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Originally Posted by PurpleFlyingMonkeys
Thank you amandalouise. I'm not very good at the relies so I'll work with what I can... My question "how do you differentiate DID from the other dissicotiave diagnosis" meaning how do you know, if some DIDers don't have to have names for their parts and things, how do you know it's DID and not dissociative amnesia, fugue (that's one right) or DDNOS? Where is the line drawn when many of the symptoms of DID can be any number of DDs?I'm wondering this because I'm trying to understand why the other dissociative disorders were ruled out, when as far as I know I only have one part that goes by a name, and I believe that name was given to that part by my family, not because the part came about with its own name. I'm not sure if they have names. But I do know that I have male parts and female parts. They do all seem to hold different functions, but when they come out it's more for handling the task or trauma at hand, as opposed to doing their own thing as I read online numerous times. They come when there is a lot of trauma, they come when I'm having a mental break down but have to get through work, they come when there is something I can not do and that part is better at it than myself. But only those who know me very closely or myself can tell when it's not "me" out but another part of me. Could this not also be a different dissociative disorder? I know treatment providers can tell me this the best, but right now I'm looking at every inch of the dissociative spectrum, I'm trying to learn myself and I know my system is different than the rest, but there has to be some reason so many therapists keep turning to the DID, and I'm trying to learn why.
So, if you can blackout and do things other than what you would normally do or say, and you don't have to have a name when you are out, or you could even all go by the same name as mentioned above, how do you tell when it's an alter and not dissociative amnesia? No one has ever mentioned how the diagnostic criteria works really or why they come up with the conclusions. So if you can, being under stress, black out and do a million things acting like a different person, how do you know if it's an alter or dissociative amnesia? I know it's different person to person but is there anything that sets apart alters from amnesia if names aren't what's the cause? I'm so confused lol. I want to know why they think it's DID and not any of the rest, I want to know why my system seems to be more confusing than I'd prefer and I'd like to know why every therapist thinks I'm a "tough case" and "complex".
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Thanks for clarifying.. lets see if I can help make some sense out of this for you..
diagnostic criteria is what the treatment providers go by.. thats what and where the fine line is that says what each dissociative disorder is. every mental disorder has their own diagnostic criteria.
for example from the DSM website the current criteria thats used in diagnosing whether something is a DID problem is
A. The presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states (each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self).
B. At least two of these identities or personality states recurrently take control of the person's behavior.
C. Inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.
D. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., blackouts or chaotic behavior during Alcohol Intoxication) or a general medical condition (e.g., complex partial seizures). Note: In children, the symptoms are not attributable to imaginary playmates or other fantasy play.
here in NY if the problem isnt one of the above criteria then its not a DID symptom.
now the current dissociative amnesia here is what the criteria is for that...
A. The predominant disturbance is one or more episodes of inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature, that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.
B. The disturbance does not occur exclusively during the course of Dissociative Identity Disorder, Dissociative Fugue, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Acute Stress Disorder, or Somatization Disorder and is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a neurological or other general medical condition (e.g., Amnestic Disorder Due to Head Trauma).
C. The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
this is where you are trying to figure out...the two are sharing the same symptom (DID letter C and Dissociative amnesia's letter A) how do you know which one it is?
treatment providers also look at the rest of the criteria to see what fits and what doesnt....
DID has alters that take over, dissociative amnesia doesnt... so they check to see if the reason for the memory loss is because an alter took over or not..if no alter took over then its a dissociative amnesia problem not a DID problem.. if an alter took over then its a DID problem not a dissociative amnesia problem.
does that make it easier to understand?
now the next step... DDNOS comes in to play when you dont fit any dissociative disorder diagnostic criteria completely...
you have some dissociative symptoms but not all of them that will fit you into one dissociative disorder.
I dont know why this or that dissociative disorder was ruled out for you. only your treatment providers can say how and why you were diagnosed the way you were, or not diagnosed with this dissociative disorder instead of that one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PurpleFlyingMonkeys
how do you tell when it's an alter and not dissociative amnesia?
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in general...the only way to find that out is when an alter tells you or your treatment providers what happened while you were not aware..
Here in NY USA treatment providers cant diagnose DID unless alters are taking control and talk with them, so they know whether its DID or dissociative amnesia. Alters took control =DID, no alters =Dissociative amnesia.
my suggestion is talk with your treatment providers they can look in your files and explain to you why and how you were diagnosed the way you were/are.