Diagnosed DID, and now what? What is the deal?

What do I do now I know the diagnosis?

My therapist agree with it, what can he do?

What are the deals with this?

Maybe I don't see the problem because I am an apparently normal part, now I am the most active outside and I don't sense anyone inside, I am just me. Maybe I forgot what the problem was.

DD

Hello there, please pardon my didactic tone. My answer here is making a lot of assumptions, but I've felt like that at times and thought it was worth a reply. I'm kind of writing to myself.
If you've been diagnosed that means you definitely switch and have others take over besides you. It also means that you experienced a great deal of trauma at a young age. It's is very easy for an ANP who fronts all the time (like myself) to tell him or herself that there is no problem or that there is nothing that can or should be done. This is part of the job you've accomplished for your system all this time--to keep life running, to attend to the goals of here and now. You are a part of a whole, and have other parts sharing the huge task of dealing with this life. Some of them hold painful memories, and deal with the unbearable past. Do you know who they are? What they are like? What needs they could use your help meeting? Do you know how they can help you? For me there has been a lot of fear around getting to know them, because to do so I have to acknowledge a lot of things I'd rather deny, but now that I have gotten to know some of them so well I could never go back to how it was before. I'm more stable, I'm not completely helpless when I'm depressed (because I can find out who is in pain and talk to them), and I cherish them. I implore you to get to know the insiders in whatever ways that you can. They have been helping you deal with life all this time without help or acknowledgement, and you have nothing less than your whole true self to gain from this. Approach them with respect and curb your fears as much as you can, try not to make assumptions about who they are, and go slowly and patiently. If your therapist has training and experience with DID, or if you can be referred to one who does, they can help you with this. This diagnosis could be a very good thing.

now you just keep doing what ever you and your treatment providers say you need to do for what ever your problem areas are, just like before you got the diagnosis...

getting a diagnosis doesnt change anything other than puts a name on whats already been happening....

let me show you what I mean...

before getting the diagnosis I kept switching into rainy during heavy storms. after diagnosis I still switched into rainy during heavy storms. so why the diagnosis.. just put a name on what has always been happening with me since very early childhood.

what did change?

on my side of this....my own perception.... after a switch and if I noticed something (which I rarely did because my DID had memory problems and to me this was how I normally was since very early childhood) rather than being confused as to why that blanket was on the floor i could logically think I switched into rainy at some point yesterday ok nothing different there been there done that all my life, pick up the blanket and put it where it belongs and on with my life. see it just puts a name on whats already been happening.

on my treatment providers side of this....
my medical doctor was much more careful about prescribing any kind of medications for any of my problems to ensure no overdosing would happen... example if I needed an antibiotic he would make sure to write out the directions for me to post on my fridge and taught me how to do a medication log for posting on the fridge so that if any others inside thought about the medication all they needed to do was check the log to see if anyone had taken the antibiotic yet.

my physical therapist would explain what we were doing in more details then really needed just in case others were listening and needed help understanding what was going on and why she needed to touch my arms, legs and such...

my psychiatrist removed me from many medications as we now knew the problems were dissociative not psychotic.

my therapist changed my mental health treatment plan to include things like my learning to do and my doing....grounding, relaxation, breathing, meditations (all of which enables a dissociative person to self nurture/ self sooth and not dissociate, when encountering triggers that was causing my dissociative reactions)

As I became better at handling my own problems with out dissociating, the alters reintegrated/became one whole person with me again.

It is scaring the idea of looking inside... I feel some rejection to do it.

Thank you, your answer is very helpful.

https://www.discussingdissociation.com
try reading this blog.it might help
on that site you can also get a free e-book about DID that I thought was helpful and explained a lot

I am confused still. I think i am an anp but i cant remember the EPs, my therapist said something about five, but i only now one. Who told him about four i dont even know?

I dont know your location so my suggestion is to talk with your treatment provider, reason I say this for you is because some locations do not go by the therapy ....theory .... approach... (which over wording your location goes by) for structural dissociation (which is what the labeling anp and ep's are used)

example my own location and treatment provider do not use the labeling of anp and ep. where I am we go by all alters can both perform normal activities and have their own emotions too. Rainy could dress herself, feed herself, and other normal things but she also felt and expressed the emotions of sadness, depression, grief. Thelma my sexualized alter not only encompassed the feeling/ emotions of love, sensuality/ sexuality, she also could form friendships, dress herself, eat drink, smoke a cigarette just like normal people do.... all of my alters were this way. this is called "sense of agency" here where I am.

here was my problem at one point..... I was reading stuff about structural dissociation where the labeling Anp and Ep was being used and trying to fit myself into those. then my treatment provider had to do alot of straightening things out for me. she told me those labels are rarely if ever used now because its been discovered that even alters previously labeled Anp have emotions and those previously labeled Ep its been discovered that they can perform normal activities, in other words both can function completely like an individual person can. then she explained the concept of "sense of agency" to me. at that time the term was not yet in the diagnostics but was something treatment providers looked for in people with DID. you might say it was one of the criteria not yet disclosed to the public kind of thing. She told me not to try fitting myself into Anp and Ep because my alters had their own sense of agency not just one or the other.

this put things right with me and stopped my confusion on this that you are going through.

my point ....maybe.... your alters are not just anp and not just ep. (not divided into where you had alters that onll do normal things and then other alters that only emotional) .......maybe .......the alters who are showing normal - ness are also containing emotions too, and ......maybe ......the alters that contain emotions are also able to do normal daily living things too.

just something to think about and consider and maybe talk with your treatment provider about.

Thank you, your answer has been really helpfull but i dont understand quite well what sense of agency is, it is what the alter ought to do?

that and more. sense of agency is things like....

how much control each other has
what each alters job, purpose reason for being is,
how much awareness and functionality each has of their self, and the world outside their self

example

rainy was only able to take control when I dissociated due to my triggers.....rain storms/ storms, depression, sad ness, grief.

Rainy's job, purpose, reason for being created was to handle those situation that contain storms, rain storms, depression, sadness grief.

Rainy was aware of when it was raining/ storming, what was going on around her, when I was depressed, sad and grieving which enabled her to take control when I dissociated because of these triggers. functionality she was just like a normal person, was able to move around/ walk run, talk hear, smell, taste, feel sad, feel depressed, get dressed choose the clothing she wanted to wear, make herself a snack and something to drink, get her favorite toy or blanket and sit on the sofa watching tv,

here is where you can find more information about my and others members
sense of agency. It is a thread I started a while ago for anyone to add what their sense of agency was... feel free to add what your sense of agency is. I only ask that members keep the sense of agency thread focused on ....sense of agency.... so that other members especially new members, dont get confused and have to weed through a bunch of off topic posts to get their answers of what sense of agency is...

https://forums.psychcentral.com/diss...se-agency.html

Thank you, it is really difficult to understand for me since i only see myself even if i know there are others because of what it is written and was done by my body but not me. I cannot recognize anyobne, i am blind.

ok I see, its ok to not know everything about the others that are with you. Im going to word sense of agency in the singular wording so you may understand....

sense of agency is...

you knowing how much control you have.....example you know you are able to post on psych central but you do not know what the others do. you posted that you are most active outside.

you are aware of yourself and your surroundings... example you know you have a computer or have access to a computer, or you have another form of internet access. if you were not aware of this and not aware of psych central you would not be here on psych central... being aware means you know whats going on around you. some people call being aware, being alive.

you have functionality... this means you can move and do things. you can get out of bed, turn on the computer and type on the keyboard. you can eat, you can drink, you can ...what ever you do physically...go to work, play, talk on the phone, watch tv and what ever else you want or can do. your job, purpose reason for being and doing what you do.

Now i get it!