Finding everyone in your system

At a recent T session, Sphinx told me that there were other alters not discovered as yet. He said there were "pockets of unknown" in the mind, indicating there are others we haven't found. He doesn't know who they are, or exactly how many beyond "a few." I don't think he knows how to reach them though I think he'd be willing to try if I asked.

I can't help but wonder how the heck he senses that without knowing any more specifics. Still, I know he's a very different kind of alter than the rest of us and has different skills -- and limitations -- than I do. But it begs the question for me: how does a DID system know when you've found everyone?

Does anyone have certainty they've met every alter and if so, how did that happen? We want to find everyone but I'd prefer not to pull them out, if we could even figure out how to do that.

hi
i have only been diagnosed for a year i have 4 alters but they tell me there is more sometimes i feel like someone else wants to come out but doesnt i guess only time will tell
i have no idea how to tell when they have all appeared

See this post: post1964038.html#p1964038

Not an ideal way to go about it, but completely trustworthy nonetheless.

Sorry we can't be more helpful.

MDs

-- Sat Apr 15, 2017 3:41 am --

PS....Maybe you haven't found them all because those who are still hidden are not yet ready to be found. Probably not what you want to hear, but....

MDs

i have no idea. we always say "15+"
some of us have a certain kind of intuition and can feel when someone has been in our home and sometimes even who it has been from a change in the atmopshere and if it feels familiar or not.
maybe there is an intuition for the space of the inner world that can detent traces of others? but when you dont know them the shift just tells you there is someone new...
i hope that makes sense. for us it would make complete sense

i am not sure how that is done. in my system, i know that there are several layers from very hidden to some who can be closer to the surface/active. i have only been able to sense that there are more that i do not know and believe there are at least 30 if not more, some more fragments and more pieces of emotion, experiences, etc. and not like others who have more depth to them, but all are important no matter what.

my system is also very, very hidden, and the others don't often take a lot of control, if any, over my body. it is more influencing from the inside, though sometimes some can be more like 95% in control and i'm like 5% in control, etc. and variations like that since we can mix together. i sometimes get confused by that and wonder why and think it must mean i don't struggle 'as much' as others who do have full black outs/time loss, but i also realize as i've gotten older, i have gotten stronger, so they haven't had to be around as much either.

but yeah. i still don't know how to get to know each part. it has taken me years to get to know many because when they are not all active or you only meet them once or twice, it's hard to get a lot of information and also hard to be able to work with them/help them when they aren't around so much. i am told i can still talk to them even if they aren't nearby, but it doesn't feel like it would do much good unless they are nearby since i don't know if they can all hear me or not. i still don't know who knows who inside, when they came to be, how communication works (except for me since i can feel/hear them at times), etc.

Hey Johnny-Jack,

I have a vague awareness of the amount of alters in our system. Sometimes I think the number has changed—the way I count will be different, but generally the range of alters I am actually aware of and account for will be around 14–19 (give or take the indistinct alters in some subsystems). However I know there are also more, simply because I haven't looked very deeply and also cannot account for new alters that may appear in the future. (However, given that we're at very different points in our journeys, you all may not have to confront the idea of new alters coming into the system as immediately as we do.)

How do you know when you've found everyone? This question, which comes off as abstract and hypothetical, can become a question you can act on and investigate by asking instead, "How do you know that there are more left to meet?" Skills and intuitions aside, the answer to this question is a little easier to piece together. Here are some options that come to mind:
Lost time, new writings, etc. can correlate to an alter with amnestic barrier that you haven't contacted yet
Frequently re-occurring dreams with a person/group of people who seem significant could be an alter/group of alters who are trying to establish contact
Unexplainable made emotions or thoughts could be from someone you haven't met yet
Patterns of when you make progress on meeting alters can reveal if/when there are more to meet
Inner-world exploration of areas that you haven't seen yet may reveal alters you haven't met yet

When these options (and all else!) have been exhausted, and you truly cannot find any more alters in your system that you haven't already accounted for, you have found everyone. I hope it doesn't sound condescending—sometimes the only way to know something is done is to do it yourself.

I hope these ideas can bring a little insight (:

Here's a very helpful web page for finding all alters: http://www.net-burst.net/counselor-ther ... -alter.htm Haven't read it all, so I don't know if it's that helpful for you, JJ.

Interested in seeing how you find your hidden alters. So far, our gatekeeper has been sending our unknown people up front steadily, but, like Sphinx, there are places in our mind that he doesn't have access to. We will likely run into the problem you're having. Be careful.

- Imre

For those that don't have to worry about further splintering like our personal experiences. I don't have the answer to that question, but what I suggest is once you get a great number and you start to enjoy the benefits of alters. I would make it point to deprogram from searching for any. I would say work on that with you therapist, making sure there is a plan to say it can't be that many left seing as though the number is great already. Any time lost by this phase you need to search for more of the memories images anything that says evidence of the further truth.

I would think that would mean being adamant about using the map to discuss alters in depth not claiming anyone unless you know other circumstances to be true. If and when this trial and error logic fails deal with it accordingly if someone else evidences.

Thanks for the link. On first reading, it seems like mostly sound advice and the author seems benevolent and informed, they certainly put a lot of effort and thought into this. It's written from a Christian perspective.

I'm aware that a lot of good work on DID has been done and written about by Christian counsellors. But I'll have to read it in small doses and pick out the good points, since certain statements or assumptions about reality are really triggering for us.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about the Christian side of it. We're Christian, so that was a huge plus to us. I know how you feel, though, about reading things about DID written from another theological viewpoint. Hope it's still helpful.

- Imre