Dissociative Identity Or Psychosis?

Hey DID'ers.

I'm a quite profuse poster on the other forums on here but I've yet to post here. But, I've been having a problem & I wanted to get your opinions. I've mainly just posted about this on the Borderline forum, under the topic of "dissociative symptoms". Well, I have problems with "becoming" other people. It feels like Dissociative Identity. The first is Kerry, a girl I met at the psych hospital. She was just an acquaintance, but over the past year, I've created a whole persona that takes over me. Different posture, mannerisms, personality, etc. I hate looking in mirrors because I have red-orange hair when I take on this persona, & I have a different face & everything, so I can't stand looking in the mirror & seeing someone else. Kerry is composed & apathetic. Loves Pepsi & doesn't eat. Hence, the Anorexia comes into play. Along with self-destruction.

I'm having a hard time because I can't relate to you other DID'ers exactly. Also, this isn't a persona I "made up" entirely, like I said, it's based off a woman I met. So.. is this a feature of DID, or is more a type of Psychosis? My therapist tends to call it a psychosis.

I wanted to know you're opinions.

Hi, I just wanted to respond to let you know it is possible to have personalities based on people you know/knew. I have an alter who's been around since I was a child, but took on the life of someone I met and their name, despite their personalities being completely different.
He uses details of this guy's life and applied characteristics to himself, so it is possible
As for you seeing your reflection as different, it could be that you have some sort of co-concious DID where you're aware of the switch even if you can't properly control it, you can see it happening almost.
I couldn't tell you if you do definately have DID, but it sounds that it could be a possibility.

Sorry if that didn't help much!
Take care

Hi, MMonroe

carpediem46 is right about it being possible to create personalities based on other people. Are you still in control of your body, when you're Kerry?

You said Kerry is "the first"... are there others?

canolime wrote: Are you still in control of your body, when you're Kerry?

You said Kerry is "the first"... are there others?

I'm still in control of my body, yes. But I can't really control my posture, it seems I "have" to sit up straight like she did, & walk with a certain... Well, a certain way, I can't describe it. I guess you could call that mannerisms.

There is another. Her name is Darian Jones. She isn't as strong as Kerry but she comes out of nowhere sometimes. Very mysterious persona. I always crave cigarettes when I feel like Darian. Even though I don't smoke.

With DID, when an alter is in control, you usually won't have any control over your body. Of course there are in between stuff, like one person can be in control of most of the body, while another has control over certain parts of the body... and if you're in control of the body, but someone is close to the front (inside), they can influence the person in control. But yeah, if someone else is out, you shouldn't really have control. Hmm... if that's too confusing, let me know

How did Daria Jones come about? You still have control while her, too, right?

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask

Yes, I still have control with Darian. Hmm... Maybe its simply psychotic features? I have been diagnosed as having those with my Borderline PD. Also, when I first met Kerry (only knew her a few days), I had an hallucination about/with her. Surely thats more psychotic then dissociative?

I'm just trying to figure out where these features lie. Closer to DID or closer to Schizophrenia? Just trying to see because I might be developing one. Usually people with DID have it in their childhood right? While Schizophrenia tends to develop in the late adolescent/early adult years...

I'm very high-functioning by the way. Most of my problems are simply mental, not behavioural.

Maybe.

MMonroe wrote:I had an hallucination about/with her. Surely thats more psychotic then dissociative?

Yeah, I would think so. With DID, I think the closest thing to hallucinations is usually like hearing their alters or having flashbacks. I'm thinking it sounds more like psychosis, than dissociation, but then my opinion doesn't really count

MMonroe wrote:Usually people with DID have it in their childhood right? While Schizophrenia tends to develop in the late adolescent/early adult years...

Right. I don't think DID can develop in adulthood. If you haven't told your therapist everything, you probably should... or see a new one, if you don't think your current one is helpful.