Dissociated in front of Psychologist

At least that's what i thought was going on. This is the first time i became aware of this issue. Not sure if its childhood related or PTSD. Took me several weeks later to remember the point up to the moment it happened during my appointment with the doctor. I was so anxious getting testing done. I felt half way through the appointment like i was drunk or drowsy and then the room kinda closed in tunnel vision fading in and out of darkness till i said something embarrassing and completely lost my vision to darkness. I felt like my body was collapsing in my chair and my eyes bulging out of my head in fear. Then i remember him asking if i had anything else to say and came out of the darkness.

I later asked my shrink in the next appointment if we tried hypnosis but never mentioned anything about dissociation and neither did he. He just looked at me oddly and nodded and asked if i had a intermission.

Just curious the experiences from others when they dissociate? what was it like for you and did you have any warning before it happened like tunnel vision? how long did it take you to remember it all? i remember this moment when i woke up one morning.

Yes, many of us here have similar experiences to what you describe.

You posted in the DID Forum, so I guess you are worried that you might have DID. You might; it is actually pretty common.

Did you ask the doctor what happened during your intermission? This would be valuable information for you to have. There are basically three possibilities: (1) you (or an alter pretending to be you) carried on talking, (2) an overtly different alter took over and talked instead of you, or (3) you sat there frozen. This last is a dissociative trance, also known as an absence seizure, and it is common in DID and in Dissociative Amnesia. It can occur in anyone and does not necessarily mean there is any disorder.

Moving forward, I recommend that you ask this doctor to tell you more about what he (?) observed. If you have a dissociative disorder, that's good, because dissociative disorders are relatively easy to treat and prognosis typically is very good.

Una+ wrote:Yes, many of us here have similar experiences to what you describe.

You posted in the DID Forum, so I guess you are worried that you might have DID. You might; it is actually pretty common.

Did you ask the doctor what happened during your intermission? This would be valuable information for you to have. There are basically three possibilities: (1) you (or an alter pretending to be you) carried on talking, (2) an overtly different alter took over and talked instead of you, or (3) you sat there frozen. This last is a dissociative trance, also known as an absence seizure, and it is common in DID and in Dissociative Amnesia. It can occur in anyone and does not necessarily mean there is any disorder.

Moving forward, I recommend that you ask this doctor to tell you more about what he (?) observed. If you have a dissociative disorder, that's good, because dissociative disorders are relatively easy to treat and prognosis typically is very good.

Actually I wrote in DID section that its hard to believe people have no amnesia of their alters. I posted in DA because my symptoms are not complete amnesia of the dissociation. I do remember that it was odd that when he asked me if i had anything else to say the appointment was finished and he scheduled the next one. I met him three times and each time was for 2 hours. But i never bothered to ask because part of my anxiety was not having anyone believe me and i hated him.

And what's next? Will you be getting a report from this doctor?

Una+ wrote:And what's next? Will you be getting a report from this doctor?

He wrote deferred in axis 2. He didn't administrate any official tests for dissociative disorders or any other trauma disorders. I thought he was going to be a second opinion on axis 2. He was incredibly modest about the tests i took. Pretty certain it was because i was always talking about needing disability benefits cause I can't hold down a job.

Well, if getting on disability for life is your goal here then don't hang your hopes on a diagnosis of any dissociative disorder. Someone with a dissociative disorder is likely to be high functioning, even with DID, and treatment is very effective.

Una+ wrote:Well, if getting on disability for life is your goal here then don't hang your hopes on a diagnosis of any dissociative disorder. Someone with a dissociative disorder is likely to be high functioning, even with DID, and treatment is very effective.

I was hoping to get disability benefits for the PD diagnosis and then I had that weird issue happen for the first time . Makes the credibility of my reported problems look bogus. Actually heard you the first time about dissociative disorders being treatable but you need money for the treatment.