Why the Mind Leaves the Body During Trauma
This piece touches the quiet, fragile corners of the mind: dissociation, trauma, and the strange ways we leave ourselves when the world becomes too heavy. It isn’t medical advice, and it isn’t meant to diagnose. It’s a lantern lit for those who’ve ever drifted out of their bodies and wondered why they couldn’t find the way back. If anything here feels too sharp or too close, please step gently. And if you’re struggling, reaching out to a therapist, counselor, or crisis line is its own kind of bravery.
Trauma sometimes has a way of screaming in your mind that it’s not safe here, so your mind does the only thing it can: it leaves.
It detaches from reality and floats gently along while you continue to brush your teeth and wash your face before bed.
Your mind might become the quiet observer rather than the participant.
It creates space where none exists so you’re not hurting too badly to continue living. It’s survival and evolution helping you to fade from the sharpness of life and try to stay in the softness of your brain.
What Is Dissociation, Really?
Dissociation is the brain’s way of saying:“yeah, this is too much. Let me protect you by numbing you.”
It’s not imaginary and it’s not in your head, it’s a real and very well-documented neurological shift. When it happened to me for the first time I wasn’t sure what was really going on, but I also didn’t care very much.
When your body perceives danger and there’s no clear way to escape, and fight or flight aren’t options, your brain activates a third path: freeze or flee inward.
It’s when the body stays, but the self sort of recedes.
You become unreal to yourself, a stranger along for the ride inside of your own body.
Dissociation is controlled by a lot of complex interactions in the brain, particularly the amygdala which activates our fear response. The prefrontal cortex has been known to shut itself down to avoid emotional overload, the insular cortex disconnects bodily sensations from conscious awareness, all while your default mode network becomes overactive, creating a strange, dreamlike detachment.
It’s not a choice we make (unfortunately), it’s just a reflex, just like flinching or blinking.
Dissociation reduces pain, terror, and overwhelm by cutting off access to certain parts of yourself. You might feel like you’re floating outside your body, hear your voice but feel like someone else is speaking, see the room blur, then narrow, like a tunnel, or go numb…even when you’re screaming inside.
The mind leaves because the pain was too much, the event was too fast, or your system prioritized survival over presence.
You could’ve dissociated during assault, childhood abuse, medical emergencies, emotional neglect, war, witnessing harm, or even overwhelming emotional conversations.
Dissociation happens when your body is trapped, your heart isn’t allowed to speak, and your nervous system says “This is not survivable as-is.”
So you leave, and not forever, but for as long as it takes to be safe again.
You Are Not Broken
If this is you, if you’ve felt this leaving, know that you’re not broken in any way/shape/or form. Your mind is really smart, kind, adaptable, and you’re a survivor.
Dissociation is a gift the brain gives in moments of powerlessness. It says, “let me carry this pain for you, just until you’re ready.”
It’s different for everyone, but for me it often it feels like a dream or like you’re watching yourself from afar. It could also be blankness like nothing happened at all or unreality, like the world isn’t real or shifted too much to be right. Sometimes it felt like floating, like your body has weight, but your mind is air. It definitely always feels like disconnection, from people, places, sounds, and even time.
Sometimes people say “I feel like I’m behind a glass wall.”
Related Posts for Deeper Healing
Feeling Worthless? Here’s Why the Odds of You Existing Are the Most Beautiful Miracle
The Science of Nostalgia: Why We Long for Summers That Never Really Existed
Therapy Dough for Grounding
Pinch Me Therapy Dough – Holistic Stress Relief
This sensory dough is infused with calming essential oils and designed to help pull you back into your body when you’re spiraling. Kneading it re-engages the senses, reduces anxiety, and reconnects breath to body.
It’s not a fix, but it’s a bridge.
I use it during firework holidays to keep my mind busy.
How We Come Back
Healing from dissociation isn’t about force, it’s about invitation.
Here’s what can help, grounding practices (touch, scent, pressure, movement), body-based therapy (like EMDR, somatic experiencing, or IFS), journaling to rebuild narrative, safe people who don’t rush your return, or creative work that helps your body remember beauty. Writing did it for me, hence this giant blog of almost 1,000 posts.
You can’t demand your mind to come back.
You just have to sit there and whisper,“it’s safe now.”
And wait, and wait, and wait…until your soul believes you.
