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The Floating Self: The Psychology of Dissociation
You’re going about your everyday business, and seemingly, out of nowhere, you have an odd, dislocated sensation. You look down at your limbs; they feel and look unfamiliar and separate from you. Enough that you wonder, “Are these even mine?”
Or: you feel yourself floating away and up to the ceiling, where you seem to cling, balloon-like, staring down at yourself like you’re in a different tense—the third person—watching yourself in the scene below.
Perhaps you’ve had the unnerving experience of feeling like the world around you is a cardboard cutout or a board game, and everyone, including you, is just a piece being played.
If these descriptions sound familiar, you may have dissociated.
Martin Jarrie
Dissociation means to emotionally detach from your immediate surroundings enough that you feel a sensation of being disconnected, separate, and apart.
Daydreaming is a type of dissociation. So is fantasizing, but as long as they don’t negatively interfere or disrupt your daily existence, they are not considered disordered.
While there are many types of dissociative disorders, including Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), today’s focus is on two particular types of dissociation: depersonalization and derealization.
These terms can create confusion, so let’s sort them out.
Below, I walk you through the psychology behind depersonalization, derealization and dissociation. I explore why it happens and what to do about it when it does.
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