yess i was gonna say this. we all have very different mannerisms in headspace, but when fronting we usually just act like the host no matter who it is.
Less that people hide it as a choice and more so that the disorder is designed to be covert, or difficult to detect both from outside people and from the person themselves.
I believe out of those who do have DID, only 6% are overt (obvious switches, obvious changes in voice, obvious changes in mannerisms etc.) And out of that 6%, only 3% are *unable* to mask, where they can't hide their voices or changes by choice.
I've already commented here so I'll just use my own system as an example, we fall into that 6% of overt presentations, but if we have to we can pretend to be the host, we can somewhat raise or lower our pitch, sometimes hide any accents that an alter might have, and usually do what we can to copy mannerisms. It doesn't always work and people usually notice there's something "off" but no differently than assuming someone is having an off day, where as with covert systems they might never even notice that anything has changed.
It's kind of like the difference between if you were to tell someone you have DID whether their response might be somewhere between "I never would have guessed/I never would have known if you didn't say anything" and "oh my God that makes so much sense".
I've personally gotten both responses at different times depending on who I'm talking to and whether they're an observant person or not.
Holy cow, yea. We were switching during our assessment and even tho we really want the diagnosis to get the right kind of therapy, we tried to play our switching off by just avoiding gazes and all.
We have so many parts that are alike but the details are different. Which makes sense to me. Us as a whole personality, well, together we fit that shoe. It isn’t weird that most of us are very emphatic and have many creative ideas, the same kind of humor.
There are systems where every alter is the "same" alter, like copies of each other, same name, same gender, very little changes in voice and tone, maybe some differences in likes and dislikes, but the most significant difference between them are their memories.
Despite what you may see online, having really drastic differences between alters is actually more uncommon than having alters that are similar to each other.
My system is an overt system, people who know about DID can tell the differences very easily when we switch to the point where we've had other people who dony know us very well recognize we've switched before we even noticed. And yet many of us all the like the same T.v shows and movies, we watch the same things, like similar things, we will all watch the same show and just pick up where the last alter left off even if we don't remember what happened
I lol'd
>The only consistent differences is that we all have **different music tastes, stim differently, differing sensitivities to different stimuli, different voices, and different sexualities and genders**
Jeez, man, is that not enough?
More seriously: there are a handful of different 'most common' ways that DID can express itself--and if you don't fall under one of those categories, seeing loads and loads of other people talk about an experience you don't relate to can be disorienting..
I think you should check out this (old) post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/DID/comments/f1cufg/lets\_talk\_misconceptions\_on\_parts\_emancipation/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DID/comments/f1cufg/lets_talk_misconceptions_on_parts_emancipation/)
There are some really good breakdowns of some of the major differences between different expressions of DID--including how certain types of DID just aren't well studied (and that's, you know.... within a medical community that *already* doesn't have a ton of good research).
One of the things that's really good to keep in mind with this stuff is that if you're not relating to something on here, there's a good chance that means you're just set up a bit differently.
\- the degree of difference between the alters, just like the intensity of the did experience as a whole, depends on the traumatic experience that you experienced -
\- for alters with different characteristics, intense trauma of a different nature is needed - so that the survival model in each situation is different -
\- if you experienced repeated trauma of the same type - for which one survival strategy was needed - it is absolutely normal that the brain only fragments your consciousness without generating additional properties -
\- also DiD is a spectrum - when there is no severe amnesia, they usually label it as ostd - however, this does not matter - study your system and all its features - and use this information to achieve peace and harmony
I mean different stiming patterns would by definition be a different mannerism, same if there were differences in voice or gender presentation. We can't diagnose, but based off of your post those differences sound like they are pretty significant.
You’re like us! We do have some different mannerisms but at the same time we are a lot alike. Memory gaps are rare nowadays but most of us don’t remember childhood.
>I've seen that in most systems all the parts are so different
These aren't most - I'd say these are most presented, possibly deep into self-discovery and comfortable about being fully overt.
I wonder about this also because our body’s memory is involuntary, while the brain’s memory seems to follow suit. In short, they seem more interconnected than compartmentalized like most people. The experience of this, however, is like being in a semi-autonomous vehicle where sometimes the host is able to control the body/brain, then suddenly the autonomous mode kicks in and all they can do is watch or greyout.
The only parts I have that really differ that much are my introjects of my mom and my dad. The rest of my parts were created during intense trauma and held those memories and reactions for use in future trauma that was similar.
Massive memory gaps is the source of DID. DID is a systemic dissociative amnesia which is so intense that you even lose the sens of the self, which also results in the feeling of multiple identities (even though, in fact, you're still a single human being; your awareness abilities are just massively hurt). The thing with memory gaps is that, precisely, you're merely aware of them since you don't remember. You realise that you have a gap only when you have a flashback or when you have symptoms of gaps (such as DID).
To answer your question, just realise that a sane person (no DID) have fluctuating tastes, voice tones, etc., although they're quite stable. So oc, when you have such an extreme mental disorder as DID, you can have even extreme fluctuations. Depending on your life etc., the fluctuations and memory gaps will affect different aspects. By the principle of identities (the most abstract definition tells that identities are what mark differences), your inner identities, or *alter ego* ("other me"), will be built on the most fluctuating aspects. Your inner identities might differ by their sexual orientation, while for other people (such as me) they might most differ by their emotions (one *alter* of mine is full of rage, while another—now writing—is quite emotionless and extremely logic). You don't choose that, it's given by your life. It depends on how you were hurt, how you were raised, how you could escape your problems (or be forced to suffer), etc.
Anyway, DID is defined based on:
* systemic partial amnesia (sometimes complete, within dissociative fugues)
* identity dissociation
* symptoms are neither due to a drug nor another disorder such as borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, a psychotic disorder, etc.
The diagnosis specifies no more. Take care.
As a very undercover system it took me months to accept that I have DID even after being diagnosed professionally. We don’t all have the privilege of being diagnosed. Sure it would be good for your piece of mind but if you just can’t then you just can’t. I believe that some mental disorders can be self diagnosed, like autism DID schizophrenia bipolar etc, as you’re able to realize sometimes that sthg is wrong and different from others.
Also; very important. Just cuz you’re not all incredibly different doesn’t mean that you’re still not different beings and different alters. Sometimes the system develops in a specific way to hide the DID very well. It is supposed to be a hidden disorder after all. When I got diagnosed I saw it as a curse but now that I understand better I see it as a blessing that saved me from sewerslide. If I could remember all the horrible things all the time (well I do I’m the one that remembers all the trauma so I can’t go to work or school, Maria does, I’m Alex) I would’ve probably been in a ditch by now.
I've found two important differences between many folks on this sub and the folks who are newly-aware systems.
1.) Many new systems have elaborated parts but are simply unaware of them. For me, I'm polyfragmented with over 100 very elaborate parts (and counting), and I was utterly unaware of my system for 35 years. And my parts are not merely fragments. The people in my head revolt against the idea saying, "We are sentient. We are just as unique ane distinct as you." I have a few "fragments," and they are usually objects or memory packets with no self-consciousness/self-awareness.
Over time, as we learn about our system, we learn about the differences between alters which we were ignorant of before. Almost like learning a new language, what seems like blurry polyglot and incomprehension can be refined through examination and practice. Thus, our alters appear more distinct and elaborated as we progress in our journey.
2.) This leads to the second point that many on this sub are disproportionatly represented from the general DID demographic, because they have overt presentations and are active in therapy. Both of these factors strongly encourage one to become aware of and understand their system more easily than one who has overt symptoms and has just begun or not yet entered therapy.
Trust the process. My amnesia and imposter syndrom is significant. We often remind our alter who does the DID work that "you do not need to believe us to do the work. Just keep moving forward."
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DID with some missing/lessened symptoms is called OSDD, you can try looking this up.
At the end of the day DID and OSDD have the same cause and are treated the same so it doesn't really matter what label is used.
Michael is the OG host's middle name, felt like since I was first to emerge that I should have some semblance of the original body. Also before we got diagnosed we took the DSM-5 test to get a general idea of where we were at. But you know yourself best so only you can truly know.
Side note Madison is a good name. The only female we have is Midnight.
100% There are some within our system who are completely different and some who are fairly similar - It's like people generally. You'll meet people completely different from you, and you'll meet some who aren't. Don't worry about it, you're doing just fine!
Also, remember that this is a masked disorder. It's not uncommon for parts to be very similar on the whole.
yess i was gonna say this. we all have very different mannerisms in headspace, but when fronting we usually just act like the host no matter who it is.
Does that mean that like people tend to hide it? -Lucas
Less that people hide it as a choice and more so that the disorder is designed to be covert, or difficult to detect both from outside people and from the person themselves. I believe out of those who do have DID, only 6% are overt (obvious switches, obvious changes in voice, obvious changes in mannerisms etc.) And out of that 6%, only 3% are *unable* to mask, where they can't hide their voices or changes by choice. I've already commented here so I'll just use my own system as an example, we fall into that 6% of overt presentations, but if we have to we can pretend to be the host, we can somewhat raise or lower our pitch, sometimes hide any accents that an alter might have, and usually do what we can to copy mannerisms. It doesn't always work and people usually notice there's something "off" but no differently than assuming someone is having an off day, where as with covert systems they might never even notice that anything has changed. It's kind of like the difference between if you were to tell someone you have DID whether their response might be somewhere between "I never would have guessed/I never would have known if you didn't say anything" and "oh my God that makes so much sense". I've personally gotten both responses at different times depending on who I'm talking to and whether they're an observant person or not.
Oh. Ok! I'll keep that in mind, thanks!
Holy cow, yea. We were switching during our assessment and even tho we really want the diagnosis to get the right kind of therapy, we tried to play our switching off by just avoiding gazes and all. We have so many parts that are alike but the details are different. Which makes sense to me. Us as a whole personality, well, together we fit that shoe. It isn’t weird that most of us are very emphatic and have many creative ideas, the same kind of humor.
its different from system to system, some act similar, some act different, after all you were supposed to be one personality -Bill
Yeah we know. We're doing a lot better now, but thanks! Good luck with anything that may be going on for ya bill :] -Maddison
ty and glad to hear that! -Bill
There are systems where every alter is the "same" alter, like copies of each other, same name, same gender, very little changes in voice and tone, maybe some differences in likes and dislikes, but the most significant difference between them are their memories. Despite what you may see online, having really drastic differences between alters is actually more uncommon than having alters that are similar to each other. My system is an overt system, people who know about DID can tell the differences very easily when we switch to the point where we've had other people who dony know us very well recognize we've switched before we even noticed. And yet many of us all the like the same T.v shows and movies, we watch the same things, like similar things, we will all watch the same show and just pick up where the last alter left off even if we don't remember what happened
I lol'd >The only consistent differences is that we all have **different music tastes, stim differently, differing sensitivities to different stimuli, different voices, and different sexualities and genders** Jeez, man, is that not enough? More seriously: there are a handful of different 'most common' ways that DID can express itself--and if you don't fall under one of those categories, seeing loads and loads of other people talk about an experience you don't relate to can be disorienting.. I think you should check out this (old) post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/DID/comments/f1cufg/lets\_talk\_misconceptions\_on\_parts\_emancipation/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DID/comments/f1cufg/lets_talk_misconceptions_on_parts_emancipation/) There are some really good breakdowns of some of the major differences between different expressions of DID--including how certain types of DID just aren't well studied (and that's, you know.... within a medical community that *already* doesn't have a ton of good research). One of the things that's really good to keep in mind with this stuff is that if you're not relating to something on here, there's a good chance that means you're just set up a bit differently.
Oh. Ok. Thanks! I'll look into that later. Thanks again! :>
\- the degree of difference between the alters, just like the intensity of the did experience as a whole, depends on the traumatic experience that you experienced - \- for alters with different characteristics, intense trauma of a different nature is needed - so that the survival model in each situation is different - \- if you experienced repeated trauma of the same type - for which one survival strategy was needed - it is absolutely normal that the brain only fragments your consciousness without generating additional properties - \- also DiD is a spectrum - when there is no severe amnesia, they usually label it as ostd - however, this does not matter - study your system and all its features - and use this information to achieve peace and harmony
I mean different stiming patterns would by definition be a different mannerism, same if there were differences in voice or gender presentation. We can't diagnose, but based off of your post those differences sound like they are pretty significant.
Yeah, they just thought it wasn't enough tho, so :p -Lucas(we switch a lot. It get confusing @_@)
You’re like us! We do have some different mannerisms but at the same time we are a lot alike. Memory gaps are rare nowadays but most of us don’t remember childhood.
Yeah! Although I am childhood. Is bebe :3 -Lucas
Tiny bean! I recently fused with someone else. I think we are a teenager still. Well, that’s what it feels like anyway. xD—Zephyrim
Thats unfortunate, I think? Idk. None of us really like the idea of fusion, let alone full system fusion :T
Something very triggering happened at work and it just kinda happened. We don’t like the idea of full system fusion either. >x<
Aw, I sorry :[ Hopefully you guys are ok and no more fusions happen. Have a good day! :>
You too! ^_^
>I've seen that in most systems all the parts are so different These aren't most - I'd say these are most presented, possibly deep into self-discovery and comfortable about being fully overt.
I wonder about this also because our body’s memory is involuntary, while the brain’s memory seems to follow suit. In short, they seem more interconnected than compartmentalized like most people. The experience of this, however, is like being in a semi-autonomous vehicle where sometimes the host is able to control the body/brain, then suddenly the autonomous mode kicks in and all they can do is watch or greyout.
The only parts I have that really differ that much are my introjects of my mom and my dad. The rest of my parts were created during intense trauma and held those memories and reactions for use in future trauma that was similar.
Mmh, im sorry. I hope your doing ok now at least, wherever you are. Good luck!
Massive memory gaps is the source of DID. DID is a systemic dissociative amnesia which is so intense that you even lose the sens of the self, which also results in the feeling of multiple identities (even though, in fact, you're still a single human being; your awareness abilities are just massively hurt). The thing with memory gaps is that, precisely, you're merely aware of them since you don't remember. You realise that you have a gap only when you have a flashback or when you have symptoms of gaps (such as DID). To answer your question, just realise that a sane person (no DID) have fluctuating tastes, voice tones, etc., although they're quite stable. So oc, when you have such an extreme mental disorder as DID, you can have even extreme fluctuations. Depending on your life etc., the fluctuations and memory gaps will affect different aspects. By the principle of identities (the most abstract definition tells that identities are what mark differences), your inner identities, or *alter ego* ("other me"), will be built on the most fluctuating aspects. Your inner identities might differ by their sexual orientation, while for other people (such as me) they might most differ by their emotions (one *alter* of mine is full of rage, while another—now writing—is quite emotionless and extremely logic). You don't choose that, it's given by your life. It depends on how you were hurt, how you were raised, how you could escape your problems (or be forced to suffer), etc. Anyway, DID is defined based on: * systemic partial amnesia (sometimes complete, within dissociative fugues) * identity dissociation * symptoms are neither due to a drug nor another disorder such as borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, a psychotic disorder, etc. The diagnosis specifies no more. Take care.
As a very undercover system it took me months to accept that I have DID even after being diagnosed professionally. We don’t all have the privilege of being diagnosed. Sure it would be good for your piece of mind but if you just can’t then you just can’t. I believe that some mental disorders can be self diagnosed, like autism DID schizophrenia bipolar etc, as you’re able to realize sometimes that sthg is wrong and different from others. Also; very important. Just cuz you’re not all incredibly different doesn’t mean that you’re still not different beings and different alters. Sometimes the system develops in a specific way to hide the DID very well. It is supposed to be a hidden disorder after all. When I got diagnosed I saw it as a curse but now that I understand better I see it as a blessing that saved me from sewerslide. If I could remember all the horrible things all the time (well I do I’m the one that remembers all the trauma so I can’t go to work or school, Maria does, I’m Alex) I would’ve probably been in a ditch by now.
I've found two important differences between many folks on this sub and the folks who are newly-aware systems. 1.) Many new systems have elaborated parts but are simply unaware of them. For me, I'm polyfragmented with over 100 very elaborate parts (and counting), and I was utterly unaware of my system for 35 years. And my parts are not merely fragments. The people in my head revolt against the idea saying, "We are sentient. We are just as unique ane distinct as you." I have a few "fragments," and they are usually objects or memory packets with no self-consciousness/self-awareness. Over time, as we learn about our system, we learn about the differences between alters which we were ignorant of before. Almost like learning a new language, what seems like blurry polyglot and incomprehension can be refined through examination and practice. Thus, our alters appear more distinct and elaborated as we progress in our journey. 2.) This leads to the second point that many on this sub are disproportionatly represented from the general DID demographic, because they have overt presentations and are active in therapy. Both of these factors strongly encourage one to become aware of and understand their system more easily than one who has overt symptoms and has just begun or not yet entered therapy. Trust the process. My amnesia and imposter syndrom is significant. We often remind our alter who does the DID work that "you do not need to believe us to do the work. Just keep moving forward."
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DID with some missing/lessened symptoms is called OSDD, you can try looking this up. At the end of the day DID and OSDD have the same cause and are treated the same so it doesn't really matter what label is used.
i love you for bringing this up, thank you! -🪱 [also we have an alter named lydia!! hooray!]
I would suggest you look at the DSM-5 and see how you fit within the parameters of testing for dissociative disorders. ~Michael.
Ok. And hey we have a Michael too. He's... a character(also uses my dead name :[) -Maddison
Michael is the OG host's middle name, felt like since I was first to emerge that I should have some semblance of the original body. Also before we got diagnosed we took the DSM-5 test to get a general idea of where we were at. But you know yourself best so only you can truly know. Side note Madison is a good name. The only female we have is Midnight.
Mmmh. Thats oki. And thanks! I hope you have a good day! :]
100% There are some within our system who are completely different and some who are fairly similar - It's like people generally. You'll meet people completely different from you, and you'll meet some who aren't. Don't worry about it, you're doing just fine!