Understanding others when spoken too?

Does anyone have the problem ,that sometimes, when people speak to you that you cannot understand what is being said?You can hear sound but the words have not meaning.You must ask others to repeat themselves,some times several times, before what is said is understood.Seems to happen to me,most times,when I am tired or under stress or both.This has been a problem since I was a child.Some people think I am just being rude or I do not care to hear what one has to say but it is not like that. My wife get angry some times because I did not hear what she has said and she has to repeat herself.Or sometimes I get a part of what is being said but do not get all the information that was told to me.This upsets me and make me look foolish and crazy at times.Once again the shame factor.This is not a hearing problem,I can hear sound but seems to me to be a disconnect in processing the meaning of the sound or the spoken words.Just wondering if others have to deal with this issue.
Regards
Watcheroflights

Kind of like being under water, or like the volume gets turned down? Or like you hear them but can not understand, like it's only getting through half your brain?

Happens to me all the time. You're dissociating.

Yeah it's like "blah blah blah blah" - this happens all the time to me, especially in therapy.

This is another one of my..."Wait, doesn't this happen to everyone all the time?" things.

Sometimes this will happen to me and then they'll start re-explaining and then in my head, like on a delay, I will hear what they just said kind of echo...except, now I'm realizing it's not in their voice, but in one of my internal voices (which I always also thought were normal), so I guess a part heard and is telling me what they said. That's kind of a trip. So, my husband would say something to me, like:

"What if we went to dinner first and then grocery shopping, because I'm starving and I don't want to shop hungry?"

And I will say, "I'm sorry, what?" and know that he was talking to me and that he asked a question and that I was supposed to answer.

Then, he'd repeat it again and sometimes it just takes once or sometimes more than once and he would get frustrated that I asked him to repeat and still wasn't listening.

Then he'll start repeating gain, "What if we went..."

And all of a sudden, I've finally heard what he said from an internal voice, and I'll answer without letting him finish, "Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I'm pretty hungry too."

Jeez, does this really not happen to everyone frequently?

yakusoku wrote:And I will say, "I'm sorry, what?" and know that he was talking to me and that he asked a question and that I was supposed to answer.

Oh yeah that too! I'll automatically say "huh?" because I really didn't hear them, but then a few seconds later I realize I did hear them, it just took time to process is all. It's like the phrase had to crash through 3 barriers in my head before it finally reached my awareness.

dividedtruth89
For me more it is like some one is speaking to me from the far end of a very long corridor or hall way or from the other side of a wall which I cannot understand.
yakusoku, it is not like I am not focus or paying attention,I really am trying hard to understand what is being said but all I am getting is meaningless sound.
yakusoku,I understand what you are saying we all do that from time to time maybe more with our spouses but this is not the same thing.There is an active attempt to focus and understand but all I get is noise and meaningless echo.At least that is the way it works for me.
realmofsoftdelusions ,I am sorry that at times you cannot hear what your Therapist is trying to tell you.I do hope it will gets better for you.
Regards
watcheroflights

Thanks watcher, I hope your symptoms get better, too.

It's funny in therapy though, because when I come back from a switch my default script is to ask someone what they just said, to cover up that I don't know what the hell is going on. My therapist has of course caught on to this, but sometimes I'm hearing "blah blah blah" and didn't actually switch. Must be confusing for her, lol.

Sometimes this also happens... I'm listening to a conversation, following along fine, and then as the person finishes speaking, or I finish speaking (whoever is talking), I will forget the entire topic we were just talking about, and not remember at all what was said. But I didn't switch, I don't think, and I could tell you things like how long the convo was going on for, but not what we were talking about. Or maybe that's some kind of co-consciousness sort of that I've just started having? Hmm.

Sorry, not meaning to hijack your thread.

No, I totally am attempting to focus the second and third time too, but I just can't seem to...well, it feels more like I can't interpret what is being said rather than I can't hear it, you know?

watcheroflights wrote:For me more it is like some one is speaking to me from the far end of a very long corridor or hall way or from the other side of a wall which I cannot understand.

I think I understand what you mean now. You hear the words, but it's like they're a different language or something? You only comprehend them sometimes and people need to slow down for you/repeat but you just can't grasp the meaning of spoken words at that moment?

I have had that one time that I remember, I was in a psych hospital actually and in a group and the therapist was talking about something and I was trying to understand but I couldn't comprehend what at all was being said. At one point the therapist asked me if the topic was bothering me (maybe it was and that's why I couldn't comprehend, although I did comprehend this question to me right away), and I said no, I feel weird like I don't understand what is being said and words don't have meaning. He told me to go to the nurse who said I was having a panic attack but I've never had a panic attack like that and I wasn't panicked so yeah... I think maybe this is kind of like what you mean?

I too am sometimes unable to understand, and as far as I can tell it is not normal. For me it happens most often right before supper and/or when I am tired. Other people normally are able to hear what you say to them as you say it. Sometimes I don't catch what someone says as they say it but if I concentrate I can replay what they just said. That tells me that some part of my mind did hear what was said the first time.

One time in therapy I couldn't catch what I was saying. My T and I both noticed my mental absence. I guess it was a lost time micro-event. My experience of that moment was like these other experiences of not hearing, only more extreme. T told me what I had just said but that did not jog my memory of saying it. It was something very disturbing. I still don't remember.

I have also had the experience of my mind suddenly going blank. That seems to correspond to the phenomenon of thought withdrawal, yet another symptom of severe dissociation.