3 weeks of memory missing

Hi,

I was doing some research on dissociation issues as my therapist thought I might have had another personality at some point in my life.

When I was 22, my fiance of 2 years left me for my (now ex) best friend. They are married now and have a baby. It was devastating as we'd planned on having a future together. Losing my best friend was rough, too and realizing that she wasn't the nice person I thought she was was a disturbing revelation (she'd hidden her bitchy side for years under the guise of "helping" me with various problems...which included "helping me" cut my horrible fiance loose....)

Anyways, long story short: After that happened, I lost three weeks of my life. I don't have many memories from that time : however I do know that I held down my 2 jobs and was able to graduate from college so I know I must have been functional. However, whenever I try to remember the details, I hit a blank wall.

I've also had instances where I'd be panicked over something (I also have panic disorder) and I'd literally 'go away' - I'd hear myself speaking but it felt like someone else was talking. I've lost minutes, hours of time, usually after some traumatic or stressful event.

I'm not sure if that means I have DID - it could be severe dissociation, based on my own research. However my therapist bringing up that I had a functional personality those three weeks that held me together really hit home. What's even stranger is that I don't remember when I 'came back' - I just did, and my memories in between are also foggy.

Just wondering what this could be.....DID or dissociation?

Thanks in advance.

~D.

Given the info you have provided, I wonder if you had a dissociative fugue. I would suggest that you investigate dissociative fugue states.

I have had a couple of chunks of time that I can't account for, one year (after I had an operation) and then many years later about 10 days where I had no memory of what happened.

At the time I was diagnosed as having experienced a fugue. Much later however, it became apparent that I had DID.

Hope this helps.

shrinkrapper

shrinkrapper - Thanks for the information! The only thing I'm wondering is ...isn't a fugue where you leave home and form a new identity? Or can it just be missing chunks of time? I'm not clear on that.


Also, after I posted, I thought long and hard about some trauma in my life, and I've realized that for the most part, I DON'T remember exactly how things went down. I know logically the end result, but how, what I said, what I did, and especially how I felt - gone. So it must be some type of mechanism I use to get through the pain. Recently however, I find I do remember things, so maybe it was just when I was younger. I kept journals and those help ALOT towards figuring stuff out. However, I didn't write about certain things, I know by choice, and now I'm wondering what the helll happened.

So, anyhoo, thought that might be of interest. I'll research the fugue thing. Sounds like a possibility.

~D.

Hi I am dreaming

I think you are correct come to think of it about the definition of a fugue. On further thought, I wonder if what you went through was a grief/shock reaction. Sounds like you went on "automatic piolet" or maybe a depersonalized or derealized state.

Usually, DID occurs early in life and is a result of some kind of trauma. It often is a result of abuse of some kind. But it can also be result of witnessing a traumatic event of some sort too.

Sounds like you've got some things to work out (don't we all...)
Things are rarely simple.

Hope this helps. All the Best.

Shrinkrapper