How divided can memories be?

I wonder how strongly memories can be split up between different parts of a brain.

I get very different views/emotions on a series of events by different members of me and somehow I wonder how that could be possible that one part still can have good memories and emotions of a place or persons and absolutely no memory of bad stuff that might have happened there, while other parts have very disturbing memories of the same place/person.

As a (fictive) example: Let's say one little remembers going to a gym course for children and has vivid happy memories of it. They remember some of the exercises and are still love to try this out despite us getting too old for it. They also remember friends they had there. But there is an other part of, who has no happy memories at all, but can get rather horrified by only mentioning the place or the teacher there. Fragments of their memories show inappropriate behavior of persons there and everything screams, to not go there ever again. Bu the happy part continues to go back, and even years later wishes to go back.

How does this add up? Is one part (or even both) delusional? Or can it happen, that the negative emotions are so strongly separated and tied to one part, that an other part can be totally oblivious about it?

It confuses me, how inconsistent our memories and emotions are. I myself am a very unemotional part and I'm more focused on doing stuff, instead of remembering them. But it seems to be a recurring pattern, that other parts of me have very divided emotions and even memories about the same things.

Kiran

Muninn wrote:one part still can have good memories and emotions of a place or persons and absolutely no memory of bad stuff that might have happened there, while other parts have very disturbing memories of the same place/person.

Kiran

This is how and why DID happens. It preserves the good memories and feelings and separates the bad ones as a means of survival. Both are true--at least the feelings are, even if the memories aren't necessarily exact.

I agree with theGang, what you describe is classic structural dissociation.
the apparently normal memories get separated from the traumatic ones.
that's what it is all about. that is not delusional, it is just not integrated into a whole picture that would show the more complete truth of what happened. truth is separated into chunks we can cope with.

Thanks for your replies!

And I'm sorry if I'm asking too obvious questions.
Sometimes I feel, like my brain, or let's say my part of the brain, is rebooting every few days and I have to start from scratch with understanding what's going on and how this can be ever possible.

It helped to do some web searching for structural dissociation, which I probably have done already 20times in the past...
This is also some kind of proof, that apparently my own memories tend to be quite selective too and maybe that is a pattern in my brain in general.

It is still difficult for me to grasp how this all works and why of all brains my own decided that it is a good thing to divide memories and emotions on quite a lot of parts and keep them as disconnected as possible...

This is exactly how it happens sometimes.

A couple of us who are (by design, more or less) trauma-phobic have had specific memories of one event or place that are quite positive, if not accurate, while others alters retain the memory of trauma.

If you read more about DID, you'll find that it actually helps to preserve functionality in a child who experiences repeated traumas and have no way to heal from them. It's not that there's a problem with your mind, it helped you cope and survive.

I know discovering so much amnesia (in some alters) can be really frustrating but it has had benefits and two of them are a degree of sanity and functionality.

I sometimes feel like there's a whole other system that I know nothing about but I could be being paranoid. Every time I thought I knew of all parts another part would appear so that's where my paranoia comes from but it could be there is a whole other system I know nothing about.

Our friends from team PSI discover new alters very often. Apparently, new ones can pop up every once in a while all life long if the system needs it.

Muninn: if you realize that you "reboot" often, maybe it would be wise to put together some sort of manual to help you through the "reboots"? You could gather all the needed informations in it and have them easily accessible instead of looking for them every time.

-X-

If you read more about DID, you'll find that it actually helps to preserve functionality in a child who experiences repeated traumas and have no way to heal from them. It's not that there's a problem with your mind, it helped you cope and survive.

I know discovering so much amnesia (in some alters) can be really frustrating but it has had benefits and two of them are a degree of sanity and functionality.

You are right. It probably was a helpful tool and maybe it is still to some degree, or at least it still helps, because the brain is so divided, that not every part is able to cope with what other parts are doing.

But it is still annoying to be so scattered in pieces.

Muninn: if you realize that you "reboot" often, maybe it would be wise to put together some sort of manual to help you through the "reboots"? You could gather all the needed information in it and have them easily accessible instead of looking for them every time.

That is a good idea. I have already noted some basic stuff, but most deeper insights are buried in a mass of journal entries, or in some posts here and it is difficult to find them.

Thanks for your suggestions and replies!
Kiran