Multiple Personalities Support Group

Without a doubt acknowledging the alters might allow for the floodgates to be open. It might allow for the child like voices to appear of for you to find yourself in places that you have no recollection of going to. BUT AND AND THIS IS A HUGE BUT the positive of this is that with a lot of hard work healing will be achieved. The issues that the alter personalities confront on a daily basis with no support from yourself will be dealt with eventually. Youll never hear me say its easy because frankly its NOT. To start with youll wish that you never allowed yourself to acknowledged them. But what a joyour feeling it is when you get communication between the personalities. What a monumental occasion it is when you get everyone cooperating. What a vast improvement to your life when all the assests of the personalities are working together for the benefit of the whole.

While we might be hundred/thousands of miles apart we are here to support each other having similar experiences and encouraging each other in our journey.

Wow, thanks for this reply. You made me feel as if someone is really listening. I guess there is a light at the end of the tunnel. That is what I am hoping for. With the PTSD i have for so many years, I feel that there is no forward movement in therapy. Maybe this new dx will help clear the road for new beginnings.

Hey Im as real as they get Im an alter. Ombre is the same way even some alters are in denial that they are alters becouse they have been around almost the entire time. Dont go in denial what if you could heal and help someone but you dont becouse its easyer to call it bipolar. Think of the ripple affect and how you could be such a postive one. I know it hurts. Ombre refuses to believe anything I tell her. I dont have a reason to lie. Your alters dont eather.

not everyone who has been dx'd with did speaks in a child's voice or runs away from home. if you like to read you might find 'first person plural: my life as a multiple,' by cameron west http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books... helpful. i also found oxman's book a fractured mind interesting although some experts are suspicious of him. http://www.ralphmag.org/DW/oxnam1.html

although we classify denial as a defense i think it is healthy to question the diagnosis because it has been induced, which has given rise to much of the controversy and doubt that surrounds it. when a pt arrives on the unit and announces they are did i am always wary however when i see sx i watch to see if i see them switch. i've seen it happen a few times and in each instance the pt denied the dx.

that said it must also be remembered that dissociation is NOT only a sx of did. it also is found in ptsd, borderline personality d/o; biploar d/o, depression; ptsd; dissociative d/o nos; schizophrenia; and almost any other mental disorder as well as among the mentally healthy - it is a normal human response to many situations, ranging from boredom to terror. it becomes pathological when it is used as a knee jerk coping mechanism and interferes with normal functioning.

denying that we dissociate is like denying that we blink. getting past denial is a process and sometimes we double back after acceptance. something happens and we begin to doubt again. healing is never a straight line.

perhaps part of your husband's denial is connected to yours. he can't buy into it because you don't. he may not want to hurt you or make you feel he's not being supportive, you may want to have a frank discussion about that with him. if it were my partner i'd be hard pressed to how to best be supportive if they were somewhat in denial.

no matter where you are in the process it is ok to be in and out of denial. while it can impede healing it is part of the process, it does not stop it. when therapy becomes stuck it is the therapists' job to figure out how to get it moving again. when i got really stuck in therapy my therapist took us out of the office, literally. he asked me to meet him at the beach. when i expressed surprise he said he knew how much i love the beach so he thought that'd be a good place for us to meet. it was a catalyst for real work and shortly after that he realized i was dissociating. huh.

until then he had been treating me for ptsd and depression. he never came to a dx he was 100% comfortable with, he didn't use the did dx, and said if he had to give me a dx it would be ptsd. my current therapist refuses to give me a dx. i am ok with that, i do not need a dx, what i need is someone to listen and be supportive. someone to learn and show me how to reframe my thinking.

My therapist isn't slapping a label on me either, and sometimes I wonder if I'm playing tricks on myself, still.
For me, the thing that made me think I could not be DID is...no losing time.
Nonetheless, when the kids start talking, I don't know what they are going to say. They certainly seem to have their own opinions about things, and they aren't mine...
I asked my therapist if I was just fooling myself...she said from her perspective, that even if I were making up the kids, they still have symbolic value for me, and would have to be worked with in the same way....(?!?)
Recently something upset them, they all hid. I went blank for a day...I have very little emotion without them, and that...seems a really startling conclusion, one I'm not certain of right now. But it may be so.
The way my abuse boiled down, showing emotion could get me hurt, it was dangerous.
I guess what the kids evolved to do was take away emotions I could not show and thoughts or knowledge I could not have?

wow, a lot of great replies. When i was driving Bethany my adolescent alter actually kind of took over and thought about 'me' as if i was an alter. It was unsettling. I felt like a shell. Like i was only serving a purpose in life. The executive. My T says. But who the heck am I really? As you might imagine that whole episode made me think the dx is spot on. But at least I am in treatment and I have this support.

it took me over 2 years to accept a did dx, i was dx 18 years ago. denial stops when acceptance comes and thats up to you. for me once i accepted it alot of things made sence and it became so easy to understand myself, the hard part is trusting enough to let anyone else know. that has got me hurt, humiliated, and deserted. i think we have to be very careful who we let in. it takes intelligence, an open mind and loyalty for me to share this with anyone i know and even when i thought all that was there it has backfired, so .......

p.s. do you write? journaling has filled in alot of blanks for me, when i dont remember i can read my journal and sometimes an alter has filled in the blanks. sometimes i just sit with pen and notebook, let my mind relax and the writing comes

eigle, I think you are right about acceptance. I think I have to slowly move towards that for myself if I want to find peace. Telling others is just not something I want to do ever. My husband knows and he doesn't even take me seriously so I think I'll just leave that one alone for now. I only have 2 friends one of whom I speak with on a regular bas. And I kinda don't like her much. So you see my dilemma. I am very isolated. This is why I post so much. (sorry). I do journal every night and also sometimes on here too. It helps. It's the only thing that really does help i think. It is in black and white and when I read it over I can't deny what it is saying. Thanks everyone.

i can't get help for my DID. all i have is ds.