DID Dissociative identity disorder along with ptsd

[circe47]

I find stuff that I did and don't remember doing all the time. It's sort of scary. I first noticed this when I started trying to write my life story. I would recheck my writing and have a huge sense that someone had been messing with my work. It would be my experiences, but I didn't remember writing the stuff down. Or it would take a tone that seemed to be judgmental of me and my situation, and that really, really bothered me. I would swear that I had been hacked, thought had never written anything anywhere but my own computer that was usually turned off when not in use.

 

[HappyJock]

Of course it's real; the mind splits itself into different personas, so to speak, to protect itself from harmful memories, events and reactions. Have not yet been diagnosed with it officially, but it's in question. I never understood why people say it isn't real. I can just as easily say PTSD isn't real, it's just the mind playing tricks on you. Anything and everything is real, in my opinion, or can be, based on the individual at hand and what they are going through. DID is complex and there's a lot to consider, but yes, I do believe it's real and everyone faces it differently.

 

[Sideways]

I have DID. It's very real. Of all the disgnoses that have been tossed my way, it's the one I fought against the most. Having finally accepted that it's real, and I've got it, my life has changed immensely because it's allowed me to learn to manage it (finally).

And here in Australia, yes, it is vastly less diagnosed than in the US, and there remains a huge split among psych professionals as to whether they believe it is a 'real' condition, which makes it really hard to find good treatment. But good treatment is out there, and it can make a huge difference:)

 

[Sideways]

There's a couple of things that might be helpful to remember here. First, everyone has different personas - if my doc started talking to me the same way he talks to his wife, I'd be worried. But just because his personality changes from "Work-Doc" to "Husband-Doc", doesn't mean he's got DID.

Memory is a tricky little bugger - there are lots of reasons that our brain doesn't allow us to have conscious recall of memories. For me, yes, it's probly the DID thing. But my sister, also mentally ill but no form of dissociative disorders at all, doesn't remember her life till about her late 20s.

Third, there are lots of different types of dissociation and dissociative disorders. It's a spectrum that everyone sits on somewhere - for a healthy person, it might be driving home from work and not remembering any of the trip. That's dissociation in a healthy form. DID is only one of the different types off dissociative experiences. Other types, such as derealization, are recognized as a disorder and have similarities to DID. It's quite difficult to diagnose unless the person either has good insight into their own symptomatic history, or the clinician knows you well.

Don't freak at the label, it is a manageable condition. Read what you can - from specialists and sufferers alike - because, IMHO, that really helps to understand, accept, and deal with having the condition, as donmany of the threads under the Flashbacks & Dissociation header:)

 

[Stickler]

...someone is practicing thread necromancy...


Link Removed

This thread is from '08.

But...I do seem to be plural inside...and once one took over without inviting me along. So there's DID.
It's a LOT less flamboyant in most of us than movies would have you think...we have to blend, don't we?

The diagnostic criterion may be different in the United States than elsewhere.
Too, it's on a spectrum. Most of us have " leaky compartments," our others are not entirely separate, we can talk, come out together, are aware of each other, etc.

 

[Ronin]

Dissociation to the level of separate parts & deep compartmentalization of everything one's lived through & amnestic walls & recognition issues and the whole deal are very real.

But what therapists & media do with D.I.D. & a lot of agenda pushed one way or the other are entirely different issue from D.I.D. difficulties that need be stabilized and coped with. They're more distracting from struggles in lives of people than anything else.

Personally I tend to urge caution. A lot of caution, in just who exactly do people suspecting they have D.I.D. bring it to. So much potential for toxicity and abuse of the individual(s) & just because people are in the helping professions doesn't mean they will even attempt to be helpful, about something they have no frame of reference for and the picture they have is wildly inaccurate.

So pick what stabilizes you and rings true to you, process trauma in small parts, work at safety in case you're re-enacting trauma / parts are or keeping you entangled with abusers, discard the rest.