Dissociation

How do you know when you dissociate in session and what does you T do about it (if anything)?

I zone out, sometimes don't hear what my T says anymore, my body feels weird, everything just feels off. It's hard to describe.

My T checks in with me a lot, asks whether I'm able to hear him and so on. If I don't respond to his questions he might raise his voice a bit and say something like 'hey'. If it doesn't get better he helps me with grounding exercises, like touch the floor with your feet, describe the feeling of the seat, count all the red objects in the room...

I get this weird pressure behind my right eye and side of my head. I feel stuck in my seat and I feel like I could lay my head down and go to sleep. This is where he starts tossing a tennis ball at me.

I start zoning out and she says hey are you still with me. When she brings me back my body feels tingly. Sometimes I feel sleepy and disoriented.

Thank you all! I think I’ve started dissociating (not so much in therapy, but in real life) though I don’t know much about it beyond what I’ve read. Sometimes things go really foggy and I struggle to stay focused on anything in particular. It happens when I drive too, though not to the same extent as I’m able to maintain enough presence of mind not to do anything stupid. I’m not sure where I go when I get like this, I only know that I’m not fully entrenched into the present.

I’m also not entirely sure what triggers it. Does sudden (ish) dissociation always have a clear cause? Or can bad things build up so much that your mind feels the need to protect itself?

When I dissociate, my head feels heavy, and I feel tired or sleepy. Often my vision dims, sort of fades from the outside in. I find it difficult or impossible to concentrate. I'm not hearing what my T is saying. My former T used to get my attention. Say my name. Get me to look at her. Ask me to feel my feet on the floor. New T will ask me if I am having trouble staying present. Then we just talk until I "get back". I'm not sure if sudden dissociation has a cause. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like we are talking about anything triggering, and yet I dissociate. I think it gets easy to dissociate and then that's where I go when I'm overwhelmed or whatever. HUGS Kit

The best, short description I've ever found that I can fully relate my dissociation to is in this article. The part about what happens when someone is talking to you for more than a few minutes happens to me frequently in therapy. I try not to let it get that far and just remain aware. It's helping.

The Matrix Has You: On Dissociation and Feelings of Detachment

I seem to maybe be dissociating sometimes recently. I’ve had a few sessions with T that I don’t remember any details of - maybe looking at the fish tank it the waiting room but then... I’m back at work. I’ve made a point of mentioning it to T when this happens, but she hasn’t seemed to do anything with that info. I don’t know what we talked about in those sessions.

I’ve done this at work too, where I’m at my desk and kinda staring into space and then I blink or someone says my name and 10 minutes have gone by. I don’t remember doing anything, or thinking anything, it’s just... lost time. I may also do this at home where I’m alone.

To be fair my Pdoc, while concerned and “keeping an eye on it” hasn’t called it anything. My T says I’m probably just tired and she doesn’t want to pathologize it.

I have several types of dissociation-parts, fragmented memories, and also when accessing intense emotion when doing deep work related to core issues...

For the latter one, my T would talk a lot when I did it. It seemed like he was using his own ego to sort of hold mine together. Sounds kind of strange, I know

I rarely dissociate anymore, can't remember the last time.

The one time I remember dissociating in session with my current therapist, she caught it quickly. She said she could physically see my affect change. We did some grounding techniques which helped.

Typically I struggle to pick up on my own dissociation. It's something I'm working on.

When it happens my whole body stiffens up. I pretty much freeze. I can hear everything she says but I cannot respond in any way. When this happens it appears that a quick loud noise bring me back. The one time it happened with she sat next to me and put her hand on my back and and talked to me. I came back. So I told Emdr T touching me would also likely work. I get very tired after, groggy and I cant think more than really surface level.

The last time it happened EMDRT recognized something was happening and asked me a question at exactly the right moment. I still felt most of the symptoms but I could talk and move.

I get sleepy and can’t focus my eyes. I am not sure if I have dissociated with R. T or not. I am guessing I haven’t. R. T works really hard to keep my anxiety below a level where I would disassociate. I did freeze up really bad the second session and T asked “where is your anxiety”, I turned and looked at him but still wasn’t completely there so he asked “on a scale of one to ten where is your anxiety”... I answered likert scale and he looked at me funny and then I could tell him it was at a 5 and he smiled and joked that we had plenty of wiggle room then. Usually T doesn’t let me get past a 3 or 4 before he lightens things up. He says if I am uncomfortable that I am not open to recieve what he is trying to offer me. T has also learned I will not/cannot dissociate if he is touching me so he uses that too.

For me, I will feel like there's a different quality to my surroundings, like my eyes can't focus. I will also feel "spacey" and it becomes noticeably harder to form complex thoughts. It's like I drift off mid-thought. Same for sentences: I feel like my mind blanks out and I struggle to find words for my thoughts. My brain will also feel very blank and "foggy".

I've noticed from my audio recordings that my voice will change, sometimes slightly, sometimes much more obviously depending on how spaced out I am feeling. I speak haltingly and slowly when I'm spacing out, because I'm trying to push words out with great difficulty. My voice changes as well and I sound flat, like I'm a robot.

Thank you all, I really appreciate all of these replies.

Late to this thread....

how do I feel when I dissociate... I feel mentally numb, distanced from those around me.... kind of like the feeling of being medicated but not out of touch with whats real and what isnt and not actually on any medications...a hang over of sorts kind of feeling but not because of alcohol.

your question is it always because of a trigger.....answer yes here in america the new definition of dissociation is a normal response to a positive or negative trigger. A trigger is anything that causes something to happen.

examples....

going to my own wedding made me feel numb, spaced out, disconnected mentally, like an observer instead of a participant. (positive trigger the wedding, dissociation symptoms numb, spaced out disconnected)

During therapy when talking about hard things sometimes I will feel mentally numb (no emotions, no thoughts just being...), spaced out (some people call this foggy, woozy, dizzy not the same kind of dizzy that you get from passing out, this is a different kind of dizzy) Disconnected (I can look at my hand and know its my hand but not have any emotional or physical feelings or thoughts associated with that hand)

I cant imagine what it must be like to disassociate while talking. Mine always happens when I am not talking but rather listening to her talk.

he says I am dissocjating and he tries to bring me back. going for a walk is most helpful

Do you walk around his office or outside the office? That is one of the things I really think would help me.

both depending on the weather