What is This?

When I'm around my dad or someone else I think is antisocial something strange happens.

It's not unwholy unpleasant and doesnt really cause me distress, I'd just like to know what it is.

I envision a part of myself stepping out of my body and watching everything from like 2 feet away. This part of myself that steps out of my body is intellectual/cold and it is watching my emotional self which is sad/wants to have a dad. The intellectual part watches my emotional part, the part that emotionally connects to others as well as observes what my father says and does. It's almost like it is watching OVER the part of myself that is vulnerable to being emotionally hurt and doing things that are "stupid" (like believing things my dad says are genuine).

Eventually when I leave my father's presence or another antisocial's presence this "envisioning" of myself ceases. Like, I wouldnt have it around someone I trusted.

And it's not like i have alternative personalities, like its just different parts of myself and I know that.

What is this called?

I just want you to know I read your post but I'm not sure what you're experiencing. I hope you figure out what's happening.

Sounds like a form of dissocation in order to take care of yourself and kep yourself safe, sort of like a guard dog mode,

I do this myself as well when in high tension or stressful situations, or when I'm aroudn people I don't trust, I sort of kick into cold and logic and keep hyperviglant, I call it "survivor" mode.

Hope this helps

Love
Typo

I'm not sure, but if it's not already a yoga technique it probably should be. You might want to compare it to Ken Wilber's description of "witnessing," here.

I found a few other descriptions of "witnessing" online but so far Wilber's is the one I can relate to most easily. Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati starts out...

The process of witnessing your thoughts and other inner processes is elegantly simple once you understand and practice it for a while. However, in the meantime it can admittedly seem quite complicated....

...and then, I'm afraid, manages to make it seem so. This description sounds hardly better to me and if there are others, I haven't found them yet. [Edited to add: just found this one!]

I say there's a distinct possibility that you're doing just fine -- and worrying about it.



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Just because something isn't very common, doesn't mean it's bad. The normal curve has two tails.
-- FZ (you read it here first)

It sounds like it could be just hypervigilance or a mild dissociative experience. This doesn't mean there is a problem or that you have a dissociative disorder, it merely means that when your anti-social radar picks up on something, you respond by becoming more aware of what is going on within you. A lot of folks have similar perceptions.

I think, as long as it is not causing you problems or distress, that you're mind is just doing what it needs to do to protect you...and that's a great thing. If this becomes problematic, I would suggest seeking out some professional guidance.

Take care

this could be just about anything medical or physical so maybe the best thing I can suggest since we cant diagnose people here is that you contact your doctors, let them know whats going on so that they can tell you what this is.

SophiaG, good luck in avoiding antisocials and attracting the trustworthy.

Isn't this the truth.