Is it Dissociation?

I have been perusing people's threads, and read one about Dissociation, something I was previously unfamiliar with. A lot of the features of dissociation sound quite familiar, and I wanted to ask about them.

First of all, I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder with psychotic features (paranoia and mild hallucinations). I don't really have any friends who live locally; I have online friends or else long-distance friends, and even those are rather few. But when I talk with them, often I find it extremely difficult to focus on what they're saying, and they have to repeat themselves numerous times. They get irritated with me. And often I think I understood what they said and later they allude to it and I have absolutely no recollection of it. I play an online game with a very diverse community and meet lots of people, and then as soon as we part ways, they're completely gone from my memory. My friends puzzle over how I can just "zone out," and forget entire evenings of events.

I was under the impression that it was simply my memory and attention span being affected by extreme depression. Honestly I didn't even mention this aspect to my psychiatrist because it seemed so minor. Is it possible that it may be dissociation?

yes, it is possible...discuss it with your dr........

It's possible it could be dissociation, but depression can also cause problems with cognitive processing like you're describing. Dissociation often (although not always) occurs as a result of trauma, which is something you didn't mention.

I would mention it to your doctor and see what s/he thinks.

Hello EliteMish4,

Dissociation is something that everyone does to some extend, it's a natural phenomenon that the brain learns to do. The bored driver of a car sitting in a traffic jam, the mind will naturally wander off. Children dissociate a lot. Trauma in childhood can lead to a child dissociating more in order to cope with what is going on. The problem comes when that dissociation (coping mechanism) then happens when it is no longer needed or happens when you don't want it too.

Please mention it to your psychiatrist, yes it can be related to your mental health, any trauma from the past or could even be due to the medication you are on, so it would be good to share.

I will be seeing my doc again in a couple weeks and I'll bring it up. Thanks for the answers! I really appreciate everyone's input. Most forums I join, I typically have to keep bumping my post and even then it usually doesn't get a single response.