[Silversand]

One reason we don't write a lot in forums like these is because we feel we don't fit in. T says we are DID but sometimes reading in forums like these is triggering because we read we are supposed to be a certain way and we arn't that way - so it's more like the childhood trauma - we aren't what we're supposed to be, there is something wrong with us, etc. T says every system is different; there are similarities but there are also differences and we shouldn't compare the way we operate to how other systems operate. We don't have to fit a cookie cutter mold to be DID.
But sometimes it seems like 'DID' is a religion, or people try to make it one. You have to be this way or else. Although the criteria for being dx'd has changed a few times and may be changing again...so who knows.

T says our system was designed the way it needed to be for us to survive. There was no handbook that told us how....

He also said it wouldn't matter if we were DDNOS or DID - treatment is the same.
Just wondering what others thoughts are.

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

I understand where you are coming from and im sorry you are feeling this way. Please trust in your t, he sounds pretty knowledgable. Our systems all work to what we needed at the time. I often want to avoid posting in here as well because i dont feel my DID doesnt match the rest. But despite my many many attempts at denial, its who i am and i dont really have any other place to turn with my questions other than t.

My system masters secrecy. Even from myself. But we needed that when growing up, without one person to trust. But on here many parts are open, posting constantly, constantly oppening up and communicating. Ive been diagnosed 10 years, became DID 19 years ago and have not come close and never may to what the others on this site have. But we were given what we needed. I needed a highly guarded system to keep the secrets and not let on to anyone, but by accident, and others have an open system where they seem to come and go as they please.

While we dont all share the same experiences or symptoms, we do share one thing, that we have a system solely created within our minds to keep us safe. You are welcome here no matter what DD dx you have, and even if it doesnt match word for word with others systems.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Silversand

One reason we don't write a lot in forums like these is because we feel we don't fit in. T says we are DID but sometimes reading in forums like these is triggering because we read we are supposed to be a certain way and we arn't that way - so it's more like the childhood trauma - we aren't what we're supposed to be, there is something wrong with us, etc. T says every system is different; there are similarities but there are also differences and we shouldn't compare the way we operate to how other systems operate. We don't have to fit a cookie cutter mold to be DID.
But sometimes it seems like 'DID' is a religion, or people try to make it one. You have to be this way or else. Although the criteria for being dx'd has changed a few times and may be changing again...so who knows.

T says our system was designed the way it needed to be for us to survive. There was no handbook that told us how....

He also said it wouldn't matter if we were DDNOS or DID - treatment is the same.
Just wondering what others thoughts are.

sounds like your treatment provider is doing whats best for you. my treatment providers say the same thing as does the mental health community here where I live and work... there is definitive diagnostic criteria that every person (in the USA, other locations, countries may go according to other standards) must meet to receive the the diagnosis label "DID". these diagnostic criteria for mental disorders are like how a medical doctor diagnosis medical problems example theres one set of symptoms/problems/issues that say you have a cold and a complete other set of symptoms/problems/issues that say you have a broken bone. Here in the USA the American Psychiatric Association puts together a book called the DSM, which tells all the mental disorders and what the diagnostic criteria for each of those mental disorders are.

but theres more to being DID then just whats in the DSM, every ones internal system of alters is set up in a way that allows the host/core to survive. just like two people can have a broken leg, how that leg is broken, where on the leg the break is and how it affects (stress, pain, emotions....) each of those two people's experience with having a broken leg is going to be different.

we have many different people here that have been diagnose/ havent been diagnosed with DID and each of us are different in our own ways, some of those ways are things like how our internal systems are comprised example some have alters that are human, some have alters that take on the characteristics of animals, ghosts, book, movie characters.... some have happy alters, some have sad alters, some have violent alters, some have protector alters, some alters are introjects, some are fragments, some are.... well you get the picture..

everyone is different even though they met the same diagnostic criteria, its ok to be different here.

[Silversand]

TY for the responses.
Silvergirl

[designer]

Hey hang in there - non of us are alike but all of us can relate to the confusion of being DID - this forum is cool - we are not here to be a judge of anybody or to compare - no body is better than someone else - all egual - all the same - not in what we went thru but the same with struggling to overcome DID -
I have heard that alot too - we have these personalities because it saved us and kept us from going insane from things we went thru - they do help us - u are special and yes ur system is unique - there is NOBODY in the world quite like u - just be yourself - nothing more and nothing less