8/10/2023 0 Comments Losing thought train oftenDissociation feels and looks different to each person, but is generally pretty common. I’ve been told that my face goes blank and I don’t blink very often, and I sometimes get a distant look in my eye.” Who feels zoned out? How common is dissociation?ĭissociation can happen to anyone, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background. ![]() I don’t feel solid, but as if I’m above or next to what is happening. My skin tingles and I feel outside myself-like someone observing myself observing what I’m in front of. Then, they went on to explain how it felt: “Physically, I feel floaty. ![]() They saw that people were talking around them, but they couldn’t understand what anyone was saying they were focused on how they didn’t feel wet. One person described a more intense dissociative experience in a swimming pool, where they could no longer feel the water around them. While the ‘computer’, your brain, is rebooting, you can feel like you’re in a fog. One article describes dissociation like a computer that reaches overload for input and then has to shut down for a bit to reboot itself. A response to mental or emotional overwhelm When dissociating, you can feel disconnected from your surroundings, get a sense that the world around you doesn’t feel real, or even feel like you’re observing yourself from the outside looking in.įrom other people’s perspectives, you might have glazed eyes, or look like you’re staring off into space. Studies have shown that “every area of the brain has a decrease in activation during dissociation.” When you’re zoning out, your brain might feel like it goes “offline.” In more extreme cases, it becomes harder to move or speak, and your emotions can become numbed. What does dissociation feel like?Įveryday examples of dissociation can range from forgetfulness, to daydreaming, to your mind going completely blank, to having an out of body experience. That’s when most of us pick up our zoning out habits. Dissociation is considered an adaptive (helpful) response to abuse, violence, chaos, and dysfunction, especially in childhood. A person can tune out in a variety of non-traumatic situations, like ones that involve “highly focused attention, or repetitive, low stimulation experiences, or even strong and emotionally evocative events.”ĭuring “emotionally evocative events” young people especially may use dissociation as coping mechanism due to feeling threatened. When you’re zoned out, dissociated, or frozen, it’s because your body thinks survival depends on escaping your own thoughts or shutting down.Įveryone’s brain works differently, creating different triggers for dissociation. ![]() When your mind feels overwhelmed, whether you recognize it or not, your body may bypass fight or flight, going directly to the ‘freeze’ reaction–what we call zoning out or dissociation. Experts like Stephen Porges have theorized that dissociation is one step past our usual fight-or-flight responses.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |