I "zone out" in social situations

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I recently had a social event that lasted a couple hours and I noticed that i have "zoned out" ( I don't know if this is the correct technical term) at least a couple of times.
Basically what happens is that at first I can be quite talkative even funny sometimes, but then out of nowhere I get into this strange mental state where I sort of "shut down".
These are these symptoms:
-A sense of "dissociation" from what is going around me
-I'm still capable to understand the reality around me, but the mental processing seems to be "slowed down"
-Almost a catatonic state which is, however, not completely disconnected from reality
-A sense of dizziness, tiredness, people may think I'm drunk or on drugs
-Very slow in thinking and even talking when asked a question, I'm able to talk but it requires a big amount of energy
-Also all my movements seem to be "slowed down"

Then for some reason these symptoms run away and i'm back to "normal"

I don't know what triggers these symptoms.

I fear this is the reason why I can't hold any job

This experience seems to be coherent with what I've experienced last year at that damn party I talked about here:
viewtopic.php?t=408305
(but this time it wasn't so severe )


Is anyone having similar experiences?

I've heard it many times from others.

Only happened to me once, when I was a child. I went almost catatonic, like a petit mal seizure. Adults were staring at me and tears were on my face but I was emotionless.

I guess my tolerance is high, for an autistic, and as an adult I haven't allowed myself to be in a situation where I didn't have control. I've had the dissociation feeling but that would be my signal to make my excuses and leave.

Remember, you are in control of your self and know your self better than anyone else. Don't allow a social situation, ie one controlled by others, to become overbearing or overwhelming.

What you describe sounds like symptoms of dissociation. If you are autistic it may come from a co-morbidity (eg PTSD) or simply from masking too much (in your effort to look "normal" you disconnect from your real self thus dissociate). It happens to me in most social situations.

Have I had a similar experience? That is a significant part of why I got evaluated in the first place.

I never have explosive meltdowns, but I experience what you are describing word for word. I have since I was a child. I have very vivid memories of trying to hide in public places as a child to "dissociate". I have not had any singular traumatizing moment in my life, and the most traumatizing thing I deal with is the 23 years of masking every day and trying to act as normal as I possibly can when the "dissociation" sets in.

I think what you and I are experiencing could be some kind of meltdown. Some autistic people "implode" rather than "explode" with their meltdowns. Some of us may be able to keep our wits just enough to externalize our meltdowns and instead experience them in silence. I'm not sure if I was left in that state long enough that I wouldn't begin to externalize the meltdowns, and when I think that's about to happen, I leave a situation no matter how inappropriate or awkward it may be. I figure while I'm not fully saving face by suddenly vanishing events with no explanation, I'm saving more than if I started violently crying for no reason because I'm overwhelmed by how many people are in a restaurant.

Also, I've heard of some autistic people with this experience call it a "shutdown", while I've heard others who experience the more "explosive" meltdowns say that a "shutdown" is a response to a meltdown, where after they have an "explosive" meltdown, they may spend a day or more in a dark room with the decreased ability to tolerate stimuli and sometimes diminished verbal capability.

Terminology aside, you are not alone in this.

EDIT: Since I really started to burn out last year and stopped forcing myself into so many uncomfortable social situations, this happens much less frequently than it used to. It still creeps up on me when I feel obligated to go a crowded dinner or party, and I often experience the "rumblings" of it in grocery stores (it isn't happening yet, but I know the clock is ticking until it does), but it's not a multiple-times-a-month deal any more.

Things like that happen to me when I'm starting to have a shutdown. Unfortunately, by the time it gets there, it's too late for me to get up and leave. I'll go catatonic (or nearly so). I'm done at that point. I get overwhelmed pretty easily, so I tend to avoid noisy social gatherings because I never know for sure if I'll be able to handle them for long. If I do decide to go to them, I can't stay long if there's nowhere for me to go hide and chill out for a bit in silence. It's a lot for me.

This happens to me, but is more of an effect of the adhd that I have diagnosed.

I sometimes can be present, yet not present in social situation, and my processing of speech and information is greatly diminished for a time, and the picks up and things go back to normal. It's a bit like having a dodgy hard drive on a computer.

this could be "freeze" response, or shutdown/selective mutism, PDA.... where we lock up when we are anxious about performance on demand (I can do almost nothing in "real time" and this tends to happen in overstimulating situations for me). I think many of us simply can not process at the speed needed for "real time" interactions, especially when there is a load of irrelevant input in our surroundings at the same time. I just shut down. Never meaning to be rude or anti social... It is a neurological function that protects us from sensory overwhelm.

I've always called this "whiteout", since I was a teenager. It seems to be due to overstimulation. (There's a reason I have a job sweeping floors in the small hours of the morning.)

My friend used to call them my 'Aaa moments' or moments of panic. I don't think panic was apt though. More of an unsettling disturbed stillness like stale water. To me, it sort of feels like being wrapped in a scratchy wet blanket whilst trying to concentrate.

There's a disassociation that feels murky. Heavy. Like moving through a fog. Sort of dream like. Disconnected. Words blur into an indistinct sound. All mushed together. Sort of space that exists outside of time. I find that listing random items in the room seems to bring everything back into focus and real again once more. A bit like adjusting the settings on a camera so the picture is no longer blurred.

I talked to a former therapist about this once and she thought that it was simply a reaction to being overstimulated. A shut down of sorts. They can happen when I am overstimulated sensory wise, but it can also happen with heavy emotions. If I attempt to do too much and I haven't given myself some downtime to process information, then things backfire.

Lost-dragon : if I attempt to do too much and I haven't given myself some downtime to process information, then things backfire.

Can identify with this alot ..and sometimes. It can take longer to recover than other times . Depending on the nature or how severe the info is.. If am exposed to hateful people repeatedly especially in larger groups.. it sucks the life
out of me .Its a real depressing thing .When it ocurrs ..

This sounds like the sort of thing I experience.

Sometimes I can be super positive going into a party. I might even be on a bit of a high since I'm happy I got invited to a social event and I want to make the most of it. At first, the party might be quite empty, so it might be possible to get the attention of just one person and to talk to them.

As the party progresses, more people arrive. Suddenly you need to talk to groups, rather than individuals.
Things get louder and busier which causes sensory and anxiety problems.

At this point, the party has progressed beyond my meagre social abilities, so I become almost mute and disconnected. I don't know how to join in any conversations. Also, I might be coming down from my initial social high, which means my natural social anxiety starts to catch up with me and I realise I'm standing in a crowded place full of people and it's actually awful and I remember I don't like socialising at all.

Possibly, there was a lull in the party at some point. Maybe some people left, groups broke apart, or it got a bit quieter. Maybe that's why you felt better again.

Often I will completely shut down. I'll sort of get really, really slow in my movements and thinking and I'll spend a lot of time just staring at stuff. Talking is impossible. Normally if it's got that far, I don't recover until I've left the situation completely.

Zoning out is my favourite zone. Some people say I'm away with the fairies but I'm safer with them than I am on earth.

Yaay for the fairies...when zoning .... it can be the onlyplace to go to ,if the situation is not so good for the modern Aspie brain...IHMO