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I'm not sure if you aren't familiar with those diagnoses or just not the abbreviations. I don't really feel qualified to explain them and the board says my post count is too low to post links, so I would just google them and probably pick the NAMI link.

DID = Dissociative Identity Disorder DDNOS = Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified

Given the brainwashing you experienced, it is no surprise that you are experiencing a lot of doubt in your own thoughts and feelings and constantly second-guessing yourself. I'd be really surprised if you weren't. I did not go through anything like that--I was not even brought up with...

There is an online DID support forum (I joined before my diagnosis was changed to DDNOS) that has a subsection of their board dedicated to art. People share their artwork and they also have monthly group art projects. (Not one collaborative one to add to, but a topic/assignment for each person...

I think I understand. My flashbacks are more like just vivid memories that play out like a movie in my head, but I don't feel like they're happening again. This reminds me of Temple Grandin, the famous autistic author and scientist, who wrote a book called "Thinking in Pictures." She says that...

I am so sorry for your loss. It's normal to feel numb. I have a weird problem where I can't seem to feel anything but numb about deaths; I think maybe my brain just can't comprehend the whole concept. But I have never lost someone who was as much of a support to me as it sounds like your sister...

This is really interesting. I've never heard of aphantasia, but it's something I've thought about before. The trauma treatment I've received involves a lot of visualization skills--containment, healing pool/light, split screen, dialing up/down--and I've never really had much luck with mental...

I take Lamictal for bipolar disorder and it has been helpful with that and with lifting my depression a bit. I was in the hospital recently with someone who had somatization disorder and dissociative seizures several times a day, and it seemed awful. I would hate to be going through what you're...

I have objects that I use to fidget with when I'm in a situation where I have to just sit and listen or talk, like in therapy or at an AA meeting. There are cool things that you can find on Amazon--look up tangles or Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty--or just get some silly putty or play-doh at the...

I love acrylics, collage, and oil pastels. I color a lot, too. I went to school for creative writing, but I never really write anymore. I feel like PTSD and addiction took my love of writing away from me. I started writing when I was a kid, during the abuse. I would write these stories so I...

I have a good pocket knife at home, but I'm no longer allowed to own a gun because I was 302ed and 303ed (extended involuntary hospitalization) into a mental hospital (which had nothing to do with any weapons, but that doesn't matter). I was and am very upset about not being able to buy a gun...

I forgot to mention that there are also a few therapeutic interventions for nightmares. One I've tried and found helpful is Image Rehearsal Therapy. In the morning when you first wake up and the nightmare is most clear in your mind, you write it down with as much detail as possible, trying to...

I have a repeating theme to a lot of my nightmares that's extremely disturbing to me. I don't remember having any sexual trauma until I was 28, but a lot of my nightmares are sexual in nature and sometimes I'm a child in them. Most of the time in the dreams, I am trying to get men to have sex...

I take prazosin and haven't had any problems with it. It's a blood pressure medicine so you'll have to monitor your BP at first to make sure it doesn't lower it too much. I haven't had any breathing or heart problems from it. It reduced the frequency of my nightmares a little, but it really...

Thanks, everyone. @VioletButterfly There aren't any EDA meetings in my area, and there's only one ABA meeting and it takes place when I have to work. My sponsor wasn't actually mad. She just said--and another OAer said this, too--that it's really hard to give up the food when you're not even...

Glad to hear you're doing a little better!

I like being alone but wish I had some friends to do things with sometimes. My life right now is really just treatment and work and a lot of sitting around alone in my apartment. I'm so lucky I have a wonderful cat to keep me company. And I know isolation is really bad for depressed and I'm...

Did you know that the human eye can see more shades of green than any other color? It's an evolutionary adaptation--when we were in the wild, we had to be able to see predators hiding in trees and such. Lux means light in Latin. It's the name of a character I used to write about a lot, who was...

I love painting my nails, too. I do a lot of fun designs, most of which I found online. My favorite is newspaper nails. You paint your nails white or light grey, then let that dry. Dip them in rubbing alcohol for about 5 seconds, then press them on newspaper--words or comics or anything will...

I use a lot of different things for grounding. Initially I was taught more mental things like naming objects around the room, reminding myself of my name, age, the date including year, where I was, who was President. The one I felt was most helpful was naming and describing objects in detail (in...

How do you guys know you were molested in infancy if you don't remember it?

37. I didn't think I really had much depersonalization.

Thanks to both of you. It helps to know I'm not alone. I know keeping on a schedule is important. I got totally off my sleep schedule and started staying up really late and sleeping in and then I didn't know when to eat because I didn't know how long I'd be awake. I have a meal plan and try to...

Does anyone else struggle with an eating disorder? I know that a lot of people with eating disorders have experienced trauma in their lives. I got out of an inpatient eating disorder hospital about 5 weeks ago and didn't binge (overeat) or purge (induce vomiting) until four days ago, but now...

I've never heard of this before, but I did a quick Google search and found some information suggesting that psych meds can decrease the lifespan 15 to 25 years. These boards won't let me post links for some reason, but I just Googled "Do psychiatric meds reduce the lifespan?" First result was a...