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Elysium · Apr 05, 2009, 08:55 PM

Hi BeautifulXDreamr,

Wow..you have some great questions. I imagine you will get some different, yet similar (if that makes sense) answers to these questions.

Although, I can not and will not say whether I think you do or don't have DID, it does sound like you may be experiencing some dissociative symptoms. What I know (from my own research, experience, and treatment) is that everyone dissociates to a certain degree...and this is normal. I do not believe they (scientists) have identified any dissociative disorder as genetic, however, it has been shown to develope in some people who have close relatives with a DD. I don't think anyone is really sure if this has to do with genes, culture, or environment, but the study goes on.

I was just diagnosed with DID in February. I have a history of Major Depression and Complex PTSD. I had similar symptoms as you have described throughout my life and over the last 5 months have been under a dispicable amount of stress. In February, when I was researching some info on complex PTSD, I realized that the voices that are normally in my head started giving me info about themselves...it was as if a light bulb went on and everyone just decided to come forward and introduce themselves. It was very confusing.

Now everyone has Ego States...parts of themselves that change a bit...(i.e you behave differently around your parents than you do your friends, you behave differently at work than you would if you were at a party), Ego States are normal for everyone, however, I always felt more broken than people seemed to think I was and I didn't understand why. I knew that this was not a common thing for PTSD, to be having others identify themselves in my head and I was scared. My therapist and I knew that I had a history of dissociation throughout my life and I was aware that I had been dissociating a lot more lately and I started to research DD's.

When I really started reading about DID, I thought I was insane, and that it just couldn't be possible, and I couldn't have that....only really messed up people have that, and I wasn't that messed up!!! ('De Nile is more than just a river in Egypt!!!) But it seemed as much as I read to disprove it, the more I could see myself in DID and vice versa. Now I still have bouts of denial. I have a specific part/alter that is the Comedian of the bunch who doesn't take anything seriously who always tries to convince us/me that we are not DID and tells us the diagnosis is just a bunch of quacky sh**, but I have moved towards acceptance.

Doh!!!

I've typed so much I have already forgotten what your other questions were.......

I really try not to be that into myself, but sometimes I can get carried away...LOL.

I'll sign off for now and re-read your post. If I think of something else that I can share, I will.

Thanks for reading...welcome to the forum...everyone is VERY supportive here!

Hope this helped some.