Questions regarding Inner Worlds

tomboy24, you bring up some interesting points about the inner world. Thank you for sharing.

While I've started to doubt whether my 'inner world' actually exists, I've got some flashes that seemed, in short, much more 'real' than usual imagination. I'll see what that'll mean.

Every time I start to investigate the inside, I'm being blocked and/or pulled back. Really annoying, 'cause I want to know what's there. The flashes seem to come from a different place, so maybe I am able to get there? Well, I'll have to wait I guess.

Two related threads:
* What's the "inner world" like for you guys?
* Your Headspace?

Quantum wrote:For the most part, over the years I have been the host... I mean, it's very difficult to say that with confidence, but two others have served as the host temporarily during my middle-school high-school days, while a third personality served as the host for approximately one year--after a near-death experience--before he dissolved altogether. To whom does this part of the world belong? Do some of the alters have other planets while they're inside? And if so, why can I see this one and not the others? Or is it simply a hub between them? How did you sort these things out?

If you'd like to read more about our inner worlds, and a bit more about how they work, you can do so here:
http://www.psychforums.com/dissociative-identity/topic105434.html

Everyone's different, though. You might not have different inner worlds, you might have one large inner world with different areas, you might have different levels, kinda like the floors of a house, you might have different realms, everyone's different. It'll take some time before you learn more about your inner world. I mean, for like, at least 7 years Cassandra thought there was only one inner world and that was her inside-based one. It might not take that long for you, but it's not going to be revealed overnight.

As for everything else, Kyra talks in the thread that I posted above about why we, in our system, can't see the other inner worlds and how we didn't know about them, and a bit about how we "jumped" through them, and such. But again, everyone's different. How we get through our inner worlds might not be the same as how you learn how to get through your's if you have them.

Quantum wrote:One of the others seems to lurk somewhere beneath the citadel, inside a "crypt..." May lead somewhere else? In any case that is his place. Another alter apparently works in his own section of the citadel. But I haven't found a section that would belong to the other three. When I started looking in my mind, my protective other came out and started being angry. He basically told me I was being reckless and it was dangerous to go poking around like that, and how he works his **S off trying to protect me.

It could possibly lead to somewhere else. Or it could hold something, like memories or emotions or something. Or it could be empty, or symbolic, or something. Time will tell.

Yeah, lots of people run into problems with protector alters not wanting them to find out about things, even their inner world, or barriers that have been put up to block them out, and stuff like that. Give it time, and try explaining to the protector that you're only trying to learn more about yourself, and explaining that it's ok for you to learn about this stuff now. They might not believe you at first, that's normal, but then again, as repetitive as it is, everything takes time.


~Phenix

Well, outside the citadel, beyond the gate, there is an entire forest. I have never been able to explore it, but I know that some alters/fragments reside there. An introject fragment who is a witch and from what I know my kid alter lives somewhere out there as well; it's where he goes to hide. I suspect strongly that he has an entire world of his own, the way to which he keeps secret probably to protect it from the harm of the abuser.

But, I can't look into the woods, I can only see them beyond the gate, because the iron fence is literally a boundary. I have this strong feeling though that there is more than one world in here. If the kid has his own world, is it contained within this area, or is this area itself a separate world...? I can't figure that out, no matter what angle I look at.

No offense meant, but does it really matter what it is, separate or not? Because it honestly could be either, and only time will really tell more. But it doesn't seem like it should be a main area of focus or really helpful (at least not in an immediate sense) to figure out if it's separate or not. The more knowledge and awareness you gain in general, about alters, about yourself, about how the system works, about the roles/jobs your alters have and why, etc., the more answers you'll discover over time.


~Phenix

So, I'm curious....Is it possible for people without DID to have an innerworld? I have began exploring my own, but I can't bring myself to tell anyone I know because I'm afraid they won't believe it. I also really want them to have an innerworld that they can explore too. I don't kno why... I just really do. Haha.

The closest thing I think people without a dissociative disorder get to having a "true" inner world is their "happy place". Whatever it is that they picture or imagine in their mind that helps them calm down, or makes them feel happy, or helps them to 'center' themselves, stuff like that. Because having an inner world is usually a sign of dissociation, since inner worlds are used as types of "escapes" from the outside world/reality.

People without a dissociative disorder can certainly still have a strong imagination. They can imagine places in their minds, imagine themselves doing things, imaging situations, etc., but it's not like our inner worlds where they're always there, they're consistent in what they look like, we don't have to "think them up" every time, etc. For people without a dissociative disorder, any place they imagine needs to be imagined, it's not going to just stay there or be there all the time, it won't be consistent, anything they imagine needs active imagination or thinking of, they can't just "go there", you know? Stuff like that.

So I think to some extent people without a dissociative disorder can have AN inner world type of place, but to "see" it and such, they have to actively imagine or think about it each time, and it won't be consistent unless their imagination/thoughts are consistent. I also think they might not actually "go" there like we do, you know? Like we can feel like we're actually inside our own world, and they're still fully aware that they're imagining or picturing or thinking about something inside their minds, you know? (I mean, we might be fully aware that we're inside and such, but we can still feel like we actually "go" there, and with other people, I don't know if that feeling is there, or if it is, I don't know if it's as strong as it can be with people who are dissociative).


-Cassandra

Before I knew about the dissociation, imagination was just like, well, imagination. I could picture things in my head, but not too much (or I'd forget about stuff). So, as soon as I couldn't remember it, it was gone. To me it seems like that type of inner world is short-term memory only, whereas the inner world in DID is in long-term memory (hence the reason why things don't change that easily?). ~San

I was at the meeting table and I looked behind me and saw a shelf with stack of magazines and I picked one up. It was filled with snap shot photos of particular parts of my life. It was the oddest thing! We are also building a skating rink in the world! XD It's been being built for days, but it's STILL not done. Hope says that instant gratification would make us lose our satisfaction.

Hornet339 wrote:So, I'm curious....Is it possible for people without DID to have an innerworld? I have began exploring my own, but I can't bring myself to tell anyone I know because I'm afraid they won't believe it. I also really want them to have an innerworld that they can explore too. I don't kno why... I just really do. Haha.

Some of them do, yes, but their worlds simple, less complex, and often smaller. Sometimes just a small space or bubble, or a room.

It's like an escape when things are boring or hard. Every one has their own life, and they have Jobs and such... There is more to it, but the place I go when I go inside is forested. There are elelments I still don't understand, like apperently there's a matrix style computer, with a programmer, who can change the world in various ways, but typically, it's like the real world, but with fanticy elelments. Steve saw a dragon for instance. (There is science behind the anatomy and such. It is within the relm of possiblility, even in the real world, if enough time, effort, and Money are involved in it's development.)
There are seperate comunities as well, but my known world is relitively small with only 12 others and a wild wolf pack involved.

It's a forest, with a mountain to the west and An ocean on the other side of the mountain.

There are a few Star Trek aspects to it, Like, The real world is manafested in the inner one by a holodeck in the top of a majorly huge hollowed tree...