes there in front of other people and pretty frequently.

I've just been looking for a name for it and dissociation was the closest thing I could think of so I read through some of the threads here and decided to ask those of you who experience these things. Thank you so much for answering.

In answer to other questions, she has a T, but it's not going well. I know this started as a defense during traumatic situations, but the frequency scares me a little.

Any suggestions for books or websites her family and I can look at? Anything that's helped you and your loved ones.

Definitely a form of dissociation. Only a T could tell what form it is. When I'm not out & I had switched/ dissociated, people told me I have a glazed look to my eyes. If you don't know to look, you wouldn't even notice. But for mine, my Body keeps going. It's the eyes that tell who's out. Your friend needs a T who specializes in dissociative disorders. We diss. as a defense mechanism. Just have to find out why your friend needs one.
As far as referrals, I'd stick w/ this site for some answers. There's a lot of posts here as well as a directory you can search.
Love,
RhysMadison

<font color="purple">yepper doodles it is. some things must be getting to her to want to escape. Our T can tell who is out real good now. Some of us also do stuff like cross the arms or stare at his books so he knows even ikf no body says nothing.

Yep, that is a form of dissociation - I do the exact same thing that your friend does, and I'm working on it in therapy.