Dissociation feels like a disconnection from yourself and the world around you. People often describe it as feeling detached from their body or emotions, as if they are observing themselves from the outside, sometimes called an "out-of-body experience"
. It can feel like watching your life as a spectator rather than actively participating, with a sense of being distant or unreal, almost like living in a dream or behind a veil
. Common experiences during dissociation include:
- Feeling outside your body or like you're watching yourself from a distance
- Emotional detachment, where you feel disconnected from your feelings or identity
- Memory gaps or losing track of time, such as not remembering how you got somewhere or forgetting parts of events
- Altered perception of time, which may seem slowed down, sped up, or irrelevant
- Physical sensations like numbness, lightheadedness, or a sense of floating or weightlessness
- Confusion, foggy thoughts, and difficulty focusing or recognizing emotions
- Feeling like the world around you is distorted, unreal, or "greyed out"
Some people describe dissociation metaphorically as experiencing the world through "bubble wrap" or "cotton," with moments of clarity where everything suddenly becomes vivid and bright again
. Dissociation can be unsettling or frightening because it disrupts your usual sense of reality and self, often linked to anxiety or trauma as a coping mechanism
. In summary, dissociation feels like a profound disconnection from your body, emotions, memories, and surroundings, ranging from mild detachment to severe disruptions in identity and perception
