[Vocabulary] withdraw

[thedaffodils]

withdraw

to stop talking to other people and start thinking thoughts that are not related to what is happening around you:

This is one of the definitions of 'withdraw from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

I don't completely understand the parts I hightlighted in blue. Does 'that' refer to 'thoughts'? Could someone illustrate it or make it simpler?

Thanks!

 

[emsr2d2]

This is one of the definitions of 'withdraw from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

I don't completely understand the parts I hightlighted in blue. Does 'that' refer to 'thoughts'? Could someone illustrate it or make it simpler?

Thanks!

Sometimes, for instance when people have suffered a trauma (usually psychological), they are said to "withdraw" or "withdraw into themselves". They seem to be unconnected to the world around them, unaffected by other people or by events and seem to be in a different world to everyone else. The thoughts that they are having are not related to what is going on around them, they may not be able to stop thinking about something else (usually the trauma that has caused the problem in the first place).

It is said that when someone "withdraws" or "appears to be withdrawn" it is a sign of an underlying problem.

 

[thedaffodils]

Thank you very much for your help.