The hidden world of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

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

So I have not been given a formal diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder - DID (formally known as Multiple Personality Disorder).  But many things lead me to believe I may have this including a distinct 'alter' identity and several strange happenings and missing periods of time.  But it is much stigmatised, even within the medical profession, generally due to its former media coverage portraying 'extreme' switching into 'monster' like beings (Jekyll and Hyde type).  But this is not the reality, and it does in fact form as an absolutely brilliant coping mechanism in childhood for extreme inescapable childhood trauma.

So what exactly is it then?  It is when a person has at least 2 distinct identities.  These identities may have their own wants, desires, skill sets (this can be a great asset), voice, handwriting, even age and gender.  But equally, they may just have a few of these things.

One key thing is the whole point of DID is that it was formed to enable the child to survive very unstable and unpredictable environments (traumatic ones) that they often had to adapt to quickly - so it was designed to be hidden (from the person as well as everyone else).  A child may have to change from maybe quiet mouse that says nothing and stays hidden at home and school in case they get their head kicked in, to polite, well presented, smiling and happy child at church because their family and extended family runs many of the functions of it and are looked up to (youth club, church secretary and treasurer, sunday school...).  And this multitude of constantly shifting and unpredictable environments cause their identities to separate themselves out so that they can function in each of these environments.  But it does it in such a way that not even the child knows that they are changing from one identity into the next identity.  The whole thing is designed to be 'hidden'.

So this notion that there'd be some dramatic extreme 'switching' into some 'monster' like state is frankly farsical.  Switches are usually subtle and it's only with time and work with mental health professionals that many people come to recognise their many different alters.  The alters can be made to talk to each other, and to work together again with time and mental health input.  As I referred to above, different alters can have different skills (like the one I know about with me has an eloquency and fluidity with language / speech that I could only dream about - they don't even have to think about what they want to say, they can just put it into words), and this can be a real advantage for people once you get the alters working together.  It's called 'Multiplicity' having all the alters being able to talk to each other and appear as and when you want them to.  Imagine having 3, 4 or 5 identity worths of different skills?  If that could be harnessed, you'd sell it right?  So there are actually real advantages to having people with DID (that have multiplicity) within a workplace or similar.

Well that's an introduction.  I'll try and cover more in future posts, but if you have any questions, just let me know.

Easy read

- Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is when a person has at least 2 distinct identities.  These identities may have their own wants, desires, skill sets (this can be a great asset), voice, handwriting, even age and gender.  But equally, they may just have a few of these things.

- The whole purpose of DID is that it is 'hidden' (from people around them and the person).  So recognising that someone has it is very difficult both for professionals and the individual themselves

- It is deeply stigmatised due to media portrayals (e.g. Jeyell and Hyde) of switching into 'monsters'.

- However, this is farsical - real switching is often very subtle (as the condition is designed to be hidden from the world)

- It comes about as an extremely brilliant way for a child to 'escape' and cope with from inescapable sustained trauma.

- Identities can eventually be gotten to talk to each other (this is called 'multiplicity')

- As identities often have separate skills, someone who has 'multiplicity' will have several identities worth of skills to draw on (highly valuable in todays world).

Mandarin Chinese

• Fenliexing shenfen zhang’ai (DID) shi zhi yige ren yongyou zhi shao liang ge mingxian bu tong de shenfen. Zhe xie shenfen keyi yongyou ziji de xiwang, yuanwang, jineng (zhe keyi chengwei yige hen da de youshi), shengyin, ziti, shuzi, shen zhi nianling he xingbie. Dan tongyang, ta men ye keneng zhi you qi zhong ji xiang bu tong.

• DID de zhengti tedian jiu shi ta wangwang shi “yin cang” de (dui zhouwei de ren he dangshiren dou shi ruci). Yinci, wulun shi zhuanye renyuan haishi dangshiren ziji, renchu DID dou feichang kunnan.

• Youyu meiti zhong de biaoda (liru Jekyll he Hyde) changchang jiang renwu “qiehuan” cheng “guaiwu”, DID shenshou qizhong.

• Ran'er, zhe zhong miaoshu shi feichang huangdan de. Xianshi zhong de shenfen qiehuan wangwang feichang xianwei, yinwei zhe zhong zhuangkuang benlai jiu shi wei le yin cang yu shijie.

• DID keyi kanzuo shi yige haizi zai wu fa taobi de, chi xu de chuangshang zhong, wei le “taobi” bing yingdui chuangshang er fazhan chulai de yi zhong feichang congming de shengcun fangshi.

• Sui zhe shijian tuigu, bu tong shenfen zui zhong keyi xuehui huxiang jiaoliu, zhe bei chengwei “duochongxing” (multiplicity).

• Youyu bu tong shenfen wangwang yongyou bu tong de jineng, yige yongyou “duochongxing” de ren keyi diaodong lai zi ji ge shenfen de ge zhong jineng. Zhe xie jineng de zonghe zai jintian de shijie zhong keyi chengwei yige feichang you jiazhi de youshi.

Hindi

• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) tab hota hai jab kisi vyakti mein kam se kam 2 alag-alag identities hoti hain. In identities ki apni ichchhaen, pasand, skills (jo ek bahut badi taqat ho sakti hain), awaaz, likhne ka tareeka, hatta ki alag umar aur gender bhi ho sakta hai. Lekin zaroori nahi ki inmein ye sabhi cheezen alag hon; inmein se sirf kuch cheezen hi alag ho sakti hain.

• DID ka poora uddeshya hi iska “chhipa hua” rehna hai (aas-paas ke logon se aur khud us vyakti se bhi). Isliye professionals aur khud vyakti dono ke liye ye pehchanna bahut mushkil hota hai ki kisi ko DID hai.

• Media mein iski galat tasveer (jaise Jekyll aur Hyde mein ek insaan ka “monster” mein badal jaana) dikhaye jaane ki wajah se DID ko bahut zyada stigma ka saamna karna padta hai.

• Lekin ye tasveer bilkul galat aur avastavik hai. Asli zindagi mein switching aksar bahut subtle hoti hai, kyunki ye condition hi duniya se chhipi rehne ke liye develop hoti hai.

• Ye ek bachche ke liye lagataar aur aisi trauma se bachne aur uska saamna karne ka ek bahut hi shandaar survival tareeka ho sakta hai, jisse woh bachcha bach nahi sakta tha.

• Samay ke saath identities ek-doosre se baat karna seekh sakti hain. Isse “multiplicity” kaha jaata hai.

• Kyunki alag-alag identities ke paas aksar alag skills hoti hain, isliye “multiplicity” wala vyakti kai identities ki skills ka istemal kar sakta hai. Aaj ki duniya mein in sabhi skills ka milna ek bahut badi taqat aur bahut moolyavaan asset ho sakta hai.

Spanish

• El Trastorno de Identidad Disociativo (TID) se produce cuando una persona tiene al menos 2 identidades distintas. Estas identidades pueden tener sus propios deseos, preferencias, habilidades (lo que puede ser una gran ventaja), voz, letra e incluso edad y género diferentes. Sin embargo, también pueden diferir únicamente en algunas de estas características.

• El propósito fundamental del TID es que permanezca “oculto” (tanto para las personas que rodean al individuo como para la propia persona). Por eso, reconocer que alguien tiene TID puede ser muy difícil tanto para los profesionales como para la propia persona.

• El TID está profundamente estigmatizado debido a las representaciones de los medios de comunicación (por ejemplo, Jekyll y Hyde) en las que una persona cambia y se convierte en un “monstruo”.

• Sin embargo, esto es una representación absurda y alejada de la realidad. En la vida real, el cambio entre identidades suele ser muy sutil, ya que el trastorno está diseñado para permanecer oculto del mundo.

• Puede desarrollarse como una forma extremadamente eficaz para que un niño pueda “escapar” y afrontar un trauma prolongado e inevitable del que no podía escapar.

• Con el tiempo, las distintas identidades pueden llegar a aprender a comunicarse entre sí. Esto se denomina “multiplicidad”.

• Como las distintas identidades suelen tener habilidades diferentes, una persona con “multiplicidad” puede disponer de las habilidades de varias identidades a las que recurrir. La combinación de todas estas habilidades puede ser un recurso muy valioso en el mundo actual.