Dissociative Identity Disorder

[MandyR]

Do you have Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Many people live with D.I.D all over the world. 

DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER

Dissociative identity disorder is a survival mechanism of the brain.

It is more of an ability that keeps a child alive throughout continual and ongoing abuse in early childhood.

Much like surviving a traumatic car accident, trauma to the head can result in the brain shutting down in order to cope with the enormity of the damage afflicted.
The brain is protecting itself.

With D.I.D this then results in shutting down of self also. Memory becomes separated and these separated memories may remain dormant until they are accessible again in later years when memory recall of the abuse events become active(flashbacks). The memories are also affected at the time by the child's perception of self and the world around them. Memories combined with self perception contribute toward the development of individual parts of self.

These separations also called fracturing create new and separate sense of self resulting in separated parts of identity.

The separated parts of self then become individual and can function separately from one another with individual characteristics and personalities.
Not all separated parts have a personality they may only carry characteristic traits.

The original term Multiple Personality was changed to Dissociative Identity because this is more than just personality changes.

The new name now used, DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER, is because of the extreme level of dissociation needed to survive the abuse and the reason the separations are able to happen.”

Mandy 2020 ©️

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Mandy,

Welcome to the forums and thank you for your post! I appreciate you sharing your knowledge her on DID. Unfortunately it's a very misunderstood illness so clarifying some of the misconceptions and name-changes is really insightful. There are quite a few members on here talking about their own experiences of DID, particularly in our trauma section.

Would you like to expand more on your own experiences or what prompted you to share this with us?

rt

[MandyR]

Hi my name is Mandy.

I live in Australia and I have diagnosed Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Well most of the time I really don’t know who I am!

Sharing on social media mainly because we just don’t have enough information out there in Australia for people with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

I have been in personal therapy, psychotherapy, counselling and working through our childhood trauma with different therapists, psychologists for almost 18 years.

I began an online support network to support people online with Dissociative Identity Disorder. I ran this for over 10 years  to continue supporting and interacting with people with D.I.D from all over the world. Needing to concentrate more on our healing, the network shut its doors a few years ago.

We worked hard collating as much relevant information as we could and still continue, gathered from the real life stories and experiences of the members of the network with permission, as well as our own and developed a DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER WORKSHOP for survivors, professionals, carers, family and friends.

To date I’ve successfully presented five, 3 hour Workshops, on DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER, locally to us.

Social Media has become a great outlet to again reach out and share the knowledge and lived experiences of those we have been fortunate to meet and talk with over the past 10 or more years who have D.I.D from early childhood trauma and abuse.

With so many people in Australia desperate for information on how to navigate their D.I.D, I feel we all need to continue to shine and share our experiences with each other.

Ask questions, share knowledge you feel may help others with healing, anything that might make living with DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER just that bit easier and less lonely.

Kind regards
(safe hugs, hi fives & handshakes to those who want them)
 Mandy (and the rest)

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Mandy,

It's great to hear back from you.

It's wonderful to hear how much time and effort that you've put into creating this support for people with DID. You are right in that there's not enough information available about DID in Australia, especially in comparison with other mental illnesses there.

Given that support seems to be your main goal here, I wonder if it might be worth having a look at other posts in the trauma section with DID?

The other resource you might like to jump in on is Sane Australia's online forums. They have quite a few more posts on DID - https://saneforums.org/t5/Lived-Experience-Forum/ct-p/lived-experience-forum

Thanks again for being here. It sounds like you have so much experience to offer the community

rt

[Shirogane]

*The most desperate voice you can imagine*

Please, please, please, please can you share some info for partners.

I neeeeeeeeeeeeed it. Cause I'm getting to be more cray cray than my partners lol. Yes I have 5 out of 12 in their head that I'm in some sort of relationship with so that's accurate.

A connection to anyone who gets it.

Please.

*I'm like twitchy eye laugh crying*

[MandyR]

Hi Shirogane,

Do you mean your partener has DID?

and you are needing help with navigating their system?

MandyR

[Nono]

I have been diagnosed with DID and am finding there is nowhere for me to access any information on how to understand and work with my internal system.

Can you help me find this information please?

[romantic_thi3f]

Hey Nono,

Just wanted to say hello and welcome to the forums! I hope MandyR pops in and responds but I just wanted to connect as well. One resource you could look into is Sane Australia- they have both forums and an info line. Here's a link if you want to look at that more-

https://www.sane.org/information-stories/facts-and-guides/dissociative-identity-disorder

rt

[Sensa]

Hi there,

Is this site also for adult children of DID mother's?

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi Sensa,

Welcome to the forums. I'm sorry that you haven't had a reply yet. This site is for everyone.

If you're open to it, you could start your own post about having a mother with DID in the trauma section- and you might be able to get some traction and replies there. You may also want to have a look at the Sane forums as well:

https://saneforums.org/t5/Lived-Experience-Forum/ct-p/lived-experience-forum

Thanks for being here.

rt