living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

@Former-Member the app that we got is called Chime. It just plays a sound every hour. There's another one called Alarmed Reminders that we also looked at which had more features. To be honest, it's not working all that well so for far. There are plenty of gaps but we can't tell if they're significant and also not sure if we're catching everything. When we're at work, then I think we probably are but after that, things go kind of haywire.

@sketa thanks for that. We used to journal everything we did years ago when our kids were young and it was important that we remembered things. I hadn't thought of asking others though. Maybe we could do that although a lot of our time is spent alone.

We tried the app and notebook again today but it didn't really work. It's proving more complicated than we thought.

I dont see some place to post anything in this subject but just the option to reply so i will do this here. I just joined yesterday and I posted something somewhere else and three peoples told me about this thread and that you guys could relate. So I am just going to repost my first post here with you guys.

I will be getting a trauma therapist in a month or two. Its a trauma clinic that works with PTSD, BPD, DID and other things. Right now I just have a regular therapist at another clinic. I dont understand when you start talking like a kid in a session that therapist dont think you have DID or anything like that. I also had another therapist where I was in session I all of a sudden felt the little kid me and was crying because I was surprised she was still alive and still cared and wanted to live. Then all of a sudden I got really really mad and wanted to hurt her. For a minute or so I felt the little kid on the left in the front and the angry person in the front on the right and I felt like I was in the back of my head. I sat with it for a minute but then said to my therapist make it stop. He believed everything that happened but also didnt think I had DID or anything like that. Im confused is that what happens to any of you sometimes. I have never had it that extreme before or since then. I have had times where the angry part of me tries to come. Please forgive me if I said anything triggering or offensive. This is all new to me. Any thoughts on any of this.

Hi @LaceMarie im glad you've found this thread. I was pleased to find it when I joined also. Have you read any books on DID? It might help clarity what's happening. I can feel literally beside myself, just like seeing someone else doing/being. I don't want to say anything that might confuse you. One book I found really helpful is Dissociative identity disorder sourcebook by Deborah Bray Haddock.

You might like to get to know others on the forum also, there's some lighter threads like .. Good morning...Dogs rock..birds arts chatty ones.

Look forward to seeing you around or just here if that's what you feel like.

Have a good day

Hi @LaceMarie, what you have described is what it is often like for me too. I have DID and am often co-conscious with my parts, so I will have parts that will 'come in' and I will know they are in the body and are perhaps talking to the psychiatrist. There can be more than 1 part in at a time. I am meanwhile at the back just listening in. Psychiatrists will take their time to diagnose DID as symptoms can overlap with other disorders. There are specific criteria that need to be met to establish DID as a diagnosis. Some psychiatrists are very reluctant to diagnose DID. The label is not so important as the treatment you get. Look for a counsellor/psychologist/psychiatrist that you feel comfortable with, ask them about their thoughts on DID/treatment, experience working with trauma etc. It's taken me a long time to find a counsellor I feel comfortable with and this is often the case for many people. It's just about finding the right fit for you. Blue Knot Foundation has a good website with resources on how to find a good therapist. They also have a phone number to call and they can give you names of therapists in your area.

Psychiatrists will take their time to diagnose DID as symptoms can overlap with other disorders. There are specific criteria that need to be met to establish DID as a diagnosis. Some psychiatrists are very reluctant to diagnose DID. The label is not so important as the treatment you get. Look for a counsellor/psychologist/psychiatrist that you feel comfortable with, ask them about their thoughts on DID/treatment, experience working with trauma etc. It's taken me a long time to find a counsellor I feel comfortable with and this is often the case for many people. It's just about finding the right fit for you. Blue Knot Foundation has a good website with resources on how to find a good therapist. They also have a phone number to call and they can give you names of therapists in your area.

Hello to everyone else. I have not been writing much but have been reading your comments. This forum is important to me too. Even to just know there are other people out there who know what it is like to be DID. I just find it hard to write on it for some reason. I will try.

@ludo

Thank you. The stuff I wrote doesn't happen often though, only really in therapy only a handful of times. Dont know if that means I dont have it. Or if it means I only get triggered in therapy.

Hey @LaceMarie, glad you found us here.

I agree with everything @ludo said really. Part of the problem imo (besides the general reluctance to dx DID) is that the way dissociation works doesn't fit neatly with the criteria of the different diagnoses. Like, for myself, if you take me (Briar) and a handful of others that I'm usually mostly co-conscious with, then we wouldn't meet full DID criteria, but then when our therapist realises there are a bunch of others, suddenly we do. But awareness of them changes over time.. and all of the above is dependant on the therapist talking to me. If/when another of us presents then the arrangement or balance will be different, and sometimes very different.

So yeah I totally agree with @ludo that the treatment you get is far more important than whatever label is given. Do you feel like your current therapist isn't helpful?

Hi @Former-Member if you are present, or, you didn't give your helper a name so I'll talk to both of you knowing someone is listening. I think DID is isolating in itself without all the traumas that brought in into existence. I'm isolated also, no family 1 friend but I'm there for her always, the story of my/our life. The move to help sounds like a positive. We moved earlier this year and it's working out really well. daZi my latest addition is planting a garden and loves the dirt, she's 5. Sending a high five and warm wishes.