Other System - Is it possible to have a system and not notice it until older?

[binchilling]

Eric Berne, Richard Schwartz
@binchilling Check these two dudes out. I think you’ll have fun learning about them and who influenced them, etc.

Thanks

 

[binchilling]

Well, I wonder if people are made up of systems, why are there diagnoses called DID and OSDD? So these are normal human experiences, right? Someone who not only has amnesia cannot get DID, they also have to have the alter.Or vice versa.

 

[Rose White]

I wonder if people are made up of systems, why are there diagnoses called DID and OSDD

Because people find categories useful for helping those whose symptoms are distressing. We put boundaries on what is considered normal in order to assist those who fall outside that range, with respect to their experiences.

 

[Midnightmoon]

Well, I wonder if people are made up of systems, why are there diagnoses called DID and OSDD? So these are normal human experiences, right? Someone who not only has amnesia cannot get DID, they also have to have the alter.Or vice versa.

I'm not sure if this will be helpful or not @binchilling but my T is a lead clinician in a dissociative disorder specialist service, so I trust her explanation when she was trying to explore something similar with me.

Nearly all ( or maybe all?) mental health diagnoses are made up of many symptoms that individually are perfectly normal parts of what she called 'the human condition'. Anything and everything from low mood and anxiety to intrusive thoughts and hallucinations are on a scale of some sort, and, at a point, that tips from being 'typical' to them being 'disordered' or 'disabling'. In the case of dissociative disorders, these symptoms are very particular and have to occur together, and yeah, alters and amnesia are definite factors in this.

There's some research *it's old- 1993 - but my brain isn't playing ball to find anything more recent* that only 17% of people of a sample of over 1000 who scored over 30 on their initial DES ii screening went on to have a diagnosis of DID. The odds of a dissociative disorder, particularly DID, are always going to be narrow compared to another explanation.

 

[binchilling]

I'm not sure if this will be helpful or not @binchilling but my T is a lead clinician in a dissociative disorder specialist service, so I trust her explanation when she was trying to explore something similar with me.

Nearly all ( or maybe all?) mental health diagnoses are made up of many symptoms that individually are perfectly normal parts of what she called 'the human condition'. Anything and everything from low mood and anxiety to intrusive thoughts and hallucinations are on a scale of some sort, and, at a point, that tips from being 'typical' to them being 'disordered' or 'disabling'. In the case of dissociative disorders, these symptoms are very particular and have to occur together, and yeah, alters and amnesia are definite factors in this.

There's some research *it's old- 1993 - but my brain isn't playing ball to find anything more recent* that only 17% of people of a sample of over 1000 who scored over 30 on their initial DES ii screening went on to have a diagnosis of DID. The odds of a dissociative disorder, particularly DID, are always going to be narrow compared to another explanation.

Wow isn it very high rate ? In other words, if one in every 5 people with a DES score above 30 has DID, the population must be very high.

 

[Midnightmoon]

Wow isn it very high rate ? In other words, if one in every 5 people with a DES score above 30 has DID, the population must be very high.

The study is Carlson et al (1993) if you want to have further look.

 

[binchilling]

Also, I haven't done it officially as a des, so it's like a screening. My Des score varies between 28-33.

 

[Sideways]

Do you have DID?

Yes, I do.

And there’s quite a big difference between what folks think DID must be like, and what it’s actually like.

 

[binchilling]

Yes, I do.

And there’s quite a big difference between what folks think DID must be like, and what it’s actually like.

Like chat ? Can you explain?

 

[Sideways]

Like chat ? Can you explain?

No thanks.

I come here for peer support (support specifically from people who have it, and get it), not to feel like some kind of spectacle.

 

[No More]

I think you can relax and stop looking for something that isn’t there.

I do not have parts, I do not have a system, and yet my personality changes distinctly depending on the situation. Ie, a formal work meeting > a night out with friends > family dinner. All me, but just tweaked to be appropriate. Totally normal human experience. No need to pathologize it. I also dissociate, because I have ptsd and that can sometimes be what happens when put into certain situations as how I cope. Totally normal for ptsd.

DID is at the extreme end of the rarest of rare. There’s a whole host of perfectly normal all the way up to that.

I would try and focus on the individual symptoms rather than stressing over what may or may not be.

 

[binchilling]

I think you can relax and stop looking for something that isn’t there.

I do not have parts, I do not have a system, and yet my personality changes distinctly depending on the situation. Ie, a formal work meeting > a night out with friends > family dinner. All me, but just tweaked to be appropriate. Totally normal human experience. No need to pathologize it. I also dissociate, because I have ptsd and that can sometimes be what happens when put into certain situations as how I cope. Totally normal for ptsd.

DID is at the extreme end of the rarest of rare. There’s a whole host of perfectly normal all the way up to that.

I would try and focus on the individual symptoms rather than stressing over what may or may not be.

You're right, but I have childhood trauma and I can't stop thinking about the possibility. What if there is, I think I'm constantly falling disossciating.