Many people may experience dissociation (dissociate) during their life. If you dissociate, you may feel disconnected from yourself and the world around you. For example, you may feel detached from your body or feel as though the world around you is unreal. Remember, everyone's experience of dissociation is different.

Is it normal to dissociate from yourself?

Most people daydream now and then, and if that happens to you, it's perfectly normal. But if you have a mental health problem called "dissociation," your sense of disconnect from the world around you is often a lot more complicated than that. Dissociation is a break in how your mind handles information.

What is self dissociation?

Dissociation becomes pathological when the brain fails to recognize the self as the self. It has been described as an “out of body” experience, where a person may see what's happening to them but not feel affected by or in control of their body and mind—this is especially true of drug-induced dissociation.