Speaking of movies that depict DID

Have any of you seen "Identity"? It's got John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta, and Rebecca DeMornay in it. I don't want to give anything away, but it's a murder mystery. It's based on the idea that someone in it has DID. Anyway, I have a few questions.

God, no, I keep hearing thats what its about and keep forgetting to rent it. "Hide and Seek" with Robert DeNiro is also a DID movie.

I saw Identity and it freaked me out, but I understand why now...
PM me if you want or ask here...
I would love to discuss it!


Hide and seek is a DID movie... I will have to check it out thanks Guys!

Really?
Hide and Seek is?

I can't remember who watchedit but I never realised anything!

Ohh deary me...

I'm gonna have to watch it again now!

Annnnyyyywaaayyyy.....other DID movies:

Perfect Blue (animation) by Satoshi Kon.
It upset me majorly, just warning in case anyone hasn't seen it.

Oh double deary me..I just discovered that Darren Arronofsky has bought the filming rights to this animation...damn, he's the other director whose films make me cry.
Don'cha just love the wonder of knowledge that is IMDB?

Thanks for the feedback. I'll have to rent "Hide and Seek" sometime. It sounds interesting.

As for "Identity", there are some scenarios in the film that I don't think would play out in real life. They just don't seem feasible for DID. Yes, I realize it's only fiction... I am just using the movie to see what is and isn't normal/possible for someone with DID.

Here's a list of the things I have questions about:
1. Can you have three different identities form a family identity within the host without them realizing they are part of a "collective"? I'm talking about George and Alice York and the little boy identity, Timmy.
2. To take that question further, can alters meet "inside" the host without realizing they are part of one entity?
3. Are the locations and scenery in which your alters live as vivid in the imagination as they were in the film? I know that you can "create" an environment for them (playrooms for the little ones, locked rooms for the self-harming ones)... but are they as realistic and detailed as a movie scene, almost like a dream sequence?
4. Is integration like alters actually dying? The murders in the film were supposedly depicting that... can it be a violent scene in your perception?
5. I've seen movies where an alter kills people while the others are unaware and/or innocent (Identity, Primal Fear--sort of). Have any of you heard about this actually happening in a documented DID case?

I'm sure there are other things I will mention later. And I suppose these questions don't necessarily require someone to have seen the movie to answer them.

Let me know what you think.

Okay let me see if I can answer some of these questions from our perspective. . .

1) The family aspect,
I dont have a whole family unit inside, but I have groups of alters that are twins, sisters, and sisters and brothers. That is familial so I don't see why a group of alters couldnt come together as a family. The host created the alters, and if the host was in need of a family to protect themselves I could see the host creating those alters as deemed necessary.

2) Some of my alters knew each other before they knew me. Some of my alters don't believe that they are part of a system, of one body, they believe that they have their own separate body, identity everything and use it as such. It takes a lot of work and alot of help to get them to understand that they are a part of a bigger system. So to answer that question, yes, it happened within our system.

3) I think it depends on your imagination and what you create. Obviously the director had an extremely vivid imagination and had the materials to produce very realistic and believable scenes. Our is an abyss constantly creating and changing and shaping and imagining. If a system or even a singleton wanted an inside escape to look realistic all they have to do is visualize it. It helps to have seen a place similiar to be able to see more details, but details can be imagined as well.

4) As I have never experienced integration (as far as I know) I cannot say for sure if it is really like killing an alter. However, I do know that my alters are terrified of integration because they think that it will be like murder. From what I have been told, and read, it is not violent at all but very peaceful and affirming. Integration is supposed to take place when both the alter and host feel that they would perform better as a whole. Bringing the selves together would cause a unity that would only bring peace and wholeness. I imagine it to be like a chorus singing beautiful harmonies and then coming into one voice. It peaceful.

5) In the 1980's criminals used DID then MPD to be psychologically dismissed in court. Many people feigned symptoms, and claimed they did not remember due to another personality taking over. Many of these people did not have DID. But such was the hype and such is our distress in getting society to believe and help us.
I personally believe that it could very well happen. We all know that with DID there are blocks of time where you have absolutely no idea what has happened, where you have been, or what you did. We have have switched back in unfamiliar places, with injuries, in the middle of important performance or presentations, tired, hungry, sick, and have no idea what has happened. I know from personal experience that alters do things without your knowledge. However it is my understand and my systems understanding that we myself and my others, will not go against my personal beliefs, moral fibers, and we will not break any laws. I know that I have violent and self harming alters, but they cannot hurt anyone else (anyone outside the system) and if they try another alter or several will stop them. During our abuse, we were forced to hurt others, but it was not of our own free will.

I hope this helps. Sorry the explanations are so long!
~Amber and All

I saw hide and seek. The stupid production company srewed the ending though. Go into special features and watch the alternate ending that the director wanted.

Identity and Hide and Seek have been on our 'to-watch' list for some time now, we should rent them sometime.. I see Amber and all already answered your questions, we'll just give you a bit of our perspective too in case it will help.

1. Can you have three different identities form a family identity within the host without them realizing they are part of a "collective"? I'm talking about George and Alice York and the little boy identity, Timmy.
Yes, you can..
2. To take that question further, can alters meet "inside" the host without realizing they are part of one entity?
Yes, a lot of our alters once believed our inner world to be THE world and the people (alters) there to be simply neighbors etcetera..
3. Are the locations and scenery in which your alters live as vivid in the imagination as they were in the film? I know that you can "create" an environment for them (playrooms for the little ones, locked rooms for the self-harming ones)... but are they as realistic and detailed as a movie scene, almost like a dream sequence?
Yes, our inner world is extremely vivid with mountains and forests and brooks and a lake and animals and different kinds of houses.. even a climate.
4. Is integration like alters actually dying? The murders in the film were supposedly depicting that... can it be a violent scene in your perception?
Real integration supposedly isn't as Amber and all explained, the alters are said to become aspects of a personality instead of a whole personality by themselves. I have read about people with DID experiencing deaths though, but this had nothing to do with integration.. it was about the alters no longer being necessary, and instead of simply continuing to live inside, they died.. and some people did have horror scenes accompanying this, I once read a story about someone with DID jumping away from a car that they were about to collide with, and them seeing one of their alters in front of it. Weird, I know.. but because of these accounts I guess alters dying does happen in strange cases, but it hasn't got anything to do with integration. An aspect of the whole actually starts to miss. But sometimes people mistake alters for being dead while they actually went to lead their lives REALLY deep inside or merged with another or anything.. not in the movie obviously, but it's sometimes the case.
5. I've seen movies where an alter kills people while the others are unaware and/or innocent (Identity, Primal Fear--sort of). Have any of you heard about this actually happening in a documented DID case?
Very well possible, although it's been abused as Amber and all have stated..

Thank you both for your long, well-thought-out answers. Lots of food for thought, and I am always eager to learn.

Right, now I've seen Identity and I see why you have so many questions, Chickadee; it's a really good film, albeit scary!

Thought I'd give you my feedback on your questions too...

1. Can you have three different identities form a family identity within the host without them realizing they are part of a "collective"? I'm talking about George and Alice York and the little boy identity, Timmy.

I think so. I don't have any parent alters, but I do have two brothers. I think...the idea that they are in the same body, or that they could be the same person, to them it's just absurd. Well the younger one at least, doesn't realise anything, or so I believe.

2. To take that question further, can alters meet "inside" the host without realizing they are part of one entity?

Yes. My alters did it in stories for ages. And sometimes in dreams. This kept happening all the way through childhood, until I pieced together what was going on.

3. Are the locations and scenery in which your alters live as vivid in the imagination as they were in the film? I know that you can "create" an environment for them (playrooms for the little ones, locked rooms for the self-harming ones)... but are they as realistic and detailed as a movie scene, almost like a dream sequence?

Yeah, this is the question I like answering best. My host is an artist and creative writer, and she invents all sorts of environments and worlds in her head; so vivid and real that it almost hurts to think that we can't show anyone else in THIS world...the closest we can get is painting a picture of what we see. That's what I liked about Identity, because the environments his alters existed in were so vivid and I don't think I've ever seen a film that portrays it that strongly before...

4. Is integration like alters actually dying? The murders in the film were supposedly depicting that... can it be a violent scene in your perception?

Well, I've never experienced integration, and it scares me to think about it. I felt a bit upset watching the murders in the film because...well I've killed alters before. I feel really guilty, but it had to happen for the story, and for my health i guess... It was a really violent scene; he was a masochist... and it's upsetting because it really is like someone you know and love is dying. The loss you feel...it scares me to imagine that it could ever happen to any of us again...I don't want it to. I think in terms of my own experience, the film got the murder thing pretty accurate.

5. I've seen movies where an alter kills people while the others are unaware and/or innocent (Identity, Primal Fear--sort of). Have any of you heard about this actually happening in a documented DID case?

Nope. I don't really research much into documented court cases... I think it would just irritate me somehow... I read a book once (sorry, forgotten the author) where a killer had DID and his alters were unaware of what he had done.

Hope it helps!