a strange question?

I don't know exactly how to explain this, and if I feel somewhat successful I might just post this in the forum (what's this fear of posting that I have???) Now... I wanted to ask if anyone knows if the following happens to most ppl or if anyone can relate? Ever since I was a child I have sometimes experienced something that made me feel anxious/afraid. For example while I was talking to someone, I could feel myself going into "a fog"... and it seemed like the person went further away from me and I just couldn't concentrate on what he/she was saying. It's almost like before you're put to sleep before having a surgery. When everything is zoomed out. It's a scary feeling because when it happens I can't hear what the other person is saying and I feel a sort of tingling sensation in my body and mind. It doesn't last very long and now it doesn't happen that often, but I realise I have never talked about this with anyone. Do you regognize it? Maybe it's common? Hope this makes sense, just curious about it.... It's an awful feeling anyhow.

it started happening to me about three or four years ago. i had a life threatening illness and since then, i zone out....fog out or whatever.....i don't understand it and i try to fake it...hope we get answers.

its called dissociation and everyone does this to varying degrees ranging from one to ten on the dissociation scale that therapy personnel use to measure a persons awareness level.

Oh, great. I think I have a new symptom to tack on to my list now. Dissociation, huh? Interesting.. I'll have to amass as much information on it as I can now... info junkie here. Does it count if it's zoning out on what your husband says? Is that what happens when men stop listening to their significant others?

My T said I dissociate too..I can LOSE an hour or so...or kinda like wake up so to speak in the middle of something..or even see someone talking but not hear them...I do it way less now

information junkie here too. If someone says one thing to me I don't understand or know about I go looking for all the information possible. The basics of dissociation is that the person thinks about other things other than what is physically happening. a normal example is when someone is driving down a road they've been before and they instead of thinking about what each sign says and how to operate the car are thinking shopping list or other things in their day. Then they get to their destination they can't recall each and every turn, sign, light and so on and their trip to their destination seems shorter. Another example is watching a movie. While watching the movie the person is so into the movie that they aren't aware of what is happening in the room ie someone getting up to go to the bathroom, figeting and so on. When the movie is over they stretch look around and are surprised that someone next to them is eating candy, popcorn, drink and they wonder when did they do that. You can get loads of information about the process of dissociation in my thread titled - resorces - in the dissociation thread. Please don't let it scare you because you see info in relation to the extreme of dissociation called DID (MPD) I came by this info doing research on my disorder. Also please don't use it as a diagnostic tool. Only a psychiatrist and/or psychologist can diagnose disorders by using Comprehensive Psychological Evaluations along with their years of educational background. Self diagnosing is a dangerious thing because the person can read more into the information they find and/or miss key elements that only the professionals have access to. Take care and Happy reading