"scatterbrained" vs switching versus dissociative amnesia

Nondescript wrote:Doing laundry is no fun! Having clean laundry is nice, though.

We dislike doing laundry so much that we have been known to buy new clothes rather than drag several weeks' worth of laundry to the laundromat.

Laura and others

Una+ wrote:
The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale is a widely used standard and it is available for download. Based on the GAF there is the new World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0, which is available for download in many languages and several versions including ones specifically for self-use. See these links:

Wikipedia: Global Assessment of Functioning
World Health Organization: WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) downloads

Is there a way to score the one for personal use by yourself? I didn't figure out how.

GAF is a simple scale, with no scoring involved.

Scoring templates for the WHODAS are linked on this page:
WHO: WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0)

Oh okay thank you, this was helpful.

I decided to take the assessment and I got 41% from the WHO test which the GAF says indicates serious symptoms. I'd say that's pretty accurate.

I am trying to puzzle through my amnesia which is my biggest symptom and causes the most impairment. my amnesia is pretty high right now. I am hoping that by sticking to my routines and good self care I will see a decrease in symptoms.

I am not really sure about anything because I don't remember. T will ask about time loss.....but it isn't like that. I never really know when I am because I don't track time we'll so I can't really know about time loss. 5 minutes? 4 months? idk!

she also asked what purpose not remembering served and I drew a blank. she then said some therapistish $#%^ about there was a time that you had to do that blah blah blah blah. and I KNOW it means something cuz I all got woody and weird and I still do when I try to think about it. I get that I had to compartmentalize to function back then. I get that I am fractured. I just don't get why I don't remember $#%^ now.

I wake up and figure out what day it is.
I have about 7 alarms on my phone to keep us time tracked through the morning routine and out the door.
I go to work and I am suprised by what's on my desk or work I have already done or work I forgot I had to do.
I go to the bathroom and find my handwriting has changed.
I can be keying and feel wooooooppp----bzzzz and know I just phased. I make a list on a sticky note for my end of the day get home list, if I have to run errands or anything. I put it on the back of my phone so I don't lose it.
I just think I could be so much.....MORE. if i was continuous. if i tracked time.

T says I am should be journaling.
I don't like writing in the book. I don't like reading the book.
maybe because I don't like remembering.

I had an aha moment about worrying.
I am hoping I can have an aha moment about remembering.

BeccaBee wrote:I am trying to puzzle through my amnesia which is my biggest symptom and causes the most impairment. my amnesia is pretty high right now.

But from the rest of your post it sounds like the big problem now is not amnesia. It sounds like you're in a constant mental fog, disoriented. Is your anxiety severe? Sounds likely, if you have getting zaps. Are you on heavy medications?

Extensive grounding would help. Standard practice is to do no trauma work, no memory work, until the patient's anxiety is low, head is clear, functioning is good. Focus on safety and stabilization.

that is food for thought..... I do not know the difference between amnesia and fog. my anxiety is about mid range right now but something I always work through. I do not take regular medication. only valerian at night to help with sleep.

I am focused and clear headed in the moment but I don't track the moments well. my memory is foggy once the moment passes.

I bought a car recently. and I have remembered and forgotten I bought the car @15 times.

but it isn't really "time loss" in that I think it is Thursday to discover it is tuesday and then wonder what I did all weekend. it's like my memories aren't getting saved or something. I forget everything all the time, it seems. thank goodness for routines.

in T we do no memory or trauma work yet. focus is on coping skills and stability. and recognizing and understanding dissociative symptoms. have limited T appts due to holiday season is always stressful on time and finances. planning ahead to minimize exhaustion/distress.

BeccaBee wrote:I am focused and clear headed in the moment but I don't track the moments well. my memory is foggy once the moment passes.

Yup, that's a moderate fog: it is like you are in a clear space but there is dense fog all around. Of the dissociative disorders this peculiar experience fits best in depersonalization disorder. It is a very common anxiety symptom.

I had no experience of this fog prior to my crisis several years ago. It took years to clear up but now it is pretty much gone. Except there are times when it is back.

This week is one of those times. I saw in a movie an actor or character who reminded me strongly of someone in my life. I made a mental note to look up the actor on YouTube. Then the next morning I remembered there was something I wanted to look up. But what??? I could not remember what. But I stayed calm and went through all I had done the day before, and I felt where I began hitting the fog. I had trouble staying on task, kept getting derailed.

For me this is very different than my experiences of dissociative amnesia, which are much more defined, and much harder to recall but once I recall them they stay recalled.

Are we on the same page?

Nondescript wrote:
I wish to find peace in all this. Such Inner poverty.

Peace would be a grand thing. I know that we do have some peace sometimes. We often hang onto the Buddhist phrase all things must pass. We have lived long enough to know that peace will return but it is messy getting there.