Dissociation and having alters brings about a fair share of difficulty, and inconvenience. There's the memory gaps, lack of sound sleep, that zoned out feeling, eating foods that upset the host... I could go on, and on.

However, having alters does bring with it its fair share of gifts, too.

The one thing I love about being a multiple is that it allows us to tap into different talents- even if it's just for short periods of time. We can confidently speak publicly, because we have someone to help with that. We can try writing stories, because we have a wordy alter. We can cook well, and bake well, because we have a home-maker alter that can. It opens up our world to new things- things that I would never have considered without my alters.

This thread is dedicated to all the positive things that DID has brought us. I'm not sure if this thread already exists. If it does, forgive the redundancy.

Go ahead and list all the good things DID has brought you.

[flockpride]

[QUOTE=Yezeena88;4596409]Dissociation and having alters brings about a fair share of difficulty, and inconvenience. There's the memory gaps, lack of sound sleep, that zoned out feeling, eating foods that upset the host... I could go on, and on."

WOW. Nailed it. How do we even describe that to other folks?

"The one thing I love about being a multiple is that it allows us to tap into different talents- even if it's just for short periods of time. We can confidently speak publicly, because we have someone to help with that. We can try writing stories, because we have a wordy alter. We can cook well, and bake well, because we have a home-maker alter that can. It opens up our world to new things- things that I would never have considered without my alters."

Also nailed it. Except, I/we cannot switch at will. Most of the time, the skill(s) do needed present and we are thought to be intelligent, multitalented, etc. And we are.

Great thread.

Ten Benefits of Being Multiple | Discussing Dissociation
I like this article.

[finding_my_way]

my experience hasn't been that good...well, i don't have any that take over when needed. it's always just random (but not full taking over for me either).

it is exhausting because i wish that one would take over at certain tops so more could be done. instead, i still am not able to go out in the world and have a career or face people in a lot of cases which causes a lot of anger towards myself/situation, etc. i wish mine worked different.

I'm sorry, the only really good part of all this is "I" survived. Truth be known, I'd rather be dead then having to be how it is today. It's not fair, but if someone had to endure what I did, life picked me. C'est la vie. Take another step.

[Gr3tta]

Whenever i feel overwhelmed, i trust there is some part of me that can handle it.

[Georgia Bridge]

Possible trigger:

It seems to me that there are also benefits that are unique to each individual who has MPD. Each of us has been hurt in different ways by perpetrators who also are unique: different political and religious beliefs, different lifestyles, different affiliations, different MO's... perpetrators committing child abuse in large groups supported and protected by criminal organizations, perpetrators committing these crimes in smaller numbers, etc. The fact that each of our experiences of our abuse vary greatly from each others' results in different skills, i.e. benefits.

[Ocean5]

When in life/death situations with no control (been in a few from near plane crash to major earthquake.) Everyone else is freaking out, screaming --- yet I am calm. Not even stressed at all. (weird I know...)

[Shaly78]

The good part is that without it possibly my younger parts whoever was first might have died, been insane really young, and been severely hurt medically. Despite this being a very serious mental illness we still have great gifts and can be all those things that our parts allow us to be. Today, though my life is a lot different but a good thing is I can use it with my children and kind of be a teacher with helping them understand material from school that they might not understand.

[Georgia Bridge]

Originally Posted by Starry_Night

Ten Benefits of Being Multiple | Discussing Dissociation
I like this article.

Thank You, Starry Night, for providing the link to this article... it is quite helpful.

[peaches100]

I avoided this thread for awhile because I don't think of having dissociation being a good thing. However, after giving thought to it, I agree that under certain circumstances, being able to exercise the strength that one part of us has while others stay hidden can be a good temporary way to handle potentially scary or threatening situations. When I am suffering a great deal emotionally, eventually a part of me steps in that is numb and makes the pain go away. Also, while I tend to be a worry wart in general, when an actual emergency happens, that same part of me takes over and can be incredibly calm. I also have adaptive parts that help me interact with others in a professional or chatty way, as the need arises, and unless I get triggered, I am able to hide the alters that would indicate that I have a dissociative problem.

The only "good thing" is that we have a wide variety of well developed talents.