Poll Have You Also Been Diagnosed With Did Or Dd-nos

[SimplyComplex]

I know, there is some grossly written misinformation on these conditions (sadly and most offensively, an opinion piece on this site). However, DDs are real and are widly accepted into the psych community.

PTSD and DDs are linked. Most people with DID or DD-NOS will also have PTSD (although not the other way around). And this is specifically true with people who have had complex traumatic histories.

So I am wondering who else has diagnoses of a dissociative disorder?


[DLMURL="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dissociative-disorders/DS00574/DSECTION=symptoms"]Here is a resource for learning more about them. [/DLMURL]

 

[SimplyComplex]

I was recently diagnosed with a significant DD by a PhD therapist who specializes in trauma (20 years in practice), is well respected and has specialized and unique training with dissociation disorders. She says serious dissociative disorders are rare, only having treated 6 in her 20 years so far (and more then the average because of her extra training she takes referrals).

Its really been less then a week since she actually said the diagnosis outloud, but about 3 weeks since I began to accept it. I had hit a brick wall in therapy and my gains tended to be short term, as far as quality of life. Knowing my new diagnosis and working with it strait on has actually been amazing, and I already have new tools that is helping me recover. In fact, with the new acceptance, i was able to fully process a trauma. I actually cried my eyes out on her office...first time in 2 years.

So for me, learning about and accepting DDs has been really helpful. I was saddened to see some of the information out there, despite the overwhelming evidence there is that not only are severe DD dx real, but also highly treatable.

My husband also has a DD dx too (also a PTSD dx) but it isn't written in stone at this point.

 

[Lucycat]

I have not been diagnosed with a separate Dissociative Disorder, but do have the formal diagnosis from a psychiatrist of Complex PTSD which, of course, includes dissociation. I was advised therefore, that an additional diagnosis was not appropriate.

I will be watching the results of your poll with great interest!

 

[maddog]

My psychiatrist has told me that given my history and initial presenting story, he is surprised that I don't have a dissociative disorder of some kind. I believe he actually persisted for some time to discover if I had DID, and he told me that he was sure that in fact I would turn out to have it... but much to his apparent disappointment (spoken tongue in cheek), I don't.

For that I know I am lucky. Dissociative symptoms, whilst very real and frequent for me, are not as dabilitating or consuming as they are for many people.

Maddog

 

[SimplyComplex]

My psychiatrist has told me that given my history and initial presenting story, he is surprised that I don't have a dissociative disorder of some kind. I believe he actually persisted for some time to discover if I had DID, and he told me that he was sure that in fact I would turn out to have it... but much to his apparent disappointment (spoken tongue in cheek), I don't.

Ok, my T would die if she read that. She was so careful not to suggest any form of DD to me, and waited patiently for 2 years for me to admit the symptoms I was having (long before therapy even started). Even when I talked about happenings that suggested my DD, she didn't call it anything. She did work to normalize dissociation as a life-saving skill. In my case it truly was. Stigmatizing dissociation only leads to making survivors feel bad about their symptoms.

Some clients, esp with PDs will act out DID for attention. My t said she has run into it. I think its really important to be careful for that reason, also if you stir up too much, the system will run into hiding.

 

[jka37]

I have DDNOS. Alters, dissociation, etc...all the symptoms of DID, except no amnesia or time loss. Which is convenient, I guess.

But also very difficult. It is kind of cool though...when my alters are out, I am watching, and I can communicate with them if they are receptive. This is still all very early on. I hate it. But I also don't mind...well, I guess I'd rather love myself, and that means loving my alters.

I've had the diagnosis for under 2 months...been in therapy for 3 or 4 years, but with students at a college counseling center. Now I am with a professional who is allowed to diagnose.

But yes, no one should ever push DID on people. Sorry Maddog...it sounds like he almost wanted you to be messed up.

 

[maddog]

Oh, don't apologise, I made the comment well aware of the outrage it would cause, and in truth I felt a lot of outrage myself at the time.

Well, no, that's not quite true, I felt perplexed, and rather irritated, and almost... sorry for him!! Thankfully I have never felt particularly impacted or swayed by him, and while he has turned out to be mildly useful, I don't hold him in particularly high esteem at all and believe that he does try hard to apply a one-size-fits-all template to the people (exclusively trauma sufferers) that he works with, which is extremely unhelpful and potentially damaging.

Perhaps if he was my primary, or only, mental health professional, I would entertain that outrage a little more. I tend to view him as my insurance policy (in case I should require hospitalisation), and someone with a lot of theoretical knowledge in the field of trauma and trauma therapy.

Beyond that he is just a regular chore, one I frequently threaten to give up on, but one which I persist with for now, due to the above requirement for an insurance policy.

An odd situation? Yes, probably.

 

[Bachall]

My symptoms are so strong, and yet not classic, that once I had my PTSD diagnosis, my pdoc went ahead and gave me a scale to fill out. It was looong, the longest psych eval I had ever taken. Both my therapist and pdoc looked at it individually. Both of them are positive I do not have DID.

But, both from books both have had me read on my type of experience, and from what they both say, it is extremely common in long term child abuse, that starts before age five, to develop full on DID. It is also common in other drawn out abuse situations in which depersonalization is the core of the abuse, but one would not necessarily expect it like with the first case.

Since I "graduated" from the emergency phase of my treatment and got some perspective again, I have realized I do indeed carry around a couple of alters, helpless kid me and my mom. They are highly integrated though, and i don't experience active amnesia. My amnesiasic events are just me, going blank. My dog is trained to sense these and he can snap me out of it enough for me to give him a command like "Find Daddy" or "Find the car."

Here is the interesting part. My psychiatrist theorizes that I did not follow the usual pattern of devolping the identity disorder in response to my situation, because I actually was born with the form of DD I have now! It just got more extreme with the pressure i was under. Most likely I would have simply suffered from somewhat serious "absent mindef professor syndrome" under normal circumstances.

 

[Zef]

Whether I have DDNOS or not, getting treated as if I do has been most beneficial for me. So, to me, the label itself doesn't matter so much as that, by assuming that is my label, it has provided me positive results.

 

[SimplyComplex]

I agree. Since accepting my DD dx, we have been able to make a ton more progress because we have been able to shift the approach. Its made a big difference for me. The label isn't important, but understand that this *is* my normal, and that I don't have to hide it is very freeing and opening up new paths for healing

 

[Dissociated1]

Since accepting my DD dx, we have been able to make a ton more progress because we have been able to shift the approach.

This has been my experience as well. It felt as if I spent as much time butting heads with my therapist as I did on my therapy when I was being treated for gender dysphoria. I have made more progress in one short month of psychodynamic therapy for PTSD/DID than I did in the last 3 1/2 years of treatment for gender.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Has anyone filled out one of those diagnostic tests for dissociative disorders?

Some of the questions are VERY misleading! I was diagnosed with a dissociative disorder NOS because of how I filled it out! You have to check off things in 10% increments, which is stupid, stupid, stupid. I mean 0% was an indication that something NEVER happened to you, but if you check off 10%, that means one out of every 10 minutes you experience that symptom. I refused to fill out follow up tests because the testing system was so flawed. I don't deny that I dissociate, rather I deny that it is a problem which requires a label. It's only a problem when I am forced to talk about the trauma in an unsafe way. I dissociate to an extent in a flashback (duh, we all do), but otherwise it's not an issue. The group that diagnosed me was dissociative-happy. Shame on them! (They also said I had complex PTSD, so that gives you an idea of just how confident I am in their diagnosing skills!) Pratt said no dissociative disorder, at all. Dissociation was due to medication, not an underlying disorder.