Alters look like random people in life?

My alter, Hope, looks almost identical to this girl who I used to go to church wih for years. I started seeing her when I was 14 up to now. I never have really talked to her or noticed her much either. Hope talks and acts a lot like her to. Is that a coincedence or does that sometimes happen?

I also noticed that Issac, a fourteen year old male alter of mine looks a lot like my brother when he was fourteen. (That, I can understnad more than the Hope situation, though.)

If there are other threads on this matter I have yet to find any. I've searched, but I can't find anything on the subject.

I'm guessing have you looked through some of the introject threads they may answer afew questions..

But I do understand Claureshia has similar hair, face and body to my Dads ex-wife. I've never understood claureshia is peace and that woman was a tyrant.

I found out Barry was very similar in appearance to a deceased family member..

My guess would be that as DID developes and areselves.. Are mind chooses the looks and it can be from a game, T.V even the people on the street, anything. An alter needs a face and it will get one.

that's my guess....
but in other ways it can be symbolic in a sense to the person.

I don't think she is an introject. I have read up on it, but it doesn't seem to fit. It's just weird because the girl from church and I have never really talked and I hardly noticed her. Maybe my brain somehow connected her positive personality to Hope's, though. I plan to do more research on how alters gain appearnce and all of that. It's quite interesting to me.

It's all about influences.

Some alters have symbolism and a reason for why they look how they do. Others, the only reason is the influences that you had in your life.

Influences can be from anything. Books, movies, random people in life, friends, family members, TV shows, people you idolize, people you remember (either because you really liked them, or really hated them, etc), people that you liked how they looked like (whether you knew them or not), people that your alters likes how they looked like (whether you knew them or not), animals from your life, ANYTHING that was a part of your life has the possibility of being an influence.

And again, some influences are significant, some are just simply because. Some also don't have a specific influence, they've just gone with what they liked or wanted for themselves or something like that.


-Cassandra

Thanks, Cassandra! You are so informed about all of this. You and your system seem very knowledgable and have a wonderful sense of team work. I strive to get to the point you have reached. Great, now Lori is calling me a brown noser. XD But, I'm serious.

**Trigger? (Disscussions of Shay's recent thread. I'm not sur eif this will trigger her in a negative way or not.)** Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I noticed Shay's sick of this thread and I know that I was one of the newbies asking the same old questions. I just felt like I had to have my own experiences validated first hand, if you know what I mean? I'm sorry if I pinned any stress on you or your alters, though.

I just want you and the others to know that you are not required to answer the questions that I, or anyone else asks. I understand your need to help, but you need to make sure that you are feeling stable enough yourself before trying to save everyone else. There are others on the site who will help newbies and once I learn enough about DID myself, I will definitely help those with questioning to the best of my ability. Just don't feel like it's all pinned on you. You are very helpful and I am so grateful to you for your advice and support. Just remember to give yourself a break too. **End trigger**

Thank you. (I'd hope after, around 5 years of being aware that it was indeed DID we had, endless hours of personal research, and living with DID our whole life, we might be a bit knowledgeable about things ).


I completely understand the need for personal validation, and that it's the main reason for people posting similar threads and such all the time, but Shay does not, hence her increased frustration and anger. All she sees is repetition that she can't see is necessary or needed, and so she gets annoyed with it.

Thank you for that reassurance and concern. I know that I'm not obligated to help, and I know no one truly actually expects me to help them or holds me to any obligation, so any posting responsibility I accept as fully mine, including needing to work on balancing stuff.


-Cassandra

One of our alters looks like a cartoon character. It's all about influences from your life. I guess the one who 'made' her, B, liked her for some reason and that's why she looks alike the cartoon character. He made her when I was about 2 or 3 so I can't remember what's to like about her cause I can't remember which cartoon it was. We have one alter that looks a lot like my childhood best friend. Well maybe 2 but I can't remember what the other friend looked like exactly (he passed away a long time ago). It's funny cause she looked a lot like us, minus the freckles and the extra pounds, with which we were bullied.. So that makes sense. We have one 'alter' that looks like B's favorite toy at the time.
I'm not sure, but I think it might be quite common for DID people to have a subconscious wish to 'be someone else' from to time to time, and I think that has a lot to do with which people/influences our alters internalize. I say subconscious cause I know that I never was aware that I wanted to be someone else while I was/we were apparently wishing it. I know tomboy already answered your question but I still wanted to say that it's not weird at all.

And you added an excellent point, TheCollective. It is definitely a factor, and a common one, for people with DID to wish to be someone else, look like someone else, etc. (Yes, I know that all people have that desire to some extent, but with DID I believe it may be a bit "stronger" since there is already issues with identity and identity separation). The main reason most of us look so different from the body is not only from our influences, what we liked, and any symbolism put into it, but it is also due to the fact that Cassandra often has a very strong wish to be a completely different person, and that is channeled into us since it is much easier to have us, who are already different from Cassandra, be "different people", than it is for Cassandra to try and change herself, specifically, so much (despite the fact that we are all technically the same person). It is much easier to have, for example, Luna look into the mirror and be displeased with what she sees due to it looking nothing like her, than to have Cassandra look in the mirror and be displeased with herself without having the reason of, "Well of course I don't look like the body, this isn't me".


~Rain

its from the mirroring. My X had introjects that looked like each member of her family, and any major person who she spent extended periods of time with or influenced her life. She even had an introject of me!.. the only unique face she ever wore was a traumatized part of her that seemed about 13.

Just as a baby mirrors the expressions and attributes of the care taker- those who never passed that stage of development continue to mirror. I'm not referring to just subjective behaviors,I'm speaking of dramatic changes in physical appearance, muscle tone,eye color .. my X was a chameleon in the most literal sense.

Oh yea I also have internalized aspects of ex boyfriends, now that you mention it. Chris is an introject of my uncle, and my exboyfriend looked a lot like my uncle, so Chris internalized his behavior, particularly his strength. The mirroring can also be a very handy thing, cause I mirror skills that way too, which makes it much easier to learn certain skills really fast. Just a damn shame that they're only available whenever the heck they want to be.. But we're working on that.