Sedative Feeling

Does this happen to anyone when they dissociate or is something else happening to me.

It happens mainly when I'm talking to my T. I'm talking through my trauma and then I go into a different state of mind. All I can tell him is that it feels like I'm going back and it's dark and peaceful but I'm going really far back and it feels like I'm falling asleep. I need help coming forward after that so we play ball. I feel like I've been given a drug like a sedative or something and the affect of it then lasts the whole day. I'm not sure if I like it or not but it's not an altogether unpleasant feeling but it just means I'm not really fit for much.

I am aware of my surroundings when all this is happening to me but it's like I'm asleep and awake at the same time.

Can anyone shed any light on this please. Does this happen to anyone here.

Thank you in advance.

It is a symptom of dissociation. When you feel this starts happening, do not hesitate to stop talking and ask your therapist for grounding exercises and exercises to feel safe in the here and now.

With time, patience and training, this phenomenon will slowly disappear. It is merely the sign that you need to ground yourself again into the safety of the here and now.

Yeah that's why we play ball during the session. He's trying to help me to not dissociate so he let's me drift and at first I would just fall asleep so he would bring me back but now I can stay aware of my surroundings and now I'm at the point where I'm able to ask him to start throwing the ball.

I just can't find anything on the Internet that matches up to this sedative feeling that happens to me. It's literally as if someone has given me a shot. It can happen mid sentence when I'm talking and I'm gone. The feeling lasts all day after that as well.

I was even thinking that it maybe a kind of flashback of some kind to something that may have happened when I was younger but I just don't know.

Thank you for your help ArbreMonde.

It can be a flashback but as in, "In the past it was not safe to talk about trauma and dissociation, I need to stop doing this if I want to stay safe". Some sort of safety plan that is no longer needed but still activates.

Thank you. I get what you are saying.

This thread is a bit old but I just want to say this happens to me a lot in therapy. Sometimes outside it but mostly in there. It must be some primal fear coming up. I don’t know.