My target behaviors are different than what I’ve seen from other folks in group therapy or online so wondering if anyone else has this. When I experience strong emotions I want to stop moving and stare at the wall or hide. I can do this for hours, and the emotional urge happens to me all the time. Its difficult at work because even while applying multiple DBT skills I stop and go constantly. When I’m off work this happens too; if I did not use skills actively I would spend my days off in bed staring at the wall. 

We’ve done chain analysis of the behavior and while it makes sense that this could be an avoidance behavior for guilt and shame, my therapist doesn’t really understand why it happens so much. Often it doesn’t appear to have an immediate prompting event either so we think its driven by small or subconscious thoughts. 

I’ve considered if this is dissociative behavior but I don’t think so; I feel present during it and it feels emotionally painful while I’m going through it. It feels closer to a catatonia but I have not found any literature linking catatonia and BPD except in the case of comorbid severe depression.