At times, a person continues to live an active and outwardly structured life, yet internally feels increasingly absent from their own actions. According to Dr. Daniel Reinhardt, this state often does not appear as depression or an obvious crisis, but rather as a quiet form of self-alienation – when decisions are made, tasks are completed, but the sense of inner participation gradually disappears. In the clinical practice of MindCareCenter, we regularly work with people who describe this condition as living “on autopilot,” without the feeling that they are the true source of their own choices and movements.
Functioning without subjective involvement develops gradually. A person may rely for years on demands, roles, and external reference points, without noticing how their own desires, impulses, and emotional responses fade into the background. At MindCareCenter, we see that this state is often accompanied by a sense of inner emptiness, a loss of interest, and the feeling that life is simply happening on its own – without personal meaning or contribution.
Our psychologists emphasize – the loss of experiencing oneself as the source of life is rarely connected to laziness or a lack of motivation. More often, it is rooted in long-term adaptation, where relying on one’s own inner signals was unsafe or inappropriate. When a person had to conform, remain convenient, or meet expectations, subjective participation was gradually replaced by pure functionality. This helped them cope, but over time led to deep inner detachment.
At MindCareCenter, therapeutic work with this condition begins with restoring contact with inner experience. We do not aim to immediately return a sense of meaning or urge clients to “live consciously.” First, it is important to notice where exactly a person stopped feeling involved – in bodily sensations, emotional responses, or the experience of choice. Through these subtle signals, a sense of presence slowly begins to return.
Special attention is given to working with automatisms. Many clients live according to predefined patterns, without questioning where their actions originate. Specialists at MindCareCenter help explore which decisions are made by inertia and where there is room for inner agreement or resistance. This is not about drastic change, but about gradually restoring authorship in everyday moments.
Over time, therapy reveals a reduction in the internal tension associated with constant “performance.” When a person begins to experience themselves as the source of even a small part of their actions, a sense of vitality and engagement emerges. At MindCareCenter, we observe how this shifts relationships with work, with others, and with personal boundaries – life stops being a set of functions and starts to feel like a personal process.
An important stage involves working with fear of responsibility. For many, subjective involvement is associated with the risk of mistakes or disappointment. Our psychologists help develop a more resilient relationship to choice – as an ongoing process where doubt, revision, and pauses are allowed. This reduces fear and restores a sense of inner support.
Functioning without subjective involvement does not mean that identity is lost or that change is impossible. It indicates that the psyche has been operating in survival mode rather than lived experience for too long. At Mind Care Center, we support the return to oneself carefully – helping restore the experience of being the source of one’s life, not merely its executor.
Previously, we wrote about how inner beliefs form an invisible life script and how MindCareCenter works with restructuring thinking