For me, it's when someone looks at me and says something. Wonderland here I come. I never knew that there was a real word for it. I always called it "phasing out".

In the old days I'd be dazed and confused, today though, I'll switch on a dime and go bananas, and catch up later.

Oooops.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by AlwaysChanging2

For me, it's when someone looks at me and says something. Wonderland here I come. I never knew that there was a real word for it. I always called it "phasing out".

In the old days I'd be dazed and confused, today though, I'll switch on a dime and go bananas, and catch up later.

Oooops.

what triggers my dissociation... before I was integrated I had many triggers. you see each of my alters had their own way of being, their own jobs, purpose reasons for being. that meant everything that they were, held, felt, did was what triggered me...

example rainy was my alter for sadness, crying, so any time i had sadness in my life felt sad, felt like crying, those things triggered my dissociating (feeling numb spaced out, switching into rainy)

Another example...Thelma was my sexualized alter...anything to do with intimacy would trigger me into dissociating (feeling numb spaced out , disconnected, switching into thelma)

Another example...Red was my anger filled alter.. anytime I felt angry or a situation was anger charged I would feel numb, spaced out, disconnected and switch into my angry alter red.

now that I am integrated everything that was my alters is now me. that means that everything that triggered me into dissociating before my alters were integrated still has the potential to cause me to dissociate now, though not to the extreme of alters since we are all one and the same now. but with what I have learned about grounding, breathing and other coping tools I can recognize and reground when something triggers me\my dissociative symptoms.

[finding_my_way]

stress is the number one thing for me. but also, even just feeling anxious or panicky can cause me to dissociate. it's annoying because something as simple as feeling too warm can cause it too.

other things is when a person tries to be authoritative and/or dictate what i should or should not say or do or when i try to be assertive and stand up for myself and someone basically shoots me down or raises their voice at me or shows any kind of anger or aggression.

those are my main triggers for dissociating.

and when i am stressed, it can happen easier and sometimes with no trigger.

Triggers vary. Different triggers bring out different alters. From what I know:

- Megan will front when I have work or chores piling up to the point where I'm not sure where to begin. The stress attached to that brings her out. I lose a lot of time with her, and remember almost nothing. When I come to, everything's done. It makes the time loss worth it.

- Shara comes through when i've been triggered when a memory of our abuse pops into my head, or if I hear a child scream, or any outside trigger that reminds me of that time. Or if my mother or anyone shouts at me.

-Layla is our sexualized alter, and fronts when there's a sex scene on tv or anything to do with intimacy.

-jillian is our angry one, and usually fronts with a wrath when she hears of something she dislikes on the news- especially if it's abuse related. It doesn't matter if it's a person that's been hurt, or an animal.

-Allison, our little fronts when there's cartoons, or when she wants to play with the dog, or I feel too safe around an adult.

-Isabelle. She's there for us when Shara's temper had messed things up. Isabelle steps in to negotiate or calm the situation.

- Brian. When there's heavy lifting involved. That's what Isabelle tells me.

Wow y'all, thats a little more elaborate then I expected, thank you!

May I try some elaboration too? I'm just going to leave everyone's names off to keep it brief. I don't dissociate much now a days (dazed and confused) but switching is often and seamless.

A thought causes a switch, when the thought is in some other's voice or it's their specialty/job to think so. On the same token, when a technical question has been asked about a job, then the other whose job it is that needs to respond will present. This has lead to being told "you're faking, you just fell out of character!"- like I want to live an entire life faking.

Different types of alters for different types of people is the only way we can publicly function in society....forget public speaking, we don't have one for that because it's so against our nature.

Of course we switch for jobs. Mental, physical, and emotional jobs- like work, cooking, driving, parenting, relaxing, shopping, public relations, selling, business, sex, friends, enemies, feelings, love, hate, playing, empathy, designing, to name a few.

As said way above, it's people that triggers us the most.