Dissociation describes a mental process where a person feels disconnected from their thoughts, feelings, memories, identity, or surroundings. It exists on a spectrum, from common, mild experiences like daydreaming to more profound alterations in perception. Many individuals experience temporary dissociation during stressful periods or when deeply absorbed in an activity.
Feeling Disconnected from Yourself
One common way dissociation manifests is as a profound sense of detachment from one’s own self, known as depersonalization. Individuals often describe feeling like an outside observer of their own life, watching their actions, thoughts, or emotions from a distance. This sensation can be akin to watching oneself in a movie, lacking genuine agency or control over one’s behaviors. The feeling of being unreal or like a robot, with no control over speech or movement, is frequently reported.
This detachment can extend to one’s physical body, leading to feelings of not fully occupying one’s own form or even floating outside of it. Some may find their reflection unfamiliar or struggle to recognize their own voice. This subjective unreality of the self can be deeply unsettling, creating a sense of being divorced from personal sensations, emotions, and identity.
Feeling Disconnected from Your Surroundings
Another significant aspect of dissociation involves feeling detached from the external world, known as derealization. This experience makes one’s surroundings seem unreal, dreamlike, or distorted. The world might appear foggy, hazy, or as if viewed through a glass wall or veil, separating the individual from their environment. Familiar places can suddenly feel strange or foreign.
Objects and people within this altered perception may seem distant, flat, two-dimensional, or artificial. Colors might appear dull or washed out, or conversely, overly vibrant, while sounds may seem muffled or overly sharp. Some people describe feeling as if they are in a movie or a play, where their environment lacks spontaneity and emotional depth. Despite these profound perceptual distortions, individuals typically retain the understanding that these experiences are subjective and not objectively real.
Experiencing Altered Awareness and Memory
Dissociation can also significantly impact one’s sense of awareness and memory, leading to subjective feelings of gaps or shifts in perception. Time may seem to pass strangely, either speeding up or slowing down, creating a disorienting sensation. Individuals might find themselves in a new location without remembering how they got there, or experience “lost time” where they cannot recall specific conversations or events that just occurred. These memory gaps are more severe than typical forgetfulness and often relate to emotional, physical, or psychological trauma.
The sensation of “zoning out,” where awareness drifts away, can lead to a hazy or blank recall of a period. While not always a complete memory loss, this feeling of missing pieces or a general fuzziness around past events is common. The brain may compartmentalize or block out traumatic memories, leading to these gaps. This can leave individuals feeling confused, frustrated, or isolated by their inability to access certain recollections.
Emotional Numbness and Other Sensations
Beyond detachment from self and surroundings, dissociation often includes a pervasive feeling of emotional numbness. This can manifest as a general blunting of affect, where individuals feel empty or dead inside, unable to fully experience emotions like joy or sadness. This blunting may reflect a diminished capacity to engage with the external world or to experience emotions fully.
Accompanying emotional numbness, individuals may experience various physical sensations. These can include a sense of physical lightness or floating, or conversely, feeling heavy and sluggish. Some report a general sense of unresponsiveness or apathy, while others describe being disconnected from physical pain or discomfort. These physical and emotional alterations contribute to an overall feeling of unreality and detachment.