Zoning Out or Dissociating

1. What are dissociation and dissociative disorders?
   • The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), defines dissociation as a disruption, interruption, and/or discontinuity of the normal, subjective integration of behavior, memory, identity, consciousness, emotion, perception, body representation, and motor control
   • Dissociative disorders are mental disorders that involve experiencing a disconnection and lack of continuity between thoughts, memories, surroundings, actions, and identity.
2. What are the 5 dissociative disorders?
   • Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
   • Dissociative Amnesia (DA)
   • Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder (DPDRD)
   • Other Specified Dissociative Disorders (OSDD)
   • Unspecified Dissociative Disorder (UDD)
3. What does an episode of dissociation look like?
   1. Warning signs for adults
      • Rapid mood swings
      • Trouble remembering personal details
      • Forgetfulness about things you’ve said or done
      • Behavior or abilities that change (altered identities)
      • Depression, anxiety, or panic attacks
      • Thoughts of suicide or self-harm
      • Substance abuse
      • Failed treatments or hospitalizations for mood disorders
   2. Warning signs for children
      • Seem spacey
      • Stare out the window a lot
      • Have imaginary friends
      • Forget they’ve said or done something
      • Have ADHD or other learning disabilities
   3. Symptoms
      • Have an out-of-body experience
      • Feel like you are a different person sometimes
      • Feel like your heart is pounding or you’re light-headed
      • Feel emotionally numb or detached
      • Feel little or no pain
      • Have an altered sense of time
      • Not remember how you got somewhere
      • Have tunnel vision
      • Hear voices in your head
      • Have intense flashbacks that feel real
      • Become immobile
      • Get absorbed in a fantasy world that seems real
4. Am I zoning out or dissociating or, or, or?
   • Zoning Out is considered a mild form of dissociating
   • Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder is at the other end of the spectrum for dissociative disorders

End of show segways for the next episode: Mention DPDRD, how it’s at the end of the spectrum, that there are tests they use, and how we will go more in-depth on this subject in the next episode.

Resources:

Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 20:3, 229-242

https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2018.20.3/rloewenstein

Mayo Clinic

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dissociative-disorders/symptoms-causes/syc-20355215

WebMD

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociation-overview#091e9c5e81d2fc56-3-7