charting memory pieces (alters, parts, personalities means the same)

As promised here is the charting memory pieces activities by Dr. Tracy Alderman and Karen Marshal from the book Amongst Ourselves published by New Harbinger Publications, Inc in 1998. My thanks goes to both of these women for allowing me to place parts of their book on the websites that I am a member of. I decided to add how my therapist and I did the activities so where you seedotted lines I am switching form the book to me and vice versa.

Activity 4.3: Who's on your committee?

"In this activity, you will explore how each of your alters add something to your life and serves various functions. The first step of this activity is to generate a list of all your alters"
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I am known as amnesiac DID since I hadnt accieved co-consciousness (the ability to remain aware while triggered so that I can be aware of what memory piece is activated) yet.. so in order to do this first step in the book I had to have the help of my therapist and a friend that knew I was DID. The book does not say how to do find out the names of my memory states so my therapist and I contacted many professionals including Dr Alderman. All the information was the same. When seeing new drawings, poetry, items around the house check to see if while in the memory state I signed the name. When with my therapist my therapist could ask me while I was in the memory state what was my name and she would be able to write it down for me. My best freind also knew I have DID and so she was also active on this by finding out what name I was going by when she noticed I was in a memory state.Now back to the book-
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"Once you have their names, spend a few minutes jotting down some of their characteristics-their ages, things they like to do, favorite foods, purposes they serve, and anything else you can think of.
Now, just as if you were forming an organization, see if you can make a flow chart listing everyone and showing how information and decisions are handed down. Who is it that controls most of the decisions or is the president of your committee? Is there a vice president who oversees everyone else? Is there a secretary who takes messages or communicates information to everyone? Is there a manager who looks over most of the alters and has some control over making sure everyone's needs are met?
If you're unable to do this as a chart, see if you can simply explain the functions of your alters. Be sure not to leave anyone out, even if you are net possitive about what they actually do.
Remember that as you identify who is in each role, you have to make sure no one is left out. It is also helpful to have an adult to help keep the little ones safe. You can see who you have inside inside that can help with this role. Sometimes you may have an older one who is in charge and helps to keep you out of trouble. You may have some alters who like to get drunk or take off from everyone they know. Once you know why they are getting into trouble, you may be able to hep them findother ways to handle their problems."
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Again I hadn't achieved co-consciousness when my therapist and I started working in this book so my therapist and friend helped my when in a memory state they would ask me the questions on the chart. Another way I located information on my memory states was writing a note or question and leaving it on the table where I would see it when I am in memory states. so that I could write down the answer.

I highly recommend anyone doing this activity instead of taking one piece of paper use a notebook and loose leaf paper and plastic pages that you would use for making photo albums. The reason is that a typical DID has 10-15 memory pieces at the least and unlimited at most. You may start out with writing one or two down and then run out of room as more memories are accessed. With the notebook I labeld the plastic sheets with a name and put a sample art work that I found with that name on it into the plastic sheet. Between the pastic sheets I placed about 30 pages of loose leaf filler paper. This way I never run out of writing space. When I get to the end I can just add more paper to that section. My past therapist would keep the list and we updated it during therapy when I bring in my drawings and stuff in. That way she could tell when I was in a memory state and who it was and if anyone was pretending to be a different one. My present therapist and I are just starting to get back into my DID work I will most likely be leaving my notebook with her now that I am starting to get back into working on things (my night mare and so on) that will most likely be triggering for me.

Activity 5.1: meeting those in your system is just keeping the chart up to date by adding more information about each one as it becomes available to you and your therapist.