[d1440]

i mimic people when im around someone else... most prominently their talking. ill speak with the same inflection of voice/cadence, repeat phrases they say. if they say 'heyyy' or 'whats up' with a certain twist i might pick it up. i am very good almost like a vocal chamellionaire. maybe not a good one. aside from not being in reality enough to have my own speech personality, i do it out of admiration. i have no idea im doing this til we kind of end up making similar noises at the same time. i feel embarrassed . but its nothing new to worry about

im 23 and im just now identifying DID. i have a lot ... a lot of anger towards a parent . its extremely comforting to find out that when my consciousness is outside of my body, other people might be having the same experience. i wanted to spend my first post quoting posts from some of you guys, then i wanted to list all my symptoms and just talk about my self. its so, so relieving to finally understand myself. i have been through so much because of it . i did not want to get serious my first post. i have an appointment early september for the first time ever i will know the cause of distress, not anxiety, depression, adhd... anyway i am trying not to delete or erase any of my notes for my own understanding so this 2nd paragraph ramble stays

thinking of you when you dissociate hope you do the same

[bluekoi]

d1440, You must be excited/nervous about your FIRST appointment in September! Welcome to PC!

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by d1440

i mimic people when im around someone else... most prominently their talking. ill speak with the same inflection of voice/cadence, repeat phrases they say. if they say 'heyyy' or 'whats up' with a certain twist i might pick it up. i am very good almost like a vocal chamellionaire. maybe not a good one. aside from not being in reality enough to have my own speech personality, i do it out of admiration. i have no idea im doing this til we kind of end up making similar noises at the same time. i feel embarrassed . but its nothing new to worry about

im 23 and im just now identifying DID. i have a lot ... a lot of anger towards a parent . its extremely comforting to find out that when my consciousness is outside of my body, other people might be having the same experience. i wanted to spend my first post quoting posts from some of you guys, then i wanted to list all my symptoms and just talk about my self. its so, so relieving to finally understand myself. i have been through so much because of it . i did not want to get serious my first post. i have an appointment early september for the first time ever i will know the cause of distress, not anxiety, depression, adhd... anyway i am trying not to delete or erase any of my notes for my own understanding so this 2nd paragraph ramble stays

thinking of you when you dissociate hope you do the same

Im sorry, Im not sure I understand your post.....

you start out by saying you like to mimic others. here in NY (the one in the USA) mimic means you like to copy people. then you say you identify with DID. does that mean you are trying to copy DID people mimic having the disorder? you want to copy our posts then mimicing our posts tell us you have those same symptoms? am I reading this right?

If Im reading you correctly I think you need to know something.. when you go for youe appointment in september that treatment provider will be able to tell whether you are mimicing someone with DID or you really have it.

there is more involved with being DID then what you can read and copy from a forum board like here.

for example you may read on here that someone hears voices but did you know that DID is not the only mental disorder where people hear voices. you tell your treatment provider you hear voices and they will want more details about your voices.

you may read on here that someone loses time but did you know that DID is not the only mental disorder where people lose track of time. losing time can be any number of mental physical and even normal.

you may read on here that someone switches into alternate personalities but DID is not the only mental disorder where a person seems to have alters that they switch into.

there is more to being DID then what you can read on a forum and mimic. you may be able to mimic it on the surface but in order to be DID here in America you need to meet a special set of diagnostic criteria,...

my suggestion is dont worry about trying to mimic mental disorders instead work with your treatment providers on why you have a need to mimic others problems.

[d1440]

Originally Posted by amandalouise

Im sorry, Im not sure I understand your post.....

you start out by saying you like to mimic others. here in NY (the one in the USA) mimic means you like to copy people. then you say you identify with DID. does that mean you are trying to copy DID people mimic having the disorder? you want to copy our posts then mimicing our posts tell us you have those same symptoms? am I reading this right?

If Im reading you correctly I think you need to know something.. when you go for youe appointment in september that treatment provider will be able to tell whether you are mimicing someone with DID or you really have it.

there is more involved with being DID then what you can read and copy from a forum board like here.

for example you may read on here that someone hears voices but did you know that DID is not the only mental disorder where people hear voices. you tell your treatment provider you hear voices and they will want more details about your voices.

you may read on here that someone loses time but did you know that DID is not the only mental disorder where people lose track of time. losing time can be any number of mental physical and even normal.

you may read on here that someone switches into alternate personalities but DID is not the only mental disorder where a person seems to have alters that they switch into.

there is more to being DID then what you can read on a forum and mimic. you may be able to mimic it on the surface but in order to be DID here in America you need to meet a special set of diagnostic criteria,...

my suggestion is dont worry about trying to mimic mental disorders instead work with your treatment providers on why you have a need to mimic others problems.

hi, no you mistunderstood - i mimic peoples mannerisms because i dont really have my own 'personality' being really disconnected almsot dont know how to act. was wondering if anyone else noticed this about themself besides me.

hey i came here hoping not to have people that do this but please dont turn this into a discussion of whether its DID. its aggravating coming to a place to open up or for help and have someone say 'no i know you better than you know yourself'.

sorry if my post is not clear i am halfway 'dissociate identity disorder sourcebook' dont yet know all the terms but its been great helping understanding so much. i feel like my consciousness is oblivious to what happens when i disconnect and this book helps explain whats happening that i dont realize.

[Claritytoo]

Originally Posted by d1440

i mimic people when im around someone else... most prominently their talking. ill speak with the same inflection of voice/cadence, repeat phrases they say. if they say 'heyyy' or 'whats up' with a certain twist i might pick it up. i am very good almost like a vocal chamellionaire. maybe not a good one. aside from not being in reality enough to have my own speech personality, i do it out of admiration. i have no idea im doing this til we kind of end up making similar noises at the same time. i feel embarrassed . but its nothing new to worry about

im 23 and im just now identifying DID. i have a lot ... a lot of anger towards a parent . its extremely comforting to find out that when my consciousness is outside of my body, other people might be having the same experience. i wanted to spend my first post quoting posts from some of you guys, then i wanted to list all my symptoms and just talk about my self. its so, so relieving to finally understand myself. i have been through so much because of it . i did not want to get serious my first post. i have an appointment early september for the first time ever i will know the cause of distress, not anxiety, depression, adhd... anyway i am trying not to delete or erase any of my notes for my own understanding so this 2nd paragraph ramble stays

thinking of you when you dissociate hope you do the same

I know what you are saying. I realized years ago that I have a tendency to take on the mannerisms and the rhythm of the person I am talking to. It is not out of respect or a desire to be like them. It has to do with what I hear when I talk with them. It is difficult to explain. It's like I am speaking their language if you know what I mean. Any way welcome.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by d1440

hi, no you mistunderstood - i mimic peoples mannerisms because i dont really have my own 'personality' being really disconnected almsot dont know how to act. was wondering if anyone else noticed this about themself besides me.

hey i came here hoping not to have people that do this but please dont turn this into a discussion of whether its DID. its aggravating coming to a place to open up or for help and have someone say 'no i know you better than you know yourself'.

sorry if my post is not clear i am halfway 'dissociate identity disorder sourcebook' dont yet know all the terms but its been great helping understanding so much. i feel like my consciousness is oblivious to what happens when i disconnect and this book helps explain whats happening that i dont realize.

Ah Thanks for clarifying.

I see what you meant. people from all walks of life mental disordered or not sometimes do copy each other because they dont know how to act, be in some situations. Around here where I live we see alot of it in teenagers swearing just because their friends are, drinking just to be or appear to be /do the same things their friends do because they dont know whether they should or shouldnt say something, act a certain way... I could go on with all the different ways people here in NY copy each other just because they dont know how to be or what to say in some situations.

here we call it role playing, in any situation people take on a role or adjust their behavior/personality according to who they are around, what hte situation calls for. example today my children and I went to birthday party for one of their friends. I acted, said and did what a person would normally do with children under the age of 5....smile, say wow great job (a lot)and can I help you with that? but in the kitchen some of us would take time out form the chaos of children to talk and be with the adults. I would immediately have to adjust my words, behavior, ...to that of an adult conversing with other adults. there was a time when I was unable to take on these different roles from adulthood vs child. I would look around the room and see what everyone else was doing, saying , smiling...what have you and do the same things they were doing... During therapy I learned about something called lack of affect. thats the inability to show appropriate emotions. my therapist and I worked together on learning how to identify my emotions and how to express them. through this I no longer had to watch and copy others for fear of saying, doing being the wrong way.

its not that we are saying its not DID. you see this website has a rule that we can not tell someone their problems is a mental disorder nor tell them it isnt that mental disorder. what is allowed here is to give information just like if you googled your symptoms and google gives you more than one mental disorder for that symptom. we cant narrow it down for you saying you have this or no you dont have this.

Another thing we do here is show each other we have read their posts. theres a couple ways this happens. on the page where it lists each thread that has been possted you will see a column of numbers. one is how many replies that thread has inside it, and the other is how many people have read your post. Another way we show each other that we are reading the posts is by giving each other hugs (if comfortable with that) and thanks.

we also tell each other whether we have the same problems, what our own treatment providers called that in...ourselves....and we can ask each other questions to get a better picture of what the person is posting about, what helps that person and we can make suggestions for things to try.

but ultimately its up to ....you and your treatment providers.... to say whether you have the mental disorder and whether you can or should try something that is suggested.

I know DID is real because I used to have it. my alters have since been integrated.

the book dissociative Identity Disorder Sourcebook is published in 2001, what that means is its now 13 years old and a large amount of the information in that book is now outdated, Not saying it cant help because I know a few that still find bits and pieces in it that is helpful, just saying what you are reading is way outdated. you may want to ask your treatment provider for a more up to date book that can give you a better understanding of DID and whats going on with in you based on todays standards that are not over a decade old. kind of like when the book sybil was written it was taken as this is what DID is and how it is for everyone, now that book is considered to be not the thing to go by for DID because the info in it is outdated and new information has come to light about that book and more research/study/documentation has been done on DID. what was DID 5 -10 years ago is vastly different now. my point is its ok to read these books just be careful of trying to match whats in the books to whats going on with you because most likely what you find in books that old wont be whats going on in you as in how the mental disorder may be showing itself in you. there are more recent, more informative stuff out there that your treatment provider can supply you with.

[possum220]

Good luck on reading the DID source book. I find those books very triggering.

Thank you for this thread. I was not aware that mimicking can be a sign of DID. I was struggling with my speech the other week and a friend (who also has DID) started to copy me. I got angry on the inside. Least now I know now it can be part of the parts.

Actually I got stuck in accents of other countries and found myself unable to stop. Other people found it funny. I was embarrassed.

I hope things go well with the new therapist and that you can feel a connection on some level with them.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by possum220

Good luck on reading the DID source book. I find those books very triggering.

Thank you for this thread. I was not aware that mimicking can be a sign of DID. I was struggling with my speech the other week and a friend (who also has DID) started to copy me. I got angry on the inside. Least now I know now it can be part of the parts.

Actually I got stuck in accents of other countries and found myself unable to stop. Other people found it funny. I was embarrassed.

I hope things go well with the new therapist and that you can feel a connection on some level with them.

here in american mimicking others is not a sign of DID. its actually a therapy technique, and a completely normal thing as humans we do. example children mimic their parents, teachers and peers as a way to learn. Even normal people can think of many times when they have copied their parents, teachers and their friends for all kinds of reasons...even therapists are not immune to doing role playing/mimicking type therapy approaches. one of the most common forms of mimicking is children bullying each other with the "copy game" where one person will say something and another will copy that....

one person...I like turnips the other person I like turnips, the first person stop that second person stop that... it goes on

Mimicking others can also be some peoples normal way of shaming bad behavior, or just fitting in with their peers...

there is a mental disorder where mimicking is part of the disorder....Autistic people will sometimes copy what they see and hear others doing an example of this is called echolalia where they copy other peoples words tones and vocal/facial expressions.

but DID no its not part of the disorder here in America. though if I remember right there is something about it in the book DID sourcebook that like many concepts/definitions/ how DID is, is no longer holds true. kind of like the term polyfragmented is no longer used here in NY because it was a term saying it was another form of DID. unfortunatley with the new DSM standards that religious/cult activitiy as the reason for the symptoms have to now be ruled out that term no longer holds true...

like I said theres a lot of information in that book that is no longer accurate/true for the standards of today where mental disorders are concerned. it was the in thing back a decade ago but now we know more about DID. I would not be surprised if this book someday goes to the pile of books with the likes of sybil ...a good read but not true for the times we live in based on more recent research, information .

[possum220]

Thanks for helping me out with that amandalouise.

[d1440]

Well I got really aggrevated trying to word my thoughts the other day I am going to maybe just lurk the forums until I have a better understanding from therapy sessions and better vocabulary after reading the book.

It's extremely aggrevating knowing you have dissociated your whole life and have such a poor ability to word your experiences that you cant fit your way in to some help. i know i have dissociation. everything else i say is just an attempt to "capture" and write down subconsious processes that plague me my whole life so I can relate them to people . the purpose of the thread was just to see if anyone can relate. this was the first time that kind of worked and its just a golden moment when that happens . thank you possum! thank you clarity.

i was hoping people wouldnt challange my understanding of if its really dissociation so much and let me express myself and if somebody still wants to challange whether its DID then over time my posts will paint a picture, if the picture then looks nothing like DID, then they can have their 'ha i told you' moment. then at least i'll have a rough picture of myself through some of my internal experience posts at that point*. but this is just too much resistance right off the bat i cant go up against. i dont share my internal experiences anywhere else to bounce them off another person, ever, i was hoping to do that here a little. i started writing down stuff but i feel thats different.

Im sorry to be so fragile! it's a mess above the shoulders but maybe this isnt the right outlet for it yet . *i hope the asterisk part makes sense that's all i want to get out of this .

[Notoriousglo]

This is an accepting community. Say whatever you need to. I hope you find your way.

[possum220]

d1440

I lurk around PC on lots of days. Being so fragile means its hard to come out and share things. You are not being judged. People are just sharing what they have experienced. Some times I find I learn things here. There are so many things for all of us to learn.

Feel free to lurk or share. We do care. Hugs if you want/need them.

[1mmy]

amusingly for my friends and family my other self mimics me........ shes pretty good too! its been a useful strategy from time to time......oops quick hide the grownups are coming....she does unfortunately have some compulsion control issues so someone with a stutter...its a biiiigggg effort to not copy it... some of us are an orchestra inside some just a single penny whistle...sometimes it can take time to put together complex things and get some harmony... just be gentle with yourself x

[Joeygn72]

How are you identifying DID without even so much as an initial consultation? Be careful NOT to self diagnose. DID is tricky because the symptoms can often look like other disorders.

Don't give yourself something you don't have...