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living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

hi @Former-Member, @CheerBear, @Spookytookims, @Former-Member and everyone else

I've had a few ask about what its like living with DID. So I decided to do a new thread. First off for those who dont know there are varying degrees of DID, from just feeling far away or distanced to having distinct alternate personalities or identies. In my case I have distinct alters to the point they have names and one has even been diagnosed with autisim which is rare.

So to make it so people can get a better idea I'm Aj the owner of the body. Then there is Kelly she is around the age of 4. Kelly actually started off as my imaginary friend when i was little then I went through a period of wanting to be the imaginary one due to abuse from someone i trusted. so Kelly is also the Autistic one, she will scream when touched and doesnt talk often sits and watches the clouds. the longest she has been out is 2 weeks. I am not co-consious with any of my alters when they are out i lose time. Kelly will come out usually if i feel scared or insecure and can be hard on my partner when our son wants mummy.

Next is sarah she is around 6 and is the easiest to handle often my partner cant tell she is out til she starts humming somesort of tune (we havent worked out what it is) she is a typical 6 yr old and the best part is my little boy isnt afected by her when shes out he just thinks mummy has taken time to play with him.

Then there is Casey while she comes out very little she needs constant monitoring as she self-harms but she doesnt usually come out unless get real down. thankfully my son has never had to encounter her.

i also have another alter but she is not as distinct as the others.

yes most of my alters a littles or children, i have been told this is because of my age when my childhood abuse started and when significant truma was present.

i was three when my abuse started. i was 22 when i finally cut the cord of emotional abuse my mother used on me. if anyone has questions i am happy to answer them

168 replies

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In response to: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Urk....my post was deleted because of some part not complying with forum guidelines....blow! How to make someone depressed more so....cant be bothered re posting but shall go for a walk to try to get a little bit brighter...incidentally, this is not a dig at the moderators...mea culpa and all that, and a thank you for reminding me....just feel blah.

In response to: Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Sorry about that @Neb , I hope your walk helps and fresh air usually does wonders. Cheers Garfield.

In response to: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

I had to stop my journals when my now expartner started to use them against me. in a way I'm glad I did stop I've always been good at covering my tracks so to speak. he didn't believe in mental health and just the depressionwas enough for him to call me unfit so imagine what could have been used against me now. the more stressed I get the more the switching takes over. some days I have to ask so many questions over and over again that people start looking at me strange. no i dont tell people if my DID due to loosing my family and some old friends over it. when will people be able to see its different from schizophrenia and bio polar. I wish everyone excepts those ones.

In response to: Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Hi @sketa I think part of the problem with DID is that not everyone believes it's an actual mental illness. Those who do really get it, but those who don't just don't.

I have also lost family and friends because of DID, but to be honest, I think they would have left no matter what label I was given.

I have chosen to live a quiet life now, keeping as much stress out as possible ,it helps if you can do it, but it's not always possible.

In response to: Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

@sketa, yes it can be really distressing and disturbing when people dont get it/judge and walk away. i'm sorry that your ex used your journals against you. that is super sucky. i've had that happen too. both my parents used it against me and my ex but it is still important for me.

What else could help you along the way?

and yes the difficulty with stress is that it really does cause us to swtich more frequently.

@Maggie i understand the loosing family/friends over it but i agree... the ones that stay are worth keeping the ones that aren't seem to go anyway. but it makes me feel lonely sometimes.

some of my parts like to have lots of pretend friends. that can be interesting when other parts don't want to talk to them but hey guess you would all know that too?

In response to: Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Hi @mudsum @Former-Member @Former-Member@Neb@Former-Member And everyone. The irony of DID is we are a group, and as previously said here, alone, therefore lonely and isolated. Switching causes stress, stress causes switching, we can't win. One acquaintance I have tells me I'm outrageously mad, and I am, but she does connect with her inner child with me without inhibitions, and weather people admit it or not, everyone has an inner child wanting to get out, we just have many, I guess we're the lucky ones. It just depends how you look at it.

Yes the make believe friends, I get that.

In response to: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

yes the dammed if you do and dammed if you don't is where my head is at today. I have an alter that feeds on anger, which in turn makes me feel like I'm trapped. she swears and drinks and smokes amongst other things and I'm starting to feel like just giving in to her and letting her loose on everyone that has put me down or done me wrong in the last few months, but in doing that and knowing she has no boundaries does that make me as bad as her

In response to: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Its hard to self assess. The memory gaps make it impossible. Drs prefer other psychiatric labels because DID / MPD is hard to asses when they're dependent on what we tell them, what 'part' is presenting. I did have a counsellor pick up two. Was weird when he acknowledged it, threw me, kinda felt threatened underneath, that some one noticed, but was 'cocky' on the outside. He was the only counsellor that was prepared to help me see address the topic of having other 'me's' and he helped me understand they come about to HELP us, even if they are clumbsy about it. This was good for me to hear as I really thought one was destroying my life (trying to klll me). At that time of great stress I named her # and then I named another, then I tried to name me and got all confused and felt more crazy and abandoned this whole DID thing as unhelpful. Thinking maybe they are just Moods??? Besides, I live alone with no close connections so what does it matter anyway. It would upset things if my current p/t work goes bad because of it but I just keep trying to be 'stable' as possible there. I tend to change every 8months, simply walk away from jobs, or relationships - the fallout is catastrophic to my life. I'm over it. Losing events and details and having time lapses really impacts relationships (who's lying? Covering up just makes me seem uninterested and distant. Memory loss is the hardest to cover up and live with. Hard on other people too. Like we choose to be like that. I have a compassionate side that hates that I do this to people. It interferes with relationships big time. Impossible to work with or sort out. Better for everyone of I stay away, but then I get worse, have no identity with others or measure of how I am. Its kinda peaceful being on my own, doesn't matter how i am then.

In response to: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Apologies for the deleted post above. One of us has fears about speaking and a tendency to delete posts. It's incredibly annoying.

Our consensus is that journalling has been the single best thing for us as a group.

In response to: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

Re: living with DID/ Dissociative Identity Disorder

You OK @-Rayne-? Come back to us 💜
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