Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Time Loss Explained

N.B. There is an easy read version, an infographic and translations (Mandarin Chinese, Hindi and Spanish at the moment) at the bottom of the post

So people talk or describe it as amnesia or memory loss.  This, in my experience isn't really correct.  I haven't lost any memory - because I'm not even aware that that memory existed - the time is not in my timeline.  What I have lost is time (and the memory that goes with it).  

Let me see if I can explain better.  When you lose a memory or forget something - you know you've forgotten that something right?  Like if I asked you what did you have for dinner last night?  And you said 'I don't know, I can't remember' - you know you had dinner, or at least that this period or time existed.  You just can't exactly remember what you ate.

Now an example of a person with DID - perhaps someone might asks them 'did you have a good time last night?'.  And in their world they were home all evening.  They have no idea what this is referring to.  This isn't lost memory - this is a time gap (with attached memory loss) which they are unaware of.  But the brain is SO brilliant, it's stitched the time fragments together!

Let me give you an example from my own life.  I was at a pool match (was on a pool team).  I played my game and was sat watching.  There are 9 games per night.  After 4 games, everyone got up and started leaving.  I looked kind of confused then realised the night was over.  I checked on the group chat - all the games had been played, and it was also an hour later than I thought it was.  This entire piece of time had been erradicated from my mind (for no apparent reason and as far as I'm aware, no-one else noticed any change in me).

So hopefully that explains a little bit of the chaos of what it can be like to live with DID.  As far as I know (bearing in mind DID tends to stay hidden thus its streamless stitching together of the timeline) I don't get a lot of large chunks of time going missing, but I do get a lot of 'few minutes' here and there - e.g. I'll look at my phone and it'll read 23:19, turn my head away then straight back (or so I think so) and it's 23:23.

Easy read

- People with DID don't lose memory, they lose time (and the associated memory).

- If e.g. you were asked what you had for dinner last night, and you say you don't remember, you would still know that you'd had dinner - that's in your timeline

- But if someone asks someone with DID e.g. if they had a good time last night - to them, they were at home all evening.  This night out is not in their timeline.

- The brain has snipped out this piece of time and its associated memories, then stitched the pieces together.

- It's not always dramatic chunks of time, it can be just a few minutes here and there of lost time.  And the person may know nothing about this.

Mandarin Chinese

- Huanzhe fenliexing shenfen rentong zhang'ai (DID) de ren bu shi diu shi jiyi, er shi diu shi shijian (yiji yu zhi xiangguan de jiyi).

- Liru, ruguo you ren wen ni zuowan wanfan chi le shenme, er ni shuo ni bu jide, ni rengran zhidao ni chi guo wanfan — zhe jiu zai ni de shijian xulie li.

- Danshi, ruguo you ren wen yi ge huanzhe DID de ren zuowan wan de kai bu kaixin, dui ta lai shuo, ta zheng ge wanshang dou zai jia li. Ta bu jide zhe ci waichu huodong, yinwei zhe duan jingli bu zai ta de shijian xulie li.

- Danao jiang zhe duan shijian ji qi xiangguan de jiyi ge kai, ranhou jiang qita de shijian duan luan jie zai yiqi.

- Shijian diushi bu yiding dou shi hen chang de shijian duan; you shi zhi shi lingling san san di diu shi ji fen zhong. Erqie, dangshi dangshiren keneng wanquan bu zhidao ziji jingli le zhe xie shiqing.

Hindi

- DID wale log sirf yaadasht nahi khote, balki samay khote hain (aur us samay se judi hui yaadein bhi).

- Agar, misaal ke taur par, aapse poochha jaaye ki aapne kal raat khaane mein kya khaya tha aur aap kahein ki aapko yaad nahi hai, tab bhi aapko pata hoga ki aapne khaana khaya tha — yeh aapki samay-rekha ka hissa hai.

- Lekin agar DID wale kisi vyakti se poochha jaaye ki kya unhone kal raat achha samay bitaya, toh unke liye aisa hoga jaise woh poori shaam ghar par hi the. Unke liye bahar jaane ki yeh ghatna unki samay-rekha ka hissa hi nahi hai.

- Dimaag samay ke is hisse aur usse judi yaadon ko kaat deta hai, aur phir baaki hisson ko jod deta hai.

- Samay ka khona hamesha lambe samay ke liye nahi hota. Kabhi-kabhi bas kuch minute idhar-udhar ke gayab ho jaate hain. Aur ho sakta hai ki vyakti ko is baare mein kuch bhi pata na ho.

Spanish

- Las personas con trastorno de identidad disociativo (TID) no pierden simplemente la memoria; pierden tiempo (y los recuerdos asociados a ese tiempo).

- Por ejemplo, si alguien te preguntara qué cenaste anoche y respondieras que no lo recuerdas, aun así sabrías que cenaste. Ese acontecimiento forma parte de tu línea temporal.

- Pero si alguien le pregunta a una persona con TID si se lo pasó bien anoche, para esa persona, habrá estado en casa toda la tarde y toda la noche. Esa salida nocturna no forma parte de su línea temporal.

- El cerebro ha recortado ese fragmento de tiempo y los recuerdos asociados a él, y después ha unido las partes restantes.

- La pérdida de tiempo no siempre implica períodos largos o llamativos. Puede tratarse simplemente de unos minutos perdidos aquí y allá. Además, es posible que la persona no sea consciente de que esto está ocurriendo.