[MissCharlotte]

Is there a difference between a persona and a personality?

Last week T and I were talking. I was trying to explain to him how confused I was about an issue we had and he said that when I regress, my child (8 y o self is almost a different persona. He didn't say personality. So what's the diff?

Well, I did a little research and a persona is like when you act a different way in a different situation...you wouldn't act the same way with your boss as you would with your child because you switch to a different persona. Everyone has multiple personas because society calls for different behaviors in different situations.

I guess to put it more simply: It's not a different you, just a different version of you.

[Kiya]

I would say that personas are what we choose; you have your teacher self, your home self, your public self.... maybe your PC self..... I used to have my home self, school self. church self.... but they were the "different hats" i would wear depending on where I was.
That said, when i switch into a different alter, 8 is 8. there is no me who is 32, there is no adult self present. or when 10 comes in and wants to destroy everything within range or acts on the self, or when 22 comes in and starts drinking because she's an alcoholic.... make any sense?
kiya

[___Shadow___]

Originally Posted by Kiya

I would say that personas are what we choose; you have your teacher self, your home self, your public self.... maybe your PC self..... I used to have my home self, school self. church self.... but they were the "different hats" i would wear depending on where I was.
That said, when i switch into a different alter, 8 is 8. there is no me who is 32, there is no adult self present. or when 10 comes in and wants to destroy everything within range or acts on the self, or when 22 comes in and starts drinking because she's an alcoholic.... make any sense?
kiya

K, ya makes sense BUT if alters are co-conc.. than 8 can be 8 and body self from behind can make sure or help make sure things don't look to weird from the outsider point of veiw, right? cause my system is all about keeping the secret and hidding until a while ago. One alt doesn't hide, says anything and everything if I have no control or co-con but most of the time I hear or at least see and even say inside hey, " not fair, everyone'll know if you do that"....

[Kiya]

Originally Posted by ___Shadow___

K, ya makes sense BUT if alters are co-conc.. than 8 can be 8 and body self from behind can make sure or help make sure things don't look to weird from the outsider point of veiw, right? cause my system is all about keeping the secret and hidding until a while ago. One alt doesn't hide, says anything and everything if I have no control or co-con but most of the time I hear or at least see and even say inside hey, " not fair, everyone'll know if you do that"....

Yep - i just didn't want to confuse the issue =)
I am co-con... most the time. As i learn more, i am finding out that not all alts are. so sometimes it will just be one age alone and sometimes it will be several ages and personalities together all being opinionated on whatever matter is at hand. Sometimes a lil will be forward and i can hear myself waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the back of my head like i am trying to talk to the lil in front from the top of a mountain.

[kim_johnson]

I'd imagine that different people use the terms in different ways. Your therapists choice is probably theoretically motivated. To do with notions of responsibility and the like. Everyone has a degree of fragmentation. Some more than others, to be sure, but everyone has it to a degree. Some choose to focus on the differences. Your therapist is probably trying to focus on how they are continuous with you.

> when i switch into a different alter, 8 is 8. there is no me who is 32, there is no adult self present.

it may well seem that way to you, but the finding is that child alters perform on cognitive tests indistinguishably from how adults perform when they are trying to mimic the cognitive capacities of children rather than performing indistinguishably from children.

that isn't to say that you are pretending to be 8. it is just to say that you aren't in fact 8.

personality... persona... theory laden terms. if you are interested in what your therapist meant i'd ask them.

[MissCharlotte]

I think that it is a bit more than a chosen area of responsibility; ie. teacher me, pc me. I know this because when I regress in therapy (and t referred to this as well) it's as if my child self is very, very different; and I don't do it consciously; the 8-year old part of me maybe cognitively match my adult self but her emotions are a felt sense that the adult me cannot decipher.

[Kiya]

=) Kim, if my "8" were given a cognitive test, she'd either bolt or stare at the person and not do the test (from what I have been told of her actions). =)

Miss- yeah I hear ya.

[kim_johnson]

> if my "8" were given a cognitive test, she'd either bolt or stare at the person and not do the test

exactly

> (from what I have been told of her actions).

yeah. hence my comment about responsibility.

[wanttoheal]

(((((((((((MissCharlotte))))))))))) Good to see you. I think it's a great idea to ask your T the difference. I think it would be a very interesting conversation and I'd be curious to see what he says too.

[kim_johnson]

they changed the name from 'multiple personality disorder' to 'dissociative identity disorder' because they thought the former suggested that there were distinct persons rather than suggesting that there is one and only one person that is fragmented to a greater or lesser extent. hence talk of 'identities' or ''fragments' or 'personas' instead of talk of 'persons' or 'people' or 'individuals' or 'souls'. some theorists have a grand theory where they cut things up a bit finer... but that is probably the general idea.

[wanttoheal]

Sometimes I wish I knew more intellectually about this. I only know what goes on for me as I describe to T and she informs. T did say that about MPD and DID. She said it's one person, one brain, which makes sense to me.

T here says that everyone has facets of themselves and depending on many factors, such as trauma, the way the brain handles life situations, etc, depends on how much of a barrier is between each one. While some people know what goes on for them during the day, some people rarely know what goes on during the day due to those barriers.

Regardless as to the name or what goes on for each of us, I'm so glad we can get help for this. My goal is to get to where I know what I did during the whole day (or at least a good portion of it). The good news for people with dissociative disorders is that it is one of the most "curable" disorders.

We learned to cope by escaping because life was just too much. We can learn new coping mechanisms to manage our days and that can really help lower the dissociation. While I still cannot claim my entire day, I do know that I have come a long way from where I started and for that I'm thankful. Sometimes it feels more painful to be present (which is why I guess I still dissociate so much), but as I get stronger, I am able to handle it better.

It has been so helpful to me to be able to come here and see that I am not alone in what goes on for me. Such good validation here at PC. I'm thankful for you all.

[MissCharlotte]

((wantto))

Thanks for your thoughtful response. I haven't got to this discussion with T yet because he was away and then he came back yesterday and I dissociated in session.

[tangiblepleasure]

I have a question if anyone can help. I am confused. I have a friend, her therapist says she has a persona as opposed to a dual or multiple personality. I have spoken with both (my friend and her alter/persona) and it seems to me, the alter is a separate personality. Yet, I am told there is a difference. And the alter is merely a persona and not another personality. And therefore does not have DID/MPD. Can anyone help clarify this for me please?

[cryingoutloud1]

The term persona is usually how we show ourselves to the world . So if you are behaving like your 8 then your persona is 8. if yu are behaving like an adult your persona is an adult . Persona and personality is every different. as well as the term alters in psychotherapy. You may want to be aware of what your thearpist believes and thinks about your psychiatric disorder/illness. she may see it as a persona not an actual alter.