What him coming out meant to me

I have a friend who has DID, we used to date. When he told me he had DID I did my research.

Reading many posts here about coming out, and watching my friend's experience, I wanted to share what it meant to me, as a partner, and now as friend, to know that he has DID.

Knowing, was first of all I sign of trust. I valued so much he had trusted me. I felt privileged and happy. His parents knew, though didn't quite believe him or understand it. Together, we told them again, and somehow they took it differently. I guess they were ready to accept this information. That meant, he got the support from his family.

He is rather open about it. He's told some of his friends. And a vast of his family and some people from his congregation know too.

Some people have reacted well and have supported him, others have distanced themselves from him. Some have called him liar, some have called him possessed, some are even afraid of him. Some approach each alter directly. Some have given him support when he's trying to understand better what is going on with him.

His openness has showed me a world a knew nothing about: DID. He's taught me about how his brain works and how mine could work. He's showed me a more diverse world, and thus has opened my mind to what is possible. He's challenged me to look into my self, to break my paradigms, to understand a different way of being and thus be able to give new responses to the situations we've faced.

He's given me new " glasses" to look at our society. To see how much we still need to learn, how much we need to be openminded to include everyone in our society, to learn about how diverse we are, and to keep ourself open for surprise and for something new.

I don't know exactly what's been for him to come out as someone with DID, but the gift he's given us as society is priceless. His openness gave us the opportunity to explore our selves, and to contribute to build a more open society.

This is a terrific post. "Coming out" as DID must be horribly difficult, not to mention risky business. The person risks losing friends, or having people think differently about them.

BUT...every once in a while, they will come out to someone that genuinely cares and has their best interest at heart. And that can make all the difference in the world.

Thanks, thats really interesting. Some of the things we found when we accepted we have DID - the looking at everything in a different light, learning to broaden our horizons into what could be possible and the amazing way our brains work....and how little we often use the power of our brains