is this DPD ?

Yes, it is very hard to deal with. It feels like some kind of self-hypnosis, another word for zoning out. Do you know what causes you to 'do' this?
I dont know how to explain to friends or other people either, lol.
I thought maybe explaining the mirror example, or staring at an object for so long, you lose sight of what you're looking at.
Or, like with a word, when you look at it too long and start thinking about the word, it loses its meaning, and one loses the connection with the original meaning of the word, temporarily. Makes sense? Maybe that could be a way to explain? Nice talking to you

Salinger,

This is the EXACT description of it !!!
I have once had this experience with my best friend. We repeated the word 'table' like a thousand times and we just got so lost in it, because our minds couldn't make the connection from the word to the actual object any longer. They became two seperate things.

That's exactly how disconnecting works, I guess.
Your body
Your mind
But little connection between the two of them.

Strange... nice talking to you too !!!

Mel xxx

Melpomene, I thought about this again and do think this might be the cause of disconnecting for sure, initially and then it takes a life of its own and your struggling to find your way back out. But I do think starting to see again the moment you/me needed to do this, those first times, could help with getting it back under your own control (sounds easier than it is!). It IS a way to numb feelings or fear/pain etc that is unbearable to deal with.

Im gonna use it as an example to explain for my friends for sure now, lol! Especially the repeating you mentioned, to do that many times, that is essential in the explanation. Im gonna try it to explain to my friends. Take care!

I am trying to understand this and I think a few of you have probably described it well but I still am unclear as to what the "disorder" is. You seem to be functional as long as you stick to your routine. What happens when you break your routine?

I ask for two reasons.
1. My fiance has some type of disassociative disorder but it is undiagnosed and he does like routines and hates change and will be unhappy without reason for weeks and will not even think about why...he is disconnected in some way and identifying how might help him to deal with it and heal.
2. I don't stick to a routine but I schedule a lot and feel very disoriented if I don't follow the scheduled tasks. Plus, I find that in very new and intimidating situation (new job, for example) I have to keep asking myself if I am really "doing this." I will take a test on "autopilot" to keep from having anxiety and then I blank out what I wrote in my answers and the questions and stuff. Lastly, a lot of social situations I feel like I say and do things in a sort of automatic way and then obsess over it later because I think I should have said or done something differently.

Anyway, without knowing what this disorder is more, or how it affects you when you don't stay in your comfort zone, I wonder if either or both of us are depersonalizing.