Do I have DID?

Tightrope wrote:I'm a grown woman with children. I'm too old to be sleeping with dolls.

My T pretty much insisted that I purchase teddy bears for the younger parts who need to learn to self-comfort. I respect my T very much and she doesn't see a problem with it. I didn't like it for the same reason as you, but found it helped, so pretty much had to do what works. So make that two grown women sleeping with dolls.

Una+ wrote:I need to avoid this thread for a while. But I can manage to say that I hear you.

I'm sorry if something I've said has upset you Thanks for hearing me.

-- Thu Dec 29, 2011 7:07 pm --

InfinitD wrote:

Tightrope wrote:I'm a grown woman with children. I'm too old to be sleeping with dolls.

My T pretty much insisted that I purchase teddy bears for the younger parts who need to learn to self-comfort. I respect my T very much and she doesn't see a problem with it. I didn't like it for the same reason as you, but found it helped, so pretty much had to do what works. So make that two grown women sleeping with dolls.

Thank you

Tightrope wrote: I'm a grown woman with children. I'm too old to be sleeping with dolls.

My therapist pretty much insisted that I should get a toy to cuddle and hug to soothe the younger parts too. So that makes three grown women sleeping with dolls.

I'm sorry to hear you were so sad and upset though...

Tightrope wrote:

Una+ wrote:I need to avoid this thread for a while. But I can manage to say that I hear you.

I'm sorry if something I've said has upset you

It wouldn't have been anything you said. Something here just may have reminded Una+ of some painful memories or feelings. That wouldn't be your fault. That would be the fault of whoever or whatever initially caused Una+ the original pain. I hope you feel better soon Una+. I think it's good you can stay safe by avoiding stuff that might be triggering to you. That is a very healthy to do.

Make that 4, only no dolls just a boy teddy (I now know the little I know is a boy). But i got the teddy as a gift about 14 years ago when I was hospitalized for a non MH illness. And I had no family around during this time. I latched on to this teddy he went everywhere with me including professional conferences! Little did I know of the significance if this. And when I started dating my now H he found it endearing that such a hardened person became so soft with her bear. We ended up saving a second bear from "bear labour" selling candles at a department store. These are our boys. I had to give mine up for 3 years as my son fell in love with him. He is battered with love now and I have him back. And boy it is nice! (he's moved on to dragons and such) I also carry little plastic dinosaurs in my pockets all of the time and have them in my office at work. I am lucky I have kids so I put their art up all over my office but now that I think about it I think it makes the younger ones feel more comfortable there.

Sam

So does my sleeping with my dolls mean I have "young parts"?

I'm trying so hard to just be open and curious and not invent or deny anything, but I really don't know what's going on... I'm feeling more lost and confused every day.

Today I realized that every time I am cooking and I leave the kitchen, I set a timer - why? because for a few years now if I didn't set a timer to remind me to check on what I was cooking, I'd completely forget about it until it was burned and the house was filling with smoke. So I set a timer, and when the timer goes off I don't always automatically remember that it's the timer - I look outside for a car backing up, or I pause the TV or turn down the radio thinking it's something on there sometimes first - then I remember that I'm cooking and go to the kitchen. It's just become a habit now, but is it relevant to this discussion?

Also, I'm dissociating a lot less the last few days - the stress of the holidays and all that is over and I wonder if stress/anxiety are triggers for my dissociation? Is that weird? I have very different triggers for flashbacks, those are more concrete. When I had some stressful news/event happen a few hours ago I started shaking badly and dissociated most of the rest of the evening away.

Tightrope wrote:the stress of the holidays and all that is over and I wonder if stress/anxiety are triggers for my dissociation? Is that weird?

Not at all.

Many of us have trouble keeping on task in our daily activities when experiencing a lot of dissociative symptoms. I know how frustrating it is to discover having wasted hours in a blur of dissociative trance or depersonalization. I am finding grounding skills are very helpful for ending those episodes in a short time.

Tightrope wrote:So does my sleeping with my dolls mean I have "young parts"?

Does anyone have an answer for this question?




I still don't know for sure what's going on with me, and I probably won't for a long time, but if nothing changes I don't think I have DID from what I've been reading here and elsewhere. I think I'm definitely on the spectrum, and if I do have DID I am completely unaware of any alters at the moment. I do think there are different parts of me that are different in many ways from each other, but they are all part of me and I am mostly aware of what's going on (mostly = dissociative blur), and even when I am not aware of what's going on it's not because someone else has taken over, I appear to just be unresponsive.

Did anyone start out like this and eventually progress to identifiable alters? I just want to be aware of what my future may/may not hold. I see my T tomorrow for the first time in 2 weeks and I'm a little scared to talk to him about the dolls and what happened with all of that. An hour just doesn't seem long enough most of the time, there is just SO much to cover in such a short period of time.

imo. Sleeping with dolls does not automatically mean you have younger parts. I have heard of many people that sleep with comforting objects as adults.

Tightrope wrote:An hour just doesn't seem long enough most of the time, there is just SO much to cover in such a short period of time.

I had the same issue and finally my T let me try 2 hour appointments. I figured a two hour appointment every 2 weeks would be better than 1 hour every week. It has made a HUGE difference and the others are able to work up the courage to come more easily. It costs more because insurance doesn't pay the second hour, but so worth it. And I decided to stick with every week, even regardless of the cost because it helps so much. Discuss it with your T and mention that you just can't get what you need in one hour. My T was skeptical at first, saying that in all these years she never had a client that got help when they tried 2 hours (that they ran out of things to discuss after about an hour) but she still gave it a try and agreed that it helped me.

I agree with infinitD if you can afford it.

The sleeping with dolls, no it doesn't mean you have DID, or a little but you might have an inner child which most ppl have and I think the happiest ppl engage. I read an article recently that a significant number of ppl who travel a lot for work like sales ppl etc have doll/stuffed toy they take with them. And I am sure they all don't DID or littles because it was somewhere like 30-60%, LOL! The one thing that dolls and stuffed toys do, and it does the same whether you a little, DID or just an inner child, is it makes us feel less lonely. SO don't be worried about this part if it just makes you feel better.

Sam