DID Does anyone that dissociates, "see" other alters

[theshadowoftheliving]

I think another important thing to think about and consider is how the person chooses to communicate.

I tend to use very visual, very poetic, very metaphoric language to describe my experiences. As a result, I've had clinicians that don't really know me assume that I am off my rocker completely - and once clinicians understand that I simply have far too much training in poetics, they decide that I actually have a pretty good grip on reality.

I don't know what the case is for your friend. But I do wonder.

 

[Ronin]

Visual hallucinations isn't a DID thing though nor a Derealization or Depersonalization thing.

I would very much argue this point, while agreeing with the rest of the post (on: fundamentally not losing touch with reality, etc.)

Inner things projected outward (or understood as coming from the outside, initially, when confused as all hell what is happening, or in times of high stress)? Can totally be a DID and DP/DR thing.

Not a delusion in that not a false belief, and not a hallucination in not perceiving something (someone) that does not exist, but how that existence manifest? May totally depend on many other factors. While not dealing with psychotic or schizo spectrum disorders, at all.

(Also why I asked about perception of bubble people and description of it closer, originally.)

once clinicians understand that I simply have far too much training in poetics, they decide that I actually have a pretty good grip on reality.

And this, a damned good point.
(I can tell things by surrealist paintings and poems, and one that mimick the other. Sit me down with shrinks that are also fans of arts and both of us will be happy for hours. Sit me down with someone whose last trip to a museum was at their elementary and then maybe for obligatory thesis purposes and cranky moods and wild reports ensue.)

 

[Reflections]

Inner things projected outward (or understood as coming from the outside, initially, when confused as all hell what is happening, or in times of high stress)? Can totally be a DID and DP/DR thing.

I would argue that influence is from other sources (like high stress or perhaps cognitive dissonance). What I said has to do with bare bones dissociation and DID. That isn't to say someone with DID can't have strange episodes or beliefs, merely that psychotic symptoms and delusions are not a dissociation thing.

 

[hithere]

interesting that they are bubble people because universally people describe seeing spiritual beings as orbs

 

[Swift]

Hey,

Great thread. I agree with everyone else re: a proper psych assessment is the only way to get help for your friend.

I have DID, I'm totes visual and a little liberal/poetic with my language when I'm describing things.

If your mate is on lithium and is being considered for schizophrenia - chances are she's got some serious stuff going on.

If you'll forgive me sticking on my science hat for a moment - there are several marked and persistent differences, clinically speaking, between schizophrenia and DID. Neither one is better or worse to have than the other - the reason we separate diagnoses is that they respond to different treatment, and alleviating the symptoms, ie treatment, is generally the aim.

The differences are on Google etc.

What are you wanting to know with this thread?

I "see" my alters, but only in the way that I see them in my minds eye - they don't start walking around outside my head.

Good luck to you and your friend.

 

[crackinthequandary]

OK, she is seeing a therapist, and it was "complex PTSD", obviously, but "Dissociative", possibly "DID". I was told, "perhaps it is atypical, but the bubble people are like a "safety-net", a part of the dissociative". Therapist was going to perform EMDR, but was afraid my friend was not "stable enough yet; she would dissociate at this point"?

 

[Sideways]

It’s not clear from your posts what you’re after from the forum at this point. We can’t really offer much in terms of your friend’s diagnosis - that’s really a matter for her and her therapist.

 

[crackinthequandary]

also, remember, "the bubble people are always there, that's the kicker...but get this..they go away when she "cuts", (a rage regulator toward her mother out of fear for she and her siblings at a child level), when she is " having sexual relations with her husband", and finally when she is in the bathroom"; all private times.. what kind of psychosis goes "away" during private time consistently?

 

[russell]

So... are you thinking that maybe she is only pretending to see her bubble people?

 

[Swift]

Dissociation and DID aren't actually psychotic disorders.
Nor is PTSD, or C-PTSD.

Are you looking for specific tips about something? That's what we can help with.
Like, it sounds like you want us to make a ruling on whether she has DID or not, or whether she has a psychosis-based illness. Which, none of us know.

 

[Ronin]

also, remember, "the bubble people are always there, that's the kicker.

I think you are in no position to armchair diagnose her, or apply what you grabbed of psychoanalysis at her.

And I think it may be rather disgraceful to be sharing her struggle and intimate details on the webs like this. Do you have her permission?

Also, even if she were pretending about whichever it is bubble people are for her... it is a coping mechanism of SOME sort. She is not pretending about the distress, and having that coping mechanism. If she were? She is not doing it to con and harm you, specifically. So how is that your business?

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I am not diagnosed with DID and may very well have DID but at this point my therapist and I agree that I walk the line of DID. I disoccoate deeply. Have moved places without memory of how I got there. I do have "insiders" and carry on full conversations with them in my head. I am more constantly disocciated lately and a protective part has made it's way front and center. I seem to be seeing out of a film. Like looking out of plastic wrap. Blurry. So, though I don't fit the diagnosic criteria of DID because no one has witnessed these "insiders" take over my conscienceness, I am right on that line and may very well have undiagnosed DID.

With that said, yes, I see my "insiders" in my head. I can age them and I can see what they are doing. But I see them mentally. I do not physically see them. Like I can tell you the youngest one around age 6 stays huddled in a corner in the dark. She doesn't like to come out of that corner. She screams and is the loudest one most times but never moves out of the corner. The protective one is the most active. The most "in your face" one. The one that moves around the most. The teen is more rebellous. The partier. The addict that likes to stay drugged up. And then the child prostitute is the seductive one. The one that front and center when it's time to seduce. When it's sex time if you will. I would say that one, if any, is the closest to taking over my conscienceness as many times I don't remember my sexual encounters and though I now remember most of my past, some of it I was not consciencelly aware of what was happening. I can remember what led up to it and afterwards but during its all black.

But none do I physically see. It is all mentally seen.