Discussion What does dissociation look like to you?

[diseasedstreetcat]

Good time of day, yesterday i had my first intense dissociation episode and since i have been more curious to learn more about it. I spoke about it with a friend and to them, dissociation means cognitively and emotionally detaching for extended periods of time and having little to no recollection of the events after they've partaken. In my experience, dissociation is a extremely hard to describe feeling that roots in detachment to reality; the best i can come to put it in words is feeling the same way you do when you are dreaming. You can feel everything just the same, you can think as well as your mind can under a lot of distress, but despite logically knowing that everything is real, you cannot shake off the feeling of potentially waking up at any moment. definitively some cognitive and emotional impact as well, much like to being sedated.

so how would you describe dissociation? do you use it as a tool? how do you induce it? is it unpleasant to you? what else do you feel about it? i want to hear firsthand from people who go through it.

 

[MissAbyss]

Complete detachment from my feelings and thoughts, paralyzed and no perception of time, it's either too fast, too slow or non-existent. Feeling of being sedated. Sometimes it can feel blissful though.

 

[dissociation]

For me, the intensity of dissociation varies from day to day, but when reality becomes too stressful, I escape to my inner safe place and no longer notice what is happening around me.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I'm not really sure if it's dissociation but, I tend to 'disappear' for lengths of time while I do my (creative) work. It can be pretty monotonous and task based. Plus, I tend to put stuff on in the background. Then, there are these moments where part of my brain is instructing the rest of me what to do on this job, another part is taking in sounds, narratives, storylines and another part weirdly starts to wander. Totally random memories will just pop in. And, the hours will just disappear.

I think that's why I've always liked doing creative stuff. Because it can be meditative in a way. I don't really know if it's dissociating as such but, it can give me a restbite from feeling so intensely annoyed and suicidal. It can put me into a kind of daze though. It's also why I like to work alone. It's much easier to do when you don't have to be conscious of other people around.

 

[Satori Komeiji]

When life goes from first-person POV to third-person and I start feeling like a spectator in my own life.

 

[Pluto]

 

[Aergia]

the best i can come to put it in words is feeling the same way you do when you are dreaming. You can feel everything just the same, you can think as well as your mind can under a lot of distress, but despite logically knowing that everything is real, you cannot shake off the feeling of potentially waking up at any moment.

Chronically dissociated for the last 6 years. Feeling like you're in a dream is definitely the best way to put it. Like your consciousness is muted. If it's chronic, the world loses its affective content. Feels hollow and inconsequential. Things rarely touch you. You don't feel much. Death starts to feel like exiting the dream, so it doesn't feel like a big deal either, even though on a rational level you know it is.

Before I had the terminology I described it as feeling as though I was living underwater.

 

[Forveleth]

When I dissociate, my brain shuts off. I cannot think, I cannot concentrate, I have trouble putting sentences together and understanding what people are saying. The world gets kind of soft and fuzzy as my consciousness pulls into the back of my head. I have had the feeling that I was in a dream a couple of times, but more often than not, I just get hazy.