regression vs. DID question

Ok, I have a question I have been holding for a while because I don't want it out there,,, but I am going to cancel my account tonight so I want to see if anyone can help before I do it.

I have been diagnosed with ptsd, but do disassociate in relation to stressful situations making the world seem to go away into a fog... I am SOOOO uncertain about other things regarding whether I have multiples or just ‘regress’ a lot. I can’t find much about regression, but I spontaneously feel like a very young child (sometimes just during my extreme fear moments, sometimes when I have a slight hurt either physical or emotional, and sometimes for no reason I can find). When I say I feel young, sometimes it is so extreme I use pillows to feel like I am in a crib to feel better. I also notice what some mention about feeling this childlike ‘thing’ inside even when I don’t actually have that young regressed feeling. I can’t say I feel like I have multiple people inside me though. I do feel like I ‘talk to myself’ but who doesnt. I do yell at that whiney kid in there though and tell it to snap out of it. . I don’t know what is normal for people, what might be regression moments, or how to tell if this is did (mpd) and I am just realizing it.

Any insight would be sooo helpful because it is so unclear to me right now

I'm sorry, I think that this would be something that you would have to talk to a therapist about. The only reference to regression that I can remember is "age regression" which is a process done through the use of hypnosis to take a subject back to a younger age.

There are plenty of multiples out there that don't realize that they are multiples. I was convinced that all the voices were just part of my systematic thinking process. We made a great thinker, but did a lousy job being a "normal" person.

But if I had to guess....couldn't dissociating from a trauma incident take one back to a time when one felt safe- like going back to baby times, secure in one's own crib under the protective watch of loving parents without a care in the world? Is this an alter?...I don't know. I'm thinking that normal people do this, but then again, like I know what a normal person feels like.

I do have littles, others that are babies up to tweens and teens that don't age that can present, but normally don't unless coaxed.

I wish I could help, but just can offer some possibilities or muddy things up even worse. Good luck!

Thanks AlwaysChanging...

I know, it is as clear a mud... LOL... I did mention the child feeling to my t yesterday. He mentioned the 'getting back to safety' also. I didn't push many of the details on him like how I even talk to myself like a toddler at those times. I will give him more details, I just don't want it to look like I am TRYING to create something that isn't there but don't want to blow it off to nothing either.

That's kinda why I was hoping someone here would be able to relate and I might get some insight.

Appreciate your feedback

Dissociation is a continuum. And within DID there is a continuum as well. I'm closer to what you describe, sort of co-conciosness, where I feel like I'm looking into the world through the filter of someone else's emotions and thoughts.
Tonight I had a few moments where there were all sorts of thoughts going around my head and none of them felt like my voice. I was lost in my own body.

So just because you don't have the same experience as you often see described as multiple, doesn't mean you aren't. Doesn't mean you are either.

Thanks mellybelly.

Sure would be nice if this stuff would present like physical ailments.... oh, you have fever, congestion, body aches, sore throat.... lets do a test for the flu.... yep, there's the answer and heres the solution... LOL

Thanks for the insigh

Oh yes, so many times I've thought that. Mental illness is difficult on so many levels. And dissociation, while being fairly prevalent, is one of the lesser discussed mental ilnesses. Depression, anxiety, ADHD, even bipolar and schizophrenia people have basic knowledge of. When you say "i have dissociation" people ask you to explain or get uncomfortable and their eyes glaze over.

I see that the starter of this thread has deleted their account but for information of those that may be seeking this...

the difference between regression and DID is that regression does not have alternate personalities taking control.

anyone mental disordered or not can regress (feel like a child, talk like a child, have emotional reactions like they did in childhood.)

here in my own location another term for regression is the child with in therapy approach. a common example my ow treatment providers use is think about a time in your life when you felt as happy as you did when you were celebrating a favorite holiday as a child, now take that moment and think about your present life and you will be able to find where in your present life you have felt the same thing, talked in that same happy/excited tone of voice. now think about a sad time in your childhood and a present sad time you will notice similarities of how you talked, felt and reacted.

for some people these normal regressions of feelings, tone of voice and reactions can be scary if they have never noticed human beings naturally go through these natural regressions. especially if its something that is a really emotionally charged situation where these normal regressions seem to be extreme.

(which brings me to another difference ...with DID a person has been DID since very early childhood so their switching into alters is neither scary or frightening which ever word you use. its just their normal way of being.)

I totally do what you have described. And yes, I have DID.

amandalouise, I didn't realize that everyone with DID has experienced 'switching' since childhood. I knew it is thought to be caused by early abuse, but I thought I had read that in many people the alters didn't show themselves until adulthood or based on feelings of 'safety'.

If everyone does feel/notice it since childhood, why is there such confusion among adults about what is going on?

Just trying to figure some of my own world out.

heres a tip to the answer to your question...... if you read in my link what the present diagnostics here in america are you will see a special diagnostic that pertains to children.

that diagnostic would not be there if children did not know what their dissociative symptoms were in order to tell their treatment providers, parents, teachers, doctors about their alters, what happens with their alters.

that diagnostic pertaining to children would also not be there if alters did not show them selves in childhood.

here in america it is recognized that alters do show their self in childhood too, not just adulthood.

children dont use terms like switching, depersonalization, DID and such grown up wording. but they do notice what is going on in their bodies and can tell those around them, how they are feeling.

heres an example i have a friend from childhood, one time when we hadnt seen each other in a very long time, we met for lunch she asked me if Rainy still likes rainbow colored candy (she did not know I had DID and neither did I when we were kids so she thought Rainy was my invisible friend that tagged around with us) and do I still feel slish shoshed sometimes. I laughed because slish sloshed is how I described my depersonalization symptoms (spaced out like when I was under water moving my head back and forth in the water and come up too fast.) I explained to her that rainy and I were now one whole person and yes I still loved Rainbowed candy and yes sometimes I still get to feeling slish sloshed and that being Im an adult now I dont call it slish sloshed any more.

if you go to a public place and happen to see children have a listen to what they are saying. children are amazingly in tune to their bodies and know whats going on with in their bodies. they dont have the medical\psychological terms for whats going on but they know and can tell people whats what.

on alters coming out during times of safety....some do some dont, everyones internal system of alters is comprised for how ever they needed it to be in order to ensure their survival. if the trigger is safety then thats when they take control if its abuse thats when they take control, if its stress thats when they take control....the list of possible triggers is endless and individualized on the hows and whys alters take control.

imagine someone walking up to you and telling you that its not normal for someone to go online to a mental health website and post. wouldnt you be confused and wonder whats going on, why is coming to psych central not normal, whats wrong with me, whats wrong with what I am doing, Im not hurting that person why are they telling me this, am I different now....

thats what its like to grow up with DID and everything is ....your.... normal and then a treatment provider diagnoses you with a "disorder" the word disorder means not normal.

muddling through confusion begins......so something is wrong with me, why are they saying this, what does this mean, my having others in my head isnt normal wow I better figure this out. then they research and pay attention to their own problems details and realize how much time they have lost, memories that most people have they do not have, wow what happened to yesterday Im so confused why cant I remember yesterday....

because the DID person now knows its not normal they question everything and pay attention to their symptoms rather than react like a child....I feel slish sloshed lets go get some rainbow candy (a roll of sweet tarts candy)

also children do get confused. i remember many times becoming aware that I was doing something else then what I last remembered doing and standing there listening to others around me to figure out what was going on. but this confusion was my normal so I did not question or try and figure out my confusion like an adult would. I reacted like the child I was, I didnt know what activity we were supposed to be doing so I either raised my hand and asked the teacher or i sat/stood there listening to others until I knew what to do.

go to a playground and watch children play and you will see that even normal non dissociative children and adults sometimes get confused. so its no surprise that confusion is part of adults trying to figure out whats going on in their life and bodies. for some people its just their normal way of being, for others they realize how much their "disorder" affects their life and need to figure things out.

very interesting Amanalouise, thank

What I remember about childhood was the heavy spanking memories would disappear, and I'd always wonder why I kept doing things to get in trouble for. I always felt different and blanked and dazed a lot. I felt like lots of people. I knew I was different.