Thanks @Sideways .. sorry I didn't understand this. You mean it's been immensely helpful to work with Ts who don't have specific experience in it?
Yeah, sorry!
I’ve done DD-specific therapy with DD specialists. And I’ve done (way more) non-DD therapy with trauma-specialists, and non-trauma mental health practitioners.
All of it was helpful.
CBT and ACT in particular have been the backbone of a lot of my coping and recovery. And I did those with Ts who specialised in those (not DD), and I absolutely wouldn’t be where I am now without that. So, therapy with a non-DD specialist can be pivotal to recovery.
At the same time, I also needed, separately, to work with a DD specialist. It’s a seperate disorder to my PTSD, so not surprisingly, has required different therapy, from different treatment providers.
the therapy approach for the two are by and large the same.
True. But there is also more than one way to approach DID.
Treatment is anywhere near as refined for DDs as it is for PTSD. They’re a far newer concept in psychiatry, and tbh, evidence is pretty hit and miss on what works and what doesn’t.
There are a number of treatment modalities which DD-specialists essentially borrow to treat DDs. Therapies that were initially designed (and studied) for other disorders, which can be helpful in managing DDs. But our understanding of DDs is almost non-existent. Treatment approaches still reflect that.
There are also some treatment approaches for trauma that can make DDs worse depending on how they’re delivered. And there is some evidence that certain therapy approaches (like IFS) can essentially create the belief (and dysfunctional) of a DD in patients with complex trauma that don’t actually have a DD.
We really need a lot more research to properly understand what’s going on with DDs and more evidence into effective treatment.
I would freak out and it would likely send me into a difficult place because it would be harder to deny which is what I've done the last 7 years.
Yeah, and this is just the beginning!!