Hey Lisa,

I suffer a lot from the first type of dissociation you spoke about, where I literally just stop actively "being". It happens more so when I am depressed and I simply have no thoughts and hear nothing. Or it will happen when I'm extremely stressed and I become what my husband has termed "saturated" and I simply stare off into space and hear nothing. If during any of these situations I try to "force" myself to "stay in reality", I become extremely dizzy. It's as if my mind shuts down because it can't handle anymore stimuli and if I force it, my brain fights back, like the tug of war you spoke of.

As for the other - no, I've never experienced that. I wonder though about something that I saw in a video at my T's office called "somatization". Have you heard of it?

Best,
Rachel