welcome Emily.

this here is the dissociative disorders board. in this main forum board everyone who has any kind of dissociative disorders or symptoms can post about their dissociative problems. sometimes someone with PTSD will post here their dissociative problem or someone with bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder their dissociative problems....(any mental disorder can now come with having dissociative problems)

many of us posting here that do have or did have DID that are presently posting are in or have gone through the integration process, but we share our experiences so that those still working through their dissociative issues have the information that they may be looking for to help their self. So please dont be frightened away by the integration threads, there is no integration forum here so those threads are mixed in with the rest.

we can not diagnose or tell you what is what inside you, all we can do is tell you what things are in ourselves and how our own treatment providers work with us. for actual help with your dissociative problems as they relate directly to you, like the disclaimer at the bottom of the page says, you will need to contact your own treatment providers.

there are 2 other forums in this section that are not so active. they are...

the garden.... this is when people with dissociative problems want a break from reading and replying to the harder stuff here in the main board. the garden is for fun activities. child alters can post there too but like I said its not very active in this sense because DID is not very predictable. its not like someone with DID can pick and choose when they will be a specific an alter at just the right time on psych central...

example DID is a dissociative disorder. it relys on one being triggered, having their dissociative symptoms (numb, spaced out , disconnected..., then having their flight or fight physical brain response which would cause switching into their alters. psych central doesnt trigger me very much, if psych central did cause me to have my mental disorder symptoms I would just get up and walk away. or use psych centrals ignore feature which is what people here use when they dont want to be triggered by what they are reading.

Add to that all the different technical, elements, and dangers that it takes to use a device like a computer, laptop and cell phone, and being online. even adults have problems with this I wouldnt leave my biological 10 year old alone on a computer let alone my inside child alters before I was integrated.

my point is if you post in the garden there is no guarantee that someone will see and respond to your post in a timely manner. its just there to have some fun and relax when you dont want to be reading anything triggering. and like this main forum anyone whether they have a dissociative problem or not at the moment can post there.

the teen forum in this section is for the teen aged alters to talk about their teen aged issues. but again its very slow and rarely used since DID isnt a disorder where you get to choose when and where you are going to be a specific alter.

example one of my teen alters triggers for their taking control was intimacy. Im not about to come on line when my wife and I were getting busy so f course this alter would not have been on psych central posting about their dating and intimacy problem. another one of my teen alters triggers for their taking control was anger, psych central doesnt cause me to be angry and there is a protocal here that all posts must be supportive and if they are not to report them. so even if I still had alters I wouldnt have switched into a teen alter in anger about something on psych central I would have put them on ignore and reported the post, then leave psych central for a bit to do something different.

in other words its very rare to be the same alter at just the right time to post in the teen forum, usually what happens is someone posts in the teen forum then days, sometimes months later any member whether they have dissociative problems or not may end up seeing the post and replying back.

think I covered it all on whats what here in the dissociative sections. but feel free to ask questions, everyone here is willing to answer and share.