Suddenly spacing out in conversations.

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I read somewhere that if someone experiences extreme amounts of anxiety for long periods of time, the body releases a chemical that either stops or significantly slows down thinking. I can't remember in detail, but from what I do remember, the chemical can stop signals from crossing synapses in your brain.

My psychologist told me that there is a psycological term for "spacing out", thought blocking.

My friends and family are used to my "going away" for a few minutes. They seem to tolerate it fairly well.

When I am around strangers, it creates a problem since they regard it as rude and annoying.

TV seems to trigger it quite a bit--I will change to a local channel to watch a weather report and sit through it without ever hearing a word.
I really have a hard time focusing on television anyway.

Happens to me all the time. I also cannot take notes (unless I mindlessly write down everything being said) or highlight. Supposedly you need to highlight or wright down the "main points" but I have difficulty knowing what they are.

wow, I always space out in conversations. :D

Yep. I am unsure how to compensate for it though. You know, how to not come across as a fool.

I’m in the habit of spacing off only to have people ask me what I’m thinking about and I space off some more to compensate for not knowing what to tell them. Thank goodness for the internet; you people get to miss out on my spacing off in the middle of a thread.

Lumina in mid-post: “This is an awesome song… Back in Black! I wonder if I turned the bathroom light off. Hey, I wonder what other neat stuff I can create with Photoshop later on when I check for some new brushes…Wow, I really need to get my car over to Kevin’s to see about having the rust fixed on that rocker panel. I wonder how much that’s going to cost me.”

Ohhh, I definitely space out. Sometimes in class I'll completely blank out, five or ten minutes will pass, and I won't remember a single thing that my professor has said. Not good.

I've also found that listening to multiple things at once--like talking on the phone to someone while the tv or radio is on--causes me to zone out on both things. My friend was chatting with me on the phone earlier and I had music playing, and then I realized that I wasn't understanding a word she was saying. It's like having a set of headphones on with a different song playing in each of the earpieces...I hear both, but I don't get a full sense of either.

I think I have auditory processing issues, sigh.

I have the same problem. I can't seem to sort the important information from the unimportant information when it comes to taking notes, so I write down everything that's said. It was always a struggle for me in school. I usually wouldn't take notes at all and just copy from a friend instead. On the occasions I had to take notes (due to teacher being near by) I would be writing so fast due to trying to write down every single word, that by the end of the lesson or note taking session, my hand would ache. I hated those lessons.

I hate when you open up a new window/tab to make a reply, and then get sidetracked...and by the time you stumble upon the window again, you totally forgot what you were going to say

Now that you mention it; guess what I was just doing whilst wanting to make a reply in another thread… Spacing off while I had another tab open and then forgetting what I wanted to say in the thread I originally wanted to post in. I see that four pages went by before I got back on track.

The sad thing is, I can barely remember what I was thinking about or reading while I had the other tab open. It must have not been of much importance, I guess. Something about chicken…

Absolutely.

This trait pissed-off my ex-girlfriend/current roommate (there's a weird situation for ya!) to no end.

ahh, bless your little heart. i do this often.

Sometimes I am just daydreaming. Other times I space out and become near-catatonic, I can feel a part of myself grabbing at my mind to focus but everything is underwater and I simply cannot move or respond. blank. It is a problem when I have no control over it. It presents itself as a learning difficulty too... I remember when I was a little kid in school and stuck to the spot because my mind would space out and I couldn't focus on things. Sentences, maths problems, everything going around and around in my head for the whole lesson, but all recognition/meaning gone. I don't like it. I wish I could focus more. When you want to be doing things, it is frustrating to be chasing after your mind like it's a tumbleweed.

I don't think I've ever NOT done that.

Wow, I do this quite often. Whether it be on the phone or face to face, I almost always space out during conversations. But it's not like I don't mean to do it. If I'm doing or thinking of something I feel is more important than the conversation, I let myself space out but I can keep from doing it if I need to.

Constantly. And I stop and say, "Wait. *big pause* Ok, what? I totally missed that." I do the same thign when I'm tlkaing and I blame it on a brain freeze or describe it as a trafic jam in my head.

It's very frustrating.