Wondering if I am slightly DID

I was reading a post I made in another forum, and I just realized that I used "we" and spoke of different personalities in me debating over a decision. This is how it feels to me quite often, and I've always tried to describe it in hopes that others would admit similar things going on inside them. Nobody ever admits to these types of feelings, but I have always assumed they are simply not circumspect enough to notice them.

About 10 to 15 years ago, my secretary seemed angry with me, and I was puzzled. I tried to discover what she was angry about, but she would not tell me. She would only say that she was shocked that I would have said or done this mysterious thing to her. I started wondering about stories of dopplegangers or alternate realities or even demonic possession. I even wondered if my secretary was mentally ill or trying to play mind games on me. It always bothered me to think that I might have done things out of character and have absolutely no recollection.

About 6 years ago I had psychosis briefly. I've spent a lot of time trying to understand why that happened to me. One explanation was that the conscious and practical part of my personality was neglecting the other parts of my personality, and those neglected personalities briefly staged a protest.

I've never thought any of these incidents indicated DID, but now I am starting to wonder if I might have some of those traits. I knew absolutely nothing about DID until I looked it up a couple of weeks ago. I had heard of people with multiple personalities that would timeshare the body, but apparently DID has milder forms too?

Any opinions?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I have always talked to myself for as long as I can remember, and I have always said "we" (e.g. "we've got to do this"...). This is how I calm myself down and focus in difficult situations. It's like the conscious personality giving instructions to the unconscious personalities. I'm only aware of the conscious personality, but I know the others are there too. The conscious personality is like the mother instructing her children "let's all stay together, and don't forget where we parked." I suspect the unconscious parts of me get annoyed that they are always being told what to do and never get to make the decisions.

your title question...Wondering if I am slightly DID... here in america there is no such thing as being "slightly DID"... with the new diagnostics there is no gray area its either yes or no. by that I mean...either you fit the diagnostic criteria (located in my link at the bottom of my post) or you dont. if you dont meet the diagnostic criteria you are not diagnosed DID and if you do fit the criteria you are diagnosed with DID.

using the plural we is not a symptom nor a diagnostic for having DID. put simply its now considered a learned behavior because when it comes down to it, teachers, doctors parents you name it all use the plural we when talking to children...

teacher...speaking one on one with a child..today we are going to try and stay in our seat arent we. even though the teacher means the one child needs to stay in their seat.

parenting also teaches a child to speak this way...a parent gets down on the childs eye level and says we dont hit we use our words. even though they mean that one child needs to use their words not hit..

in general human beings do have a variety of personalities they show others. example when I am with my friends I an in the mind set that is different than for example when I am with my children. and I certainly would not act, say and think the way I do with my wife that I do with my children and vice versa.

my point what you posted can be any normal mental or medical problem out there.

if you think you may have DID the best thing to do is contact a mental health treatment provider who can administer diagnostic evaluations.

I dont think you can be "slightly DID." But you can be dissociative in other ways if DID is not a good fit.

Hmmm. Like I said, I just read about DID a couple of weeks ago.

I've been trying to match my experience of psychosis with the standard categories for several years, and the closest match I found was "brief reactive psychosis" (aka "hysteric psychosis"). Apparently "hysteric psychosis" involves dissociation. When I get depressed, I sometimes feel disconnected from my body. There is supposed to be a traumatic event though, and I can't think what that would have been in my psychosis. IDK

Oh well, I guess DID is probably not relevant to my problems. Thanks for the responses

Merry Christmas too

here in america we do not have a mental disorder called hysteric psychosis. what used to be called hysteria is now called conversion disorder and here in america this is not with in the dissociative disorders grouping of mental disorders. here it is listed as a somatic disorder (mental or physical health problems being converted into other medical health conditions example depression being converted into headaches, aches and pains, ) you might check with your treatment providers to ask them if you fit in with the the somatic disorder called conversion disorder.

I do know that there are other countries that still consider conversion disorder (your wording hysteric psychosis) as a dissociative disorder but here in america it is not.

It is possible to have "personalities" and dissociative amnesia without having a full diagnosis of DID. If this really felt like something you could have, maybe read up on the other types of dissociative diagnoses there are. Like Gr3tta said, one can be dissociative without having DID. If you feel you are onto something, look it up before dismissing it. If you only now learned there is a thing called DID, you probably don't know about the other diagnoses that exist on the dissociative spectrum.

The dissociative disorders is like a PTSD spectrum as described by some with DID as the ultimate worst version with its own definition- the main characteristic being is having amnesia between parts- and OSDD being where the rest of us (nut jobs) lay with co-conscienceness.

Not everyone knows that they are DID/OSDD at first or even suspect it....it's either discovered later in life or kept under cover in denial. I know along the way I've often dismissed things as quirks, called it "normal", or flat ignored it.

So, if you do suspect or are concerned about something, start investigating and asking questions and to make sure to have a therapist validate your concerns.

Calling yourself 'we" in mind and thought shows that you have awareness of some kind of multiplicity, but as to what kind it is is still a mystery yet to be solved. I'm open to answer any questions that you might have based on what I know about this in hopes of not misleading anyone.

We have debates quite often over things that some gets pretty sore headed that they don't get their way just to have the final "I told ya so" in the end! Lol

Keep coming back!

Hmmm. O.k. I looked up "conversion disorder" and that doesn't match my symptoms. The most dramatic problem I've had is psychosis, but it was very brief, and it hasn't come back. I found "brief reactive psychosis" and something I read said this replaced "hysteric psychosis". I just found another diagnosis "brief psychotic disorder" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brief_psychotic_disorder ) and that is probably a good match.

I think I have been using the wrong words due to misunderstanding them.

- I've had depression all my life (going back to childhood). I'm 49 now. The depression comes and goes several times per week, and sometimes I feel very spacey and my body looks strange to me. I guess that is dissociation.
- 6 years ago I had psychosis very intensely for a week or two and then it gradually dwindled over the next year.
- Following the psychosis, I've had short relapses of paranoid thoughts. They go away after a day or two, and I always know the thoughts are irrational. These relapses happen once a month approximately. Basically it is superstitious thinking. I might be reading a book and begin to suspect that strange names in the book are clues to help remind me that reality isn't real. I know these thoughts are irrational, but they can be stressful and distracting. A few weeks ago, I couldn't eat some bread I bought, because I thought it was magically contaminated. After I got some sleep, those thoughts decreased and I ate the bread cautiously.

These are all fairly mild (except for the depression - that is a daily struggle for me).

Thanks I don't know if the dissociative thing is significant or not. I have always been puzzled when I explained to people on forums about the different subconscious people in my psyche. I assumed everybody felt that way, but most people don't relate. Then I just started thinking "hmmm, maybe this 'we' that I have used all my life is like the 'we' that I read in posts from people in this DID forum". Probably it's not related. IDK

Here is a question: I wonder if one of my friends has DID. I moved away from him about 15 years ago. He mentioned to me once, that he would often send emails to people that seemed strange or offensive, but he had no recollection. He attributed this to drinking. I received some of these strange emails myself, that he claimed to not remember.

Later I went to visit him for a weekend. One evening he insisted on experiencing the night life, so we walked from our hotel to a club. He left me to find a restroom, and he didn't come back. I caught sight of him briefly walking through a crowd, and his face looked like another person somehow. I tried to find him, and finally went back to the hotel. The next day he claimed to have no memory of going out at all. I had wondered if he might have taken Xanax, because I have heard that this can cause amnesia. (Actually that weekend with my friend apparently was the stressor that caused me to have a psychotic breakdown.)

I continue to get emails from him that confuse me, and I have problems with paranoid thoughts anyway. But now I wonder if he might have DID. I guess it doesn't matter though. Our interaction is just an occasional email and we live in different states now. We were very close friends for many years, so I hope he is getting help if he needs it. *sigh*

none of the present diagnostics used in the USA for dissociative disorders have anything about the usage of plural language (using words like "we") so you can pretty much consider it not related.

using the present diagnostics here in the USA there are only two dissociative disorders that take into consideration having alternate personalities...DID and OSDD... you can read the actual diagnostics criteria USA treatment providers now use in my link at the bottom of my post...

short version DID you have to have at least two very special kinds of alters that affect your whole life and OSDD is similar to DID except that it has less than marked discontinuity than DID.

the other dissociative disorders recognized in the USA...depersonalization\derealization disorder, Dissociative Amnesia, Unspecified Dissociative Disorder do not include having alternate personalities.

america is moving away from the multi axial diagnostic process so because of how the new diagnostic criteria is worded the same symptoms that you find in depersonalization/derealization disorder, dissociative Amnesia and Unspecified Dissociative Disorder are ....already.... included in the diagnostics for DID. therefore it eliminates the need for a person with DID to be diagnosed with 5 dissociative disorders. one covers it all now. treatment providers distinguish between them by following the diagnostic criteria...

what that means is if you have alters you get diagnosed with DID or OSDD

if you dont have alters but have memory problems\inability to recall important information you get diagnosed with dissociative amnesia.

if you dont have alters but have feelings of numbness, foggy minded, disconnected, feeling that things or you are not read (feelings not beliefs) then you get diagnosed with depersonalization derealization disorder.

see what I mean no need for 5 different dissociative diagnostics now on one person.

if anyone feels they may have a dissociative disorder the best thing to do is contact a treatment provider and tell them your concerns. if they have diagnosed you with something other than a dissociative disorder it just means your symptoms are better explained by the diagnosis they have labeled you. in this case you can talk with them and they will explain to you why you have been diagnosed the way you have been diagnosed. and if you still do not agree with them you can ask for a psychiatric evaluation for diagnostic purposes.