parts holding specific skills?

i am a writer and artist however i can only do so when in specific mind states, particularly art. i struggle to draw well and then i will go into a trance state and create very advanced paintings; these states last for days and i cannot sleep or think of anything until the pieces are finished. when i attempt to work on something without this state i can't produce art at that level and they remain sketchy unfinished things. i did think for a while that i was channelling some spiritual force or entity but i am wondering if it is an alter? does anyone have similar experiences?

skin wrote:does anyone have similar experiences?

Yes, absolutely. This is totally normal in DID but it occurs also in many creative people more generally. Everyone has ego states; persons with DID have dissociated ego states.

that makes a lot of sense. the discrepency in ability is quite large though; this is an example of what i produce when in that mind state http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/ ... 5g6994.jpg (from last year) and this is what i manage (or not) otherwise http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/ ... 6l5s30.jpg (from this weekend)

style, technique and technical ability are vastly different. do you know of any methods of focusing on and channelling this kind of mind state? i would ideally like a career in this field but this inconsistency means taking commissions or other freelance work is difficult as there are many skilled artists to employ, and a reliable professional is always going to stand out vs someone who cannot always meet deadlines or produce quality work.

Yep
I am the only one in our system that can draw, Myra is amazing at hoop dancing (even though a few of us do this, she makes us look like the amateurs we are), Birch can build and fix things that we have no idea how they work and the Other was a writer.
We can try to do each other's skills, but it never comes out the same. It's one way we try to beat back denial when it comes around because the difference is too obvious to ignore.


Both of your art pieces are really good.

Oh my god that drawing you did in that trance state is really amazing! I would never give up drawing if I were you! So cool!

And yes, we play the violin but some of us can play it lots better than others. I don't know who can and who can't, and I can't switch to them at will so this creates lots of trouble and awkward situations. Practicing for a week and then not being able to play even half as well as the entire week.. Not even knowing what causes it to sound like crap this time cause I don't notice that I'm doing it really differently and I forget how it's supposed to be done. I have the same question regarding learning to call upon those states of mind more easily and reliably so I'm keeping an eye on this thread. When I learned about state dependent learning I realized that there must be a way to steer myself into that state somehow. I learned so far that I shouldn't listen to music before I start playing, and that I basically have to 'be' the instrument. But it's really hard to let myself get absorbed into the instrument enough to let go of myself at specific times, especially fear makes it hard to let go. So does a busy head.
My teacher has even come to rely on this "click" that she sees in me and keeps mentioning. I don't notice this click at all but she does.. I only notice it when I come back and notice that I don't remember what I played and how I played it.

We have a lot of skills like this, but one in particular is singing. A few of us are known for being really good, while others are terrible singers. We have one alter who's tone-deaf. That really surprised us when we found out that one. It's interesting to hear the differences in our singing voices when out.

Pretty sure there's one who likes- well, used to like- writing poetry a whole lot. No poetry happens anymore though, maybe she is not there either? I'm still new to this, so I dunno.

There is definitely one who specifically comes out for performing, and one for sports but it may be her too. She doesn't take over all the time, but still seems to be there, I guess more co-conscious it'd be called? But as soon as it's time to do a performance on stage or a sports game, she is there doing amazingly. With sports with friends though, like general volleyball, when she isn't there, I'm one of the worst players. People get confused why "I" switch from awesome to bad like that.

Oh, and one's super skilled at video-games, which again confuses people, how I'll go from being last place each time against my friends to completely outshining them and even winning a tournament once at my high school!

I don't know anything about any spiritual forces but yes different parts can hold different skills. If you have child parts, trying to draw and discovering all drawings come out like they are done by a child is a great way to end up believing you cannot consistently perform when it comes to drawing and therefore cannot draw... when in fact you may be drawing very well for a six year old

chococat159 wrote:We have a lot of skills like this, but one in particular is singing. A few of us are known for being really good, while others are terrible singers. We have one alter who's tone-deaf. That really surprised us when we found out that one. It's interesting to hear the differences in our singing voices when out.

I just deliberately sing out of tune sometimes like when on my own in the car.lol trying to bring out feelings of hatred in relation to being forced to do things and understand them so I guess sometimes I'll sing how I feel, not how anyone else would want me to. for a start, singing sweetly like female vocalists would be meant to isn't really me in a lot of ways and no one is paying me to sing in the shower never really tried the whole thing of getting different parts of me to sing and observing, lol. then again sometimes maybe i cant sing, who knows - possibly more likely i dont want to on some level though.

oh man, singing. yes for sure, singing massively varies for me. sometimes i can't sing at all, the voice is very awkward and off pitch, and sometimes i sing like a pro.

age difference definately makes sense, the child mind state i get into often wants to colour and draw; it tends to be very much a diversionary thing. if the child state takes over in an emotionally difficult scenario very quickly we become focused on having to colour in something or look for food. i hadn't considered that drawing ability could be affected by varying mental age.

i hadn't considered that drawing ability could be affected by varying mental age.

it definitely can, lol. not sure i've kept any "masterpieces" i attempted while dissociating