'Zoning out'

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Recently I've been having problems with 'zoning out' or feeling spacey for no apparent reason :/ I used to get it when I was nervous or stressed and my brain would sort of shut down and I'd feel detached and 'not with it', but recently it's been happening more generally and some days I find it really hard not to feel floaty/spacey or zoned. Sometimes, it gets so bad I can't remember why I'm in a certain place or how I got there, and it takes a few minutes to reorientate. My obsessions have stopped too which is also really disorientating and I'm not sure what's going on. Has anyone else experienced this?

Sounds like depersonalization or derealisazion for me.

I get that whenever i use my brain. Ive just gone back to study for the first time since diagnosis and Ive realised as soon as I start crunching numbers or scanning data, or even using the internet I zone. I can pretty much switch it on at will, turning it off is another story.
Im starting to feel that this is who I am and will addapt to it and learn to work with it.

It seems a bit like that, except I've never had it outside of anxiety attacks before :/ is it common for it to happen on its own? I'm still aware of 'me', but feel detached and zoned, a bit like a cross between low blood sugar (which it isn't) and vertigo. No idea why it's happening though, when I googled depersonalisation, it said it could happen as a result of a trauma which I haven't had :s



Can relate to that with studying (bit like 'flow'), but for me this is different- I'm not in control of when it happens and I feel really weird and can't focus on anything really at the time. I feel distanced from myself and when I talk, I'm not really focussed on the words and sometimes I'm not sure what I said. Not sure what to do about it! Have been trying mindfulness but, although it helps with anxiety, doesn't seem to work with being 'zoned' :/

I've had it a lot since coming off ADs and experiencing withdrawal syndrome. It seems to happen when I'm tired or overwhelmed.

I've experienced that as well. Years ago I used to try to figure it out, find the cause, and try to make it stop. I know it's more likely to happen when I'm overwhelmed, but it happens at other times as well. It's especially disappointing when it takes away my focus for my work.

Yes- I totally agree. I'm finding it really hard to focus on work atm (or anything really that isn't totally active eg running or the gym), especially uni work. I had a PhD supervision meeting yesterday and my tutor said that I haven't done enough work and it seems rushed, but I'm finding it really difficult to concentrate on it or think of anything to write. No idea what to do about it :/

Forgive me if this is overly simple, but sometimes having strong coffee helps. For me it happens a lot less when consistently getting aerobic exercise - sounds like you already do this. Hope if you have important deadlines to meet that you can successfully do so.

Thanks- I do rely on strong coffee a lot! And exercise- I run every day and am spending at least an hour, sometimes two or three, in the gym at the moment because I've found that I can get some uni work done on the cross trainer. But am still really behind on it and I think my supervisor thinks I'm not putting any effort in but I am, just can't seem to focus on it. No massive deadlines (PhDs are kind of ongoing) but should be handing in more work every month than I am. I nearly quit a couple of months ago but the tutor I went to see about it (not my supervisor) was so nice and encouraging that I didn't, but am now seriously thinking I should have.... Today i saw my best friend who lives abroad so I only see her a couple of times a year, but I felt so detached that it was like I wasn't really there and everything she was saying was kind of going over me and I wasn't really processing it which I felt really bad about because she's my only 'real' friend and she's amazing. I tried to explain it to her but I don't think she really 'got' what I was saying.

My therapist would have suggested strongly that it is related to dissociative identity disorder. To what degree, I don't know. I did that all the time before I started working on my Multiple Personality Disorder issues.

This is what I was told. Dissociation is a normal stress reliever. Somewhere on the scale of 1 to 5 is normal Day dreaming, fantasizing, etc. you haven't lost being tied to your surroundings but you are coasting along on automatic this happens sometimes while people are driving long stretches of road that they've driven a hundred times.

When it starts hitting 6 to 7 you are losing time that can't be accounted for.

When it gets to 8 to 10 you've usually got alter personalities that come out and take up that time slot and they have different issues, likes and dislikes altogether. Before integrating some, I had personalities that wore different clothing sizes and were different ages. I had twins that were male and female with blonde hair and blue eyes. You look in the mirror and that's what you see. It can happen without losing time. Sort of like you are there but not completely in control of the body. They had different talents, gifts, likes, dislikes, skills, abilities and voices, handwriting the whole shebang.

Oh, and I was told that you have to be a creative genius to actually have the personalities rather than just fragmenting or dissociating your memories...which is a good thing. It's a coping skill. MPD usually doesn't show up (even though it's there all along) until the mean age of 27. By that time, stressors of career, kids, etc. makes people aware that something isn't right.

I am experiencing the same thing--I'm working on my Master's degree and I've been having these periods where I keep checking out with my work. The deadlines for me too are flexible, since the instructor understands that we're working professionals, but for some reason not having a deadline doesn't work for me--I need to have that push.I keep checking out so much that I have an Incomplete in one course and nearly failed another. Which is odd to me because I never did this poorly as an undergrad.

That happens to me sometimes. Sometimes my coworkers say I don't look myself when I do that. But how do explain this to someone when they've never had it themselves?

Ive noticed a lot over the years that I tend to do my best work or tend to be more aware and focused when I experience that 'Zonin' feeling. A few years ago I would spin Pizza at a local pizza shop during the day, I would do that at least 5 days a week.... and in the restaurant business if you know, it gets fairly repetitive week by week. So if I wasnt answering phone calls or ringing the register in takeout... it was basically just me and my thoughts racing around a kitchen doing buttloads of prep work and what not. There was always a cook too, his name was Bob, a much older fellow than myself, but he was in his own little zone too. We could split all the work and the kitchen and be on the same level of understanding cause we never really talked, but when we did it was usually mumbles cause he was always hungover and i was always baked and just Zonin... it was like we had our own language. No one else could even begin to decipher the sounds projecting from our mouths, but it worked... anyway, i got a little side tracked from that memory, so I would just play music all day and spin pizzas and just all of the little things that would happen all day. My movements and reflexes, my math skills, the quality of the food i was producing, it was all so much better when I was in that Zonin' state of mind... and I could switch in and out of it all of the time. It was literally like a 1up feeling. (just an addition, I would sing the whole time I worked, too, like nobody was around... haha ^.^) And just to describe the my personal Zonin feeling a bit... its weird to explain because it sounds real backwards to most people, so I usually never try to explain this.... But SheL's Idea of Zonin - When you aren't exactly paying attention to what you are doing - you start to let yourself just start Doing things rather than Thinking about them. Things become Second Nature. And part of entering the Zonin realm, I have to be thinking or doing or occupying my brain with Three main activities.... This could range from - keeping your eyes on the road while driving - thinking about the future or science or whatever, mainly just thoughts that have absolutely nothing to do with what you are experiencing at the moment - singing/whistling/humming - my body is always swaying.... never actually sit still cause if i do I for Real Sit still and it is kinda awkward haha - chewing on my tongue/gums - Whatever actions simple or complex, I tend to be doing multiple things at the same time without noticing it... its kinda preconditioned. And once I have that Atmosphere Set up in my mind, this is where it gets sketchy, And Im going to go back to the Pizza thing just to help explain and tie that in, Once I got to work and made my coffee, turned my music on, and set up my Line and got myself to a point where I was 'Ready for the Day,' Then I would Channel into this Frequency of state of mind where I wouldnt consciously be my Character. Though I would respond to my name, Shel/Shelly, I wouldnt exactly be me... Rather, I would be What I was doing. Like that 'Be the Ball' kinda mindstate. I would be the pizza I was spinning or be the knife cutting vegetables and what not. And once I started getting better at Channeling into the Frequency, I noticed that I would really start doing things Faster, Better, and more Efficiently. And even though I would 'be the pizza or knife,' I really wouldnt be thinking about it at all... And the second I did start thinking about it, I would mess up, or like go ret*d for a second and spill s**t or drop something. The key was to do it without thinking and for some odd reason the results would come out better... and it really did work. And then something like the phone would ring or someone would walk into takeout and then for a minute or two I would come out of my Zone and step back to Earth for a second.... but once I was done talking to the customer, Boom, right back into my own little world. That was what I had to do everyday when I worked that job. I didnt hate working there.... It was just extremely repetitive and like the whole business is basically just feedin a bunch of people and once you got to a certain point on the ladder, there was no climbing higher, and I was punching out the best work at the time, so Zonin was my escape from that Realization and Reality. And I really do think doing things like Singing helps activate the Frequency and Vibration you need to jump into that state of mind. It is a very high feeling, but then for me personally I have to be careful cause What goes up, must come down, and when I worked that job, my emotions would have Drastic Fluctuations and I would get really really severely depressed sometimes. It got scary. Definitely ups and downs to the Zonin' topic, but I was definitely Illuminated when I realized I was experiencing these brain patterns to the point I was trying to Science it, ya know. From then I have started meditating and really have been trying to get immersed in that whole lifestyle and figure out what I can learn from all that. Still Journeying, but I definitely experience some great deals of Paranoia from time to time. About anything and everything.

Yes. I do this. When I do, it's like I'm not looking at anything in particular and my environment loses all meaning, while I become unaware of what I am thinking.

There is an episode of Chibi Maruko Chan about how the main character Maruko and her grandfather do this. I'm actually in the process of subtitling it right now and I might post it here when I get done.

I zone out all the time, Sometimes it can be a good thing though. But then again I was almost put on medication as a kid because I'd zone out during class for an odd amount of time.

This happens to me all the time

I generally lose track of time by spacing out, whether it be on my computer or laying in bed.