Wednesday 19 October 2011

Meeting someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder

I have a feeling I met someone with DID today. She didn't tell me she had DID, but she was telling me she had mental health problems and she said that sometimes 'I'm like a child' and then she started to cry and closed up. I so wanted to ask her what she meant. I knew she felt I wouldn't understand. I would have.

Maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions. I probably look out for it on some level when I meet people through work. I guess in a way, I want to find other people like me so that I won't feel so alone. Maybe I'm curious too. Are others like me? Will there be something about them that I identify with immediately?

It reminds me a bit of (and don't read too much into this) growing up in the cult. I was so different from other people around me in the world. Meeting other people from my organisation, even if they lived on the other side of the world and I never met them before, you'd immediately have a connection because you knew you had the same strange beliefs and lifestyle. You could immediately relate to anyone in the cult.

DID is the same in many ways, in that it seems that my unusual ways of being and thinking are shared by others and no matter if we've never met before, I can read your blogs and you can read mine and more often than not, we'll go: "Yeah, I know exactly what that feels like".

I think I just crave to physically meet people who I can have the same understanding with.

4 comments:

Ruth said...

I have a friend with DID. It is such a relief to talk to her because when she says she understands, she does. I may have integrated but I still understand her. I think DID is one of life's experiences that can't be explained. Keep looking. I am finding people online. Just know that my experience taught me to be very careful who I admitted that I had DID. My friend and I got to know each other online first. We then learned that we lived in the same city.

JustEliza said...

I notice dissociation in other people especially children now -- and not everyone knows they are doing it, so it is somewhat unnerving. I do look out for it. I think it's much more prevalent than people say and I want to know how other people do it and still be okay.

It would be nice to meet real people with DID but I'd probably be just as scared of them as I am of everyone. Especially if they have any aggressive parts.

I like to think that I'd have enough space in me to contain the extraordinary experiences of someone with DID (where other people might reject it or be scared of it), but I won't know until I try.

torchwoodfan said...

hi i really hope you find someone you can relate too its like finding the last piece of a puzzle its hard finding someone who is going through the same as you.im starting a course soon with others with BPD so im hoping i will find some one like me too i hope its someone you can meet up again with good luck

Meronym said...

I know several others with DID. And those that I know well, it's kind of exciting to talk about how our different parts interrelate. But I have an acquaintance with a few other multis, and it makes me really nervous when I have to interact with them. I want to get to know them, but I feel like I'm expected to be better at relating to them because we share that issue, but it means that there are several of me getting to know several of them. What if one of us switches mid-conversation? What if we both do? Who's going to keep track of which alters are out? I feel like I need a Keeper with me to make sure I behave well.