DID?

Hi,

I've never been officially diagnosed with DID and actually, I learned about DID mostly through my Psychology classes and through online support groups. I have several people who have told me I have alters. I used to see things and hear things in my head. I used to have conversations with the voices/thoughts I heard. I denied all of it about 8 years ago after being told I was lying about it. The voices faded and I hardly hear anything from them anymore. Sometimes I feel like I have a child standing behind me (best way for me to describe it). Sometimes, I will find stuffed animals or blankets pulled down from their places and I don't remember doing it. My T hasn't said anything yet and I didn't tell her that I hear things sometimes but next week we will start processing the bad memories, most of which are missing huge chunks.

Does this sound like DID to you? I'm not sure I want to tell my T, I think k I'm just going to let it play out. If they're there, they will eventually come out, right? Then T will know.

Celtic

does this sound like DID ....well to me it sounds like lots of things.....the things you posted can be...

normal for some people
any number of medical problems for some people
any number of mental disorders/problems for some people

line in the sand we cant tell you whether this is DID or not..we dont make diagnosis of each others problems/symptoms/posts...

what I can tell you is this is what America goes by in diagnosis what is DID...
http://forums.psychcentral.com/disso...s-dsm-5-a.html

as you can see there is more involved with having DID then just hearing voices and conversing with those voices, in fact the voices are not a .......diagnostic criteria...... this is because hearing voices is a symptom of many different normal, medical and mental health things

example for someone stressed out or someone who didnt get enough sleep can hear voices and talk to voices in their heads, feeling like a child is standing behind them and the other stuff you posted and its not called DID it would be called sleep deprivation or stress induced hallucinations and stress induced delusions....

the only way to know whether you have DID or not is by contacting your treatment providers, they can administer physical and mental testing procedures that can tell you whether this is normal for you, or a medical problem for you or any number of mental disorders that also have the symptom of hearing voices/talking to voices.

my suggestion if this continues to bother you contact your treatment providers they can help you figure out what is going on with in you.

Thanks. I know there is a lot more to it. My biggest concern is the fact that I have been told by several people past and present that I said my name was something else or that I "wasn't myself" (which that could be just having an off day). I knew three people from an old online support group who were diagnosed with DID and they kept claiming I had alters, but you know you can't trust everyone and they aren't professionals, so I was just curious if people here thought it sounded like a possibility. I haven't mentioned it to my current T. I did fail to mention that I have been diagnosed with a dissociative disorder 7 years ago, but they wanted to do more tests at the time and I moved out of that state before the tests were done. I guess I'll just go with the flow and see what happens. Let my current T figure out what she wants to do. Thanks!

Hmm .... I'll clarify that I'm not saying people here are professionals, I know there are a few but most are not. I'm just saying I was looking for opinions.

I would tell your T about all the symptoms. Write them down if you need to. That way you can't sabotage yourself. If you just wait to see what they figure out, you could be in therapy for a longer time. Always talk about what bugs you most, don't waste time. It's a long process. Good Luck.

Sounds familiar to me! Trusting a therapist or rather finding one you can trust in very important - it took a lot of searching before finding someone we were reasonably happy about, and then, not all! Its tricky, as trust is rarely seen as a survival tool by people with DID and that is putting it mildly.

I'm still learning to trust this T as she is still new to me, but I do trust her enough that I have told her things I've never told anyone else before. I'm just not ready, or maybe I'm just too scared, to bring this up to her now. I will think about it. Thanks.

Celtic

I didn't like the outcome of the conversation I had with my T regarding voices. Now, I think I'm just going to continue to do what I've always done which is just live with it. If it is DID then an alter has to come out at some point in therapy, right? I guess we will just deal with it if/when that happens.

Celtic

artyaspie,

You said in response to celtic.starlite:

I don't know if it is proper etiquette to jump in to a thread like this but I had to ask:

What do you mean my "trust is rarely seen as a survival tool by people with DID?" Off all the issues I deal with in therapy, trust is hands down the most difficult. In light of my recent DID diagnosis I am looking for answers, so any insight you feel comfortable sharing with me would be appreciated.