DID or DD NOS

I am trying to find information about my particular dissociation experience. My therapist hasn't defined it for me, and I don't know if she can. When I have a traumatic flashback or other stressful situations I can regress to where I think I am 6 or other ages, but always answer to my name, not other names. These experiences happen for hours at a time, sometimes even a day or more. I recall things that happened at the age I think I am. I have no memory of what happens during these times and my therapist is reluctant to share the information with me. Is there a name for this type of dissociation?

Thanks,
Beth

I am diagnosed with DID. What you describes sounds similar to my experience. When I switch, I almost always still respond to my given name. The remembering experiences from that age and not remembering what went on while dissociated are also usual for me.


I don't know enough about other types of dissociation to say that you for sure have DID. But I can say that yes, as a person with DID, I have similar experiences.

my treatment providers call this .........in me.........., PTSD (having flashbacks is one of the more common PTSD symptoms)

people regressing to different ages can be many different things from normal to any number or mental or medical conditions. we cant tell you what this is in you. only your own treatment providers can do that, how they do that is by talking with you and also considering your own individual things like meds, health issues, diagnostic tests, what race/ culture you are and much more...

my point if you want to know what this is you will need to contact your own treatment providers, they will get you set up for the diagnostic process to find out what this is in you.

How does race influence if someone has DID? Are there some races that cannot get DID?

one of the diagnostics is that the problems can not be because of cultural practices. some races are called cultures and have certain practices that go along with those races/ cultures. there is other diagnostic information also that treatment providers must consider when someone is certain races and cultures. they even have to look at a persons religion and rule out things from there too.

example I am native american. my culture / race has some things in it that had to be ruled out before I could be given the diagnostic labeling of DID, one such thing is vision quests, another was some medical issues that are part of my race/ culture, ....

this is one of the reasons some of my posts include the statement that theres more to being DID then what you can find on the internet, in books and movies.

theres so much that goes into what the disorder is and diagnosing it then just looking on the internet and matching your problems. theres things that only treatment providers know about and look for, and treatment providers are constantly given whats called supplemental updates to changes to diagnostics, definitions, and much more that is not open to just anyone. I was just as surprised as you when they had to look at my native american history before diagnosing me as DID.

I can only tell you what I read in Dr. Colin Ross' book on multiple personality disorder. What you describe is exactly how my dissociative disorder exhibits. In his book, Dr. Ross had fifty percent of his patients with symptoms that exhibited like this. He speculated in his book that he did not know if the other names were there before therapy or if this was simply a result of the therapy.

When a person switches into a child personality, it is definitely a dissociative disorder. If you act different in the different states then it is multiple personality disorder/dissociative identity disorder whether your other states have different names or not. The naming does not mean anything!!!! It is the behavior which should define DID/MPD not the naming!

What I have come to believe is that a dissociative patient switches into and out of hypnotic type states without control. This was caused by being traumatized severely enough to be triggered into a state of shock as a toddler. The toddler's brain is not developed enough and that state of shock is exactly like a state of hypnosis. The dysfunctional family traumatizes the toddler multiple times during the first four to five years thereby triggering the toddler into that state of shock multiple times. Eventually it becomes very easy to trigger that person back into that hypnotic state.

If you study the books on hypnosis, you will know that a hypnotist can age regress a patient back into childhood. That patient under hypnosis will experience the same feelings and emotions that they experienced when they were a child. It is common sense to me that this is what is occurring with a dissociative patient.

Also, if you study the books on hypnosis, you will learn that there is an automatic amnesia effect that occurs when being brought out of an hypnotic state. The patient will not remember what he/she said or felt while under hypnosis. This all has been documented by the psychologists and psychiatrists that did research on hypnosis for the Federal government!

This is why I believe that there is a conspiracy to cover up knowledge about this mental illness by the mental health professionals. Some of us may have been victims of mind control experimentation.

I would also like to point out that it is easy to traumatize a new born to five year old toddler. It does not have to be horrible physical abuse or sexual abuse like some people like to believe. Anything that scares the toddler enough can trigger the toddler into a state of shock. Anything that causes severe emotional pain can trigger the toddler into a state of shock. Anything that causes abnormal psychological stress can trigger the toddler into a state of shock. And, of course, physical abuse/pain can trigger the toddler into a state of shock.

I am a huge advocate of requiring parents to read parenting books if they plan on having children. The first five years of life is critical in the development of the human brain and personality.

As far as I know my sexual abuse started when I was 4. It continued until I was 17 and was sadistic and violent. Today my therapist said that she would not take on another client with such severe abuse history because we often require teams of people (which I have). Do you consider 4 to 5 years old to still be toddlers?

How long ago were you diagnosed and how long did it take for people to figure it out?

Hi BethMae. Your experiences sound familiar to me. I was diagnosed with DID last year. Some of my alters are very distinct from me and others are less clear cut, with more confusion about me and self and I.

What my T explained to me is that everyone has parts of self or self states that can feel like different ages, but what really separates out DID from the more typical self states is amnesia.

I'm very, very sorry that that happened to you.

I have read that DID can occur with severe abuse that happened before age 5, but I have also sometimes read age 7. I have also read that continual, repetitive abuse is more likely to create this. So, it does seem possible that you may have DID in this regard.

I am very close to someone with DID and in her case some of the children in her inner family share her name and most do not. I imagine it is quite variable from person to person. Sometimes she knows what's happening when a child is out because she is co-conscious, but at other times a child is out and she is unaware of what is happening. These children definitely have memories she does not have herself, which I think is part of the amnesia that Amyjay was mentioning.

We always go by the body’s name....anything else would be weird. We hate the name because of third generation...

DID or not...you are what you are...God help you in your journey.

I for sure have the amnesia part.

I am very sorry you have been abused.
I have amnesia without having a DID diagnosis. I do have dissociative experiences.

Keep working with your therapist. As mentioned by Amandalouise, this is a good way to clarify what exactly is going on for you.

Be careful about making any conclusions based upon what you read on the internet.

Please take good care.


WC

I was in pretty intense therapy for about 3 years before I was diagnosed with DID. I was 48 years old. I am now 55 and still in treatment. Slowly improving.

The people around me didn't realize what was going on, nor did the therapist that I was seeing 5 days a week. My psychiatrist suspected it when I showed him a picture I had drawn (I kind of knew that was what he would think) and convinced me to go to an inpatient trauma unit and while I was there I did a whole bunch of testing and interviewing and was diagnosed then with DID. I don't think I would have been willing to be honest about my symptoms before that; I spent a lot of time hiding them (and still do, sometimes). I was ashamed of them.

I’m so embarrassed and ashamed too that I would do my best to fake NOT having DID....our system has always done this playing it off as one thing or another. At least we have a Bipolar dx to hide behind which I wonder today is even real.

Parts would look a T in the face and say that there is nothing wrong with them which would end our try for help. WTH? I guess it can’t be helped...this time.