Anybody else dissociating? How do you stop it?

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Has anybody else here experience dissociation? And I don't mean normal, everyday dissociation like driving in your car and not remembering how you got to your destination. I mean like completely numb and disconnected from the world around you. I've been this way for 10 years and I don't know how to stop it. How do you "plug yourself back in?" when you're spaced out?

Redacted.

Deal with it a lot. Happens in class and when I'm around people.

On a regular basis, I "wake up" in the shower and can't remember if I just stepped in or if I'm finishing up. And on more than one occasion, I "woke up" while driving a car, couldn't remember getting in and leaving, and had no idea where I was going. Fight Club creeped me out when I saw it, because I was experiencing exactly what the main character was experiencing, and it made me wonder if I had an alternate personality that came out during moments like this.

I experience dissociation a lot and I don't know how to stop it. It's like I switch from one person's perspective to another's, to another's, etc. I'm not sure which perspective is actually mine. It is really hard to deal with and makes me wonder what reality is. It was worse when I was younger; or maybe I'm just more used to it now. I have become used to the various perspectives, so it's not as disturbing as it once was; but still very difficult.

I think that's how I deal with most situations, actually.

As far as being numbed-out afterwards, I find that (what I think is the same as) meditation helps a little. It's basically turning off the internally-jabbering part of the mind in order to become more aware of the present/immediate-surroundings. I'm not especially good at it, but I do notice the numb/glass-wall feeling fade when I do it.

Oh, and I only do that at home. I figure the dissociation is a useful coping strategy when I'm out of the house.

Well I've been "dealing with it" for 10 years and I'm sick of it. This isn't something I do in certain situations. This is every minute of every day for the last 10 years. This isn't normal. Up until I fell into major depression 10 years ago, I felt very much alive and present in the moment. I was fully able to experience good and bad emotions. Now I'm completely numb emotionally and I'm totally spaced out. I can't concentrate, I can't hold down a job, I barely get by in school (and I'm only taking 2 courses a semester instead of the recommended 5) and I'm always tired. It's ruining my life.

Sounds like burnout. I also had 10 years of unbroken numbness, but unfortunately nothing touched it but a greatly reduced stress level for several years. It could just be depression, but if it isn't I don't know of a fix outside of a major life change.

Sounds like burnout. I had an unbroken 10 year period of numbness (and cognitive dysfunction enough to have it diagnosed) like that, but unfortunately nothing but several years of greatly reduced stress made any difference. It could be depression, but if it isn't I don't have any answers beyond a major life change.

Didn't mean to sound glib in the first post.

I never understood dissociation completely. In ways i feel like i have experienced it, but I'm not totally sure.

I am usually really numb, can't move, can't register anything, can't talk or anything really.

I experienced this for about two months, and it was Hell. I went to a psychiatrist and he put me on antidepressants. One day I was driving in my car back home from school and the song "Check it Out" by Will.I.Am and Nicki Minaj was playing over the radio. The weather was pristine and the sun was just over the trees as it was around five o'clock in the evening (I had stayed after for a robotics club meeting). Something about the entirety of the paradigm that I was experiencing, coupled with the drugs, "broke me free" of by bonds to my mind, and I felt whole again at that moment. This time I was able to hold onto my freedom and have since enjoyed my emancipation from that psychological prison. I know that it is extremely improbable for anything like this to work universally, but maybe you could give seeding your own freedom a try, as what happened to me. I really hope to hear from you on whether or not you heal mentally, private message me if you must and watch out for yourself.

I've only recently learned about this disassociation thing with Autism. I think I was in that state during my whole childhood, I feel as if I was living in a dream-like state from the time I was 17 and down. My whole childhood memory is fuzzy and I see myself feeling or doing things back then that don't even seem right now. I feel as if I'm more aware of myself and my surroundings now than I was just a few years ago, and I can't really explain why all of a sudden I'm a more aware person. Yet sometimes I still feel like there's a disconnection between the way I feel in my head and the way I act in the real world.

I have a diagnosed dissociative disorder in addition to Asperger's. The only things I have found that help me are to recognize the dissociation and try to stay present and then to do something that helps me regulate such as being in the water or swinging. That said, dissociation never completely goes away. It is a skill your brain has learned that can be used to benefit you or affect you in a more negative way. The trick is in learning how to use the dissociation.