Quote:
Originally Posted by Weltschmerz_and_me
Hi, I'm not currently in therapy, but have recently gone to the mental health service at the university I'm studying at, and have been referred for a general psychological assessment and counseling.
I am very hesitant about DID, these thoughts/characters have only happened twice recently, and I think maybe once today for a very short period... but before this, no whiff of any possible alternate personalities had come into my head. Also, I don't have any dissociative amnesia at all, my consciousness is whole and memories aren't compartmentalised. My short-term memory in general is bad, but I think it's down to ADHD and/or epilepsy.
You might be right about abuse. My childhood was quite troubled, but not abuse in any physical or sexual sense, and when a teenager I went through quite a traumatic experience. But it just doesn't seem like the kind horrific things that bring about DID or similar conditions.
It's interesting that you're also a creative type! Yes I need to be creative, I play piano often, write, philosophical thinking, etc. Didn't know it could be related to dissociative symptoms.
Thank you for the support.  This assessment is the next step forward and hopefully I'll get the correct dx and treatment. I have a couple of questions: what age did your DID emerge or become apparent to you? And how does it feel being a single entity now in comparison to before (congratulations on that by the way!)?
Hi, thanks for the warm welcome!
I'm still skeptical about DID, when the thoughts arose she didn't take over as such, there was no loss of consciousness/amnesia... my pain was just nullified. My consciousness is whole and always has been.
Part of me thinks I'm just imaginative and spontaneously thought up a calming voice as a defense mechanism. I can think up different voices right now and they're not alters or anything. The only difference is the slight perception of otherness, and it seemed to emerge suddenly from my unconscious. If it's not depersonalization per se, maybe it would be something like DDNOS? I just can't see it being DID.
There could have been trauma as I did have a troubled childhood when very young (< 3-4 years old), but like you suggest I can't really remember anything. But not to do with my mother, I'm very close to her and we went through my troubles together. Something entirely separate was a traumatic period of my life when a teenager.
I don't have a therapist right now but have been to the mental health service at my university and I'll be having a mental health assessment soon, as well as counseling.
I have a few questions if you don't mind:
- What age did you start experiencing DID symptoms, and what were they?
- Could you describe what it's like to 'hear' your alters/parts?
- Can one have DID without dissociative amnesia?
Thanks. |
if you google your locations classification of mental disorders you will find that england (your profile location) uses the ICD 10 for diagnostic criteria.
if you google the ICD 10 diagnostics for DID you will find this
2018 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code F44.81: Dissociative identity disorder
"Clinical Information
A disorder characterized by the presence of two or more identities with distinct patterns of perception and personality which recurrently take control of the person's behavior; this is accompanied by a retrospective gap in memory of important personal information that far exceeds ordinary forgetfulness. The changes in identity are not due to substance use or to a general medical condition.
A dissociative disorder in which the individual adopts two or more distinct personalities. Each personality is a fully integrated and complex unit with memories, behavior patterns and social friendships. Transition from one personality to another is sudden."
reason I put this in the post is that it answers your question cam you have DID with out dissociative amnesia ... as you can see by the link and what I quoted for your location there must be gaps in memory (what america calls dissociative amnesia )
your other questions.....
what age did I start having DID symptoms.... I was younger than 5. you see here in america statistics/ demographics show for my location DID is a mental disorder that begins in very young children due to extreme trauma usually before the age of 5. my kindergarten school records documented many things, as did my other elementary, jr high and high school records, as did my medical and mental health records.
I wont go into more detail than that because you stated you have an assessment coming up, and I may be wrong but I am feeling like maybe my telling you more details could end up harming you during your assessment.
if you want to know what your early DID symptoms were and what they were and whether or not you were having any dissociative symptoms contact your schools, your doctors, and past mental health treatment providers. they will have documented any time you mentioned symptoms of any kind and what those symptoms were. whether you were complaining of this or that physical or mental problem.
to find out what your location statistics/ demographics are contact your treatment provider or visit your local libraries reference department where you will find statistical books and data on all kinds of things.
Could you describe what it's like to 'hear' your alters/parts? ...... that depended upon each of my various alters. they had their own way of being, their own voices and how they spoke and thought.
I wont go into more detail than that because you stated you have an upcoming assessment. they are going to want to know what your insiders sound like, talk about and how you are when you hear their voices. trying to go on what I have for hearing voices may end up getting you diagnosed with a whole bunch of other disorders including things you may not want, heck even my physical health problems sometimes has me hearing voices, I I have this thought of me tell you how I am when I hear the voices and then during your assessment you make like my voices (using your own example in one of your posts of how you think you may have just imagined or made up the voice. and end up getting diagnosed with a degenerative nerve disease called MS.
please try not to base whether you have a mental disorder on what you read here. just tell the assessment people how you are and what you are going through and then they will tell you what kind of voices that you have.