[kittycat97]

I think i have finally discovered the cause of all my disorders...
I have eating, mood, anxiety disorders. Sometimes I find that i become a different person. I have read about alters and i am trying to find more about mine. My angry alter wants to kill everyone. She absolutely hates everyone and the only thing is revenge. I alms have child alters... So do I have DID? I am only 15... Can teenagers be diagnosed with DID or they have to be 18 to be diagnosed like all other personality disorders. If I bring this up with my doctor, will he believe me? My psychologist doesn't really believe me.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by kittycat97

I think i have finally discovered the cause of all my disorders...
I have eating, mood, anxiety disorders. Sometimes I find that i become a different person. I have read about alters and i am trying to find more about mine. My angry alter wants to kill everyone. She absolutely hates everyone and the only thing is revenge. I alms have child alters... So do I have DID? I am only 15... Can teenagers be diagnosed with DID or they have to be 18 to be diagnosed like all other personality disorders. If I bring this up with my doctor, will he believe me? My psychologist doesn't really believe me.

Im sorry kitty, we cant tell you whether you have DID or any other mental or physical health problem...it is you that must tell us if you have it.

for diagnosis of your problems you will need to contact a treatment provider ie a medical doctor, therapist or psychiatrist in your off line location.

what I can tell you is that even normal people have "parts" of their self that resemble having alters. especially so in teens due to puberty and normal growing of their minds.

yes teenagers can be diagnosed with DID ***if**** they fit the diagnostic criteria which can be found here ..

http://www.dsm5.org/proposedrevision...Disorders.aspx

As you can see by the link it takes more than having "alters" to being DID. these alters have to be a special kind, the forgetfulness has to be a special kind and the reason for them cant be because of other problems like drugs, alcohol, epilepsy and other seizure disorders, or any other medical or mental health problem. the things that get a person diagnosed DID are exclusive to DID.

many teens that I know and have worked with who thought they were DID turned out to be things like normal, puberty, growing/maturing/ and other normal identiy problems. so please dont feel bad if what you think is DID turns out to be not DID.

my suggestion is be honest with your doctor and psychologist.. you dont know if you have it so you would like to go through the testing for it.

you will have to go through many tests like blood tests for drugs alcohol and any medical problems that share or cause the same symptoms you are having, there will be lots of brain scans under many different situations,

your psychologist will also need to see you switch into these alters uncontrollably.. that doesnt mean the alters need to do uncontrollable things like lashing out in anger, breaking things, crawling under stuff like you see in movies and books. it means when your psychologist triggers you,you switch into these alters with no help, willingness or trying from you, switching just happens. the good part is since you already have a psychologist if you are DID they already have documentation of times when your "personality" has changed from how you normally are to an alter. your school records will also have documentation to times when the teachers have witnessed your behavior /personality has changed in classes. a teacher notices when a normally quiet person changes to being outspoken, or funny or different.. this is because DID is not one of those disorders that a person suddenly and unexpectedly gets like getting a cold.

if you have it, its been there since before you were 5 yrs old. getting the diagnosis wont change anything that hasnt already been happening. it gives a name to whats been there all along.

[kittycat97]

I thought so too that it started when i was below 5 as that was also the time when all the abuse started.

[kittycat97]

How does DID feels like?

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by kittycat97

How does DID feels like?

if you have it thats how it feels, by that I mean DID affects each person a different way. there is a lot of stuff involved with being DID like..

the persons individual

coping skills
trauma(s) and types of trauma(s)
triggers
mentality
family dynamics
sometimes heredity is a factor for mental illnesses
make up/type of internal system of alters
environmental factors

and so much more.

because of all these individual factors that are part of a person, one person can feel completely normal and fine and another person feel depressed, and other person happy or cheerful or doomed, or any other number of ways a person can feel.

the only factors that are shared by every person that is diagnosed DID is the diagnostic criteria which is in non professional terms..

the person must have at least two or more alters that are a very special kind of alter, (here where I live these kind of alters are called "categorical", the dsm ( http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevision...on.aspx?rid=57 ) calls them "distinct" )

the person with DID must also have a special kind of memory problems that go beyond what is considered normal memory problems.

these alters and the symptoms of having DID can not be because of another mental or physical health problem and can not be th e result of drugs and alcohol.

the new diagnostics are also going to be making the distinction between those who have seizure problems like conversion disorder / epilepsy and other mental and physical problems that may cause the person to appear to have seizures.

they have also added the revision that the DID and DID like symptoms can not be part of cultural and religious practices because its now known that DID is caused by extreme trauma at a very early age and does not conform to just one type of religion or culture.

the persons alters can not be because the person as a child needed an invisible friend or was playing any other fantasy games/play.

the persons symptoms must have affected their life in social/ work and other functioning ways.

[kittycat97]

It seems like I have so many of the symptoms... Should I tell my doctor? I am worried that it will ruin my life but if I really have it, I want to seek treatment soon too.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by kittycat97

It seems like I have so many of the symptoms... Should I tell my doctor? I am worried that it will ruin my life but if I really have it, I want to seek treatment soon too.

I have read your past posts and see that you are a teen ager. if you are in american then that means you will have to talk with your parents and they will decide whether you need treatment for this or not.

I know that doesnt sound fair , you are the one with the problems but here in the United States the laws are that minors can not make decisions about their mental and physical health and can not enter into binding contracts like signing for their own treatment at doctors offices, hospitals, mental health agencies.

I also see that you have been diagnosed with other mental and physical problems/disorders. like depression, autism / aspergers, I also see you have been diagnosed with hypochondritus,

my first thought is if you do have hypochondritus please be very careful with all this research you are doing on all the mental disorders you find here. I know many people with this, that have had major problems and ended up hospitalized in the mental wards because their hypochondritus was activated from doing research on mental and physical disorders. one person I know died because they were making their self research and they misdiagnosed their self as having a mental problem when they had a physical problem that an antibiotic would have taken care of. please please be very careful. talk with your psychiatrist/ therapist /doctors they will tell you what your diagnosis's are and why they have you diagnosed with what they do. please dont keep trying to put yourself in mental disorders just because you see the symptom. most times what people think is a symptom is actually very normal.

as for the other things you have been diagnosed, the symptoms you describe do fit in with depression, hypochondritus, which is what your posts say you are actually being treated for.

[kittycat97]

I am only diagnosed with depression and currently waiting for an autism assessment. Not hypochondraic

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by kittycat97

I am only diagnosed with depression and currently waiting for an autism assessment. Not hypochondraic

this is what you posted on October 26th 2012 which was only 14 days ago. it is where I got you're having hypochodria from...

Originally Posted by kittycat97

I understand how you feel, nobody treats you seriously even though you are an adolescent already... In their eyes you are still considered a child -_-. I told my psychologist the disorders that i may be having but instead of giving me some comfort, he said that i have hypochondraisis (a disorder that you think you have all the illnesses in the world. ) my mum said this too. Hope i come up with enough research about why I think i have them to my doctor so that he can diagnose me properly so that others won't think that i am paranoid or whatsoever.

here where I live and work, NY USA, when a psychologist says you have something that is called making a diagnosis. thats why I thought you were diagnosed with it.

I have to make a correction and say that at age 14 you are allowed to enter into therapy without a parents consent. However that treatment provider can notify your parents up until the age of 18. At least that is how it's like in Pennsylvania.

However I do stress what amandalouise has been saying about hypochondria, I think you need to treat that, before you treat anything else.

funny we never had to have all sorts of medical testing or stuff like that. sometimes it just *is* and just because its like that "where you live and work" does not mean its like that everywhere obviously.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by invisible butterfly

funny we never had to have all sorts of medical testing or stuff like that. sometimes it just *is* and just because its like that "where you live and work" does not mean its like that everywhere obviously.

that is why the moderators and I always include the wording ****here where I live and work, NY USA*** because other countries in the world may have different ways to diagnosed DID than the united states of america's uniform diagnostics and criteria for DID which the American Psychiatric Association has put in place for the United States of America.

the United States of American Diagnostic Criteria for all mental disorders treated in America can be found at

http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx

for countries outside the United States of America you will need to contact your governing body that makes your countries standard or uniform diagnostics for mental disorders in which your country treats.

for those out side the USA, your psychiatrist, therapist or medical doctor can give the the information on how to locate mental disorder diagnostics and procedures for your country /geographic location.

for example

china uses their diagnostic book Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders for diagnosing mental disorders in their country

Germany has their German Health Interview and Examination Survey and its Mental
Health Supplement (GHS-MHS) for diagnosing mental disorder.

every country in this world called earth has their own ways in which diagnose mental disorders and which mental disorders are recognized in their country.

I am only speaking for what the United States of America goes by and the diagnostics for DID here in the United States of America and my own state of New York.

[-jimi-]

A LOT of countries don't have an own manual. Many go by ICD. Also many countries also take the DSM in count when they diagnose, even if they formally diagnose from ICD. That means, they will informally diagnose (outside USA) by DSM-IV, because it is a much easier tool to use, then formally use the ICD codes to put on your chart. How much influence DSM has in a certain country varies, but a lot of doctors world wide have a copy of the DSM in their office (Have a look).