Confirmation Of Parts Co-conscious.

[7Cs]

So my therapist did confirm today that I have two parts/ aspects that she's aware of which I have also been aware of and she mentioned conconsciousness and talked about working on internal cooperation and communication. She also talked about ego states which I think are different than parts.

While I understand that this puts me on the dissociative disorder spectrum we didn't talk about where on the spectrum as in DID or OSDD (formerly called DD NOS). I don't have much in the way of amnesia or lost time except for when I was a kid I have large periods of times as in years with little to know memory. I'm pretty forgetful now but mostly on the far end of what I would consider normal forgetting.

In a way it's good to have this finally acknowledged, it's validating. It still makes me nervous though about something but I don't know what. I've gone back and forth like others as to if this is real. I know I'm not intentionally making things up and the experiences are real but I can't help but question if maybe they're not parts but something else. Moods, imagination or something. I know (as I've told others) that this does not change me or my experience and I'm hopeful that this will make a big impact on my healing journey.

I've read that the diagnosis or working with parts can sometimes make symptoms worse and that other parts often come out that haven't shown themselves before. Mine really don't have names just descriptive "names" and age ranges.

 

[Sideways]

Starting to become aware of our 'parts' can be pretty overwhelming, so if you can, try and be gentle with yourself, and remember that although this may be new insight into yourself, the only thing that has changed is your insight. You are exactly the same person that you've always been, except you're learning more about yourself.

With your T headed down the road of talking about co-consciousness and internal cooperation, it sounds like she's got DID in mind. Do you feel like you could talk to her about what she means by 'parts' and what her experience of your 'parts' has been?

DID can present in different ways, and it's not unusual that individual parts don't have their own name. There's also no rules about how many 'parts' a person will have, so there may not actually be any more to discover.

Having said that, if it is DID, there may well be quite a few others. And certainly for me, some presented early on, some I still don't know much about at all.

It is recognised among DID T's that parts will often act out for a while as a person starts the process of identifying them. The theory is that parts have been a coping mechanism that yoi've been relying on to keep you safe, and it's been a success to date (in a way) because it's been able to fly under the radar. As you start to get to know your parts, and try and get them working as a team, it's common for some parts to find that new paradigm threatening - it feels safer to sustain the status quo as a way of keeping you safe. Working as a team, sharing information, is completely new, and scary.

I certainly experienced a period of some parts acting out, and it was a pretty rough time, for me and my T. So I'd recommend exploring these new ideas with your T gradually. But keep exploring - learning about yourself, the way your mind has learned to cope with distress, isn't easy, but it does offer you the opportunity to decide to do things differently. For me? Internal communication is heaps better these days, and it's been incredibly liberating to be able to start to get all of my mind working together.

 

[7Cs]

Starting to become aware of our 'parts' can be pretty overwhelming, so if you can, try and be ge...

Thank you Ragdoll.

I don't think I'm as far as DID with my memory being in tact and no missing time. I think my coconsciousness is current with my parts not something I have to strive for, though I know there is much work on communication and cooperation to be done! With all the criteria changes for dissociative disorders it still leaves me wondering. Years ago with my diagnoses of mood disorder nos - rapid cycling, my husband and I had both talked about the possibility of MPD but quickly dismissed it because of the lack of lost time. I didn't realize there was a spectrum but wish I had run into a therapist during that time who could have identified it. It's hard to imagine a life without this going on and I wonder what it would be like bringing my parts together with myself. Will I become a different person? Will my husband like this person? Will I still love him? One of my parts does not like or trust him at all. Then again it doesn't like or trust anyone or anything... full of hate and anger.

 

[Sideways]

@7Cs - personally I think they've still got a long way to go understanding different dissociative disorders:rolleyes: Either way, if you haven't lost a lot of time over the years, then that's definitely good news:)