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DID Parts with no Names

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Reflections

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I've been trying to find information on this with little avail. So I was hoping maybe others knew something on this or could give their more experienced insight.

I find in much DID litature, there's much talk of parts with invidual names but little about having no names. I only recall "no names" being mentioned in this treatment guide: Link Removed
In which they say it's counterproductive to name parts with no name unless "the patient" wishes too. This statement (and points made about the importance of not encouraging seperation) has my protective part concerned.

Is it unbeneficial to give proper names to parts who have no names? Also, are there parts in your system with no names? I'd love to know I'm not the only one.
 
I'm not DID, but I do have distinct parts. 8, currently.

At the moment, everyone in my system has a name.

But there have been times when parts in my system had no names.

When I became aware of each part, they didn't necessarily each come with a name. It took time. And I didn't want to name them just for the sake of it. I felt that would have been an injustice to them.

They were a little restless while they were nameless, but much more content than if they were to have a name for the sake of it.

And that period of namelessness allowed me to gain a greater understanding of who they were. So that when their name came to me, I knew it fit them just right.

You're certainly not alone.
 
Not DID either, slight dissociation between parts in the past.

No names, which makes it hard but it was their choice as they all named themselves with my real name lol It became too confusing and felt a bit self-absorbed.
 
(Likewise D.I.D. here)

Most of the people with D.I.D. I knew through my life had some mix of named and not named people in their group, or people who changed names through the lifetime regardless if they did it legally/physically or not (or: changed the body / social name in some way.)

So not having names is actually quite common in my experience.
As to that claim naming is hurtful... I think that comes from a presumption D.I.D. is a harmful variant of a (meant to be) singleton existence, and encouraging any autonomy of the individuals means further fragmentation of the individual and inability to cope with the reality around them... which is not true.

As to personal, we have names, or often once function turned into a name sorts of descriptors.
 
I have intrusions, and I can voluntarily switch in a way that Big Wendell is there, but not in charge. Little Wendell has been with me for a long time, and so his name kind of just happened. My teen part felt very dark and in the shadows for a while, without a name or even a clear age. I was calling him Dark Wendell. My therapist suggested maybe I would like a different name. That might be officially against guidelines, but giving him a name like Thomas helped him come out in a big way. And because my parts were so stuck inside me, getting them out has been really helpful in dealing with my internal conflicts. Nathan was the last, and I wanted to name him fairly quickly.

Baby doesn't really have a name, but that's okay, since he's a baby!
 
I'm not sure what my diagnosis is but I have a couple of voices without names, one I call the Scream, she is the flight response I suppose and a traumatized teenage version of me that holds my sexuality, I call her the Sexual One. My other sides have names: a variation of my own name, the name of an abuser and my younger self uses my childhood nickname.
 
As to that claim naming is hurtful... I think that comes from a presumption D.I.D. is a harmful variant of a (meant to be) singleton existence, and encouraging any autonomy of the individuals means further fragmentation of the individual and inability to cope with the reality around them... which is not true.

Completely agree with this!

DID also. I have both named and unnamed insiders. Over time, most of the ones that I thought had no name revealed one. I have one just called "the lady," which I'm pretty sure she did not choose for herself and a couple who chose random names to communicate with a guy I used to go out with. I have friends who also have insiders/parts/alters who are named by their role in the system - The Organizer, The Caretaker, The Angry one, etc....
 
@Reflections , I have DID, and the majority of my parts do not have names. When asked, one explained to my therapist that it wasn't safe or smart to have names because then others might find out they were there and we'd end up in the loony bin-so safer to have no name and just respond to mine (the hosts). Somehow a couple still ended up with names, but they named themselves. A few I have given titles, just to be less confusing when talking about them (i.e. "6-year old me" "the researcher"), but not proper names.
 
Everyone, thank you so very much. All the responses helped me to feel not alone and unexpectedly valid. I don't have an official diagnosis (I'm either DID or DDNOS). My parts not having names adds to my sense of not being valid or real. Only one of them came with a title. I've given the rest titles to help communicate about them and to personally keep track of them (since there's at least 7 clear parts). My youngest part expressed his fustrations of wanting a certain name after my T asked what his name was. We haven't allowed names for the concerned I expressed in my OP.

So we've relaxed some and have let the youngest part have the name he wanted. The rest haven't decided, except the protective part wants the host name since it's important to him to be recognized as an equally valid part of the system. Though when referring him to that name it felt really awkward. I suppose because the ANP also uses the host name. I've taken your insights into consideration and will give time and space for names.

As to that claim naming is hurtful... I think that comes from a presumption D.I.D. is a harmful variant of a (meant to be) singleton existence, and encouraging any autonomy of the individuals means further fragmentation of the individual and inability to cope with the reality around them... which is not true.

I don't think DID is a harmful variant in a healthy system. Atm we want integration if possible, so the "further fragmentation" is my concern here. We're already co-conscience and are capable of functioning, I don't wish to cause further dissociation.

My therapists said giving names could help. She liken it to cleaning out a closet, how it's a mess when you start and then you organize things and add labels when you put everything back it's all organized and sorted.
 
helped me to feel not alone and unexpectedly valid
Yes! This has been a very useful part of my experience here, too.

My therapists said giving names could help. She liken it to cleaning out a closet, how it's a mess when you start and then you organize things and add labels when you put everything back it's all organized and sorted.
I like this metaphor and I've found this to be very much the case. Now when there's turmoil inside, I can tell who's upset and have a conversation with that part. Or I can tell when something is out of place/not organized in the regular way.
 
I've been trying to find information on this with little avail. So I was hoping maybe others knew something on this or could give their more experienced insight.

I find in much DID litature, there's much talk of parts with invidual names but little about having no names. I only recall "no names" being mentioned in this treatment guide: Link Removed
In which they say it's counterproductive to name parts with no name unless "the patient" wishes too. This statement (and points made about the importance of not encouraging seperation) has my protective part concerned.

Is it unbeneficial to give proper names to parts who have no names? Also, are there parts in your system with no names? I'd love to know I'm not the only one.

I would maybe treat this the way I would treat any other human. Ask them if they want a name and let them decide?
 
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