Do I have DID?

Is there someone who can tell me a little more about dissociative identity disorder? All this time I thought all cases were similar to Sybil, in which she has distinct multiple personalities and each does not know what the other is doing and that the main identity does not remember what her alters are doing, but I'm coming to learn that not all cases are this extreme.

Is acting like you are 8 years old again, but being fully aware of it the same thing?? I just saw an interview with the teacher, or one of the teachers who had sex with her 14 year old student. In it she describes being raped at 12 or 13 which I just knew even before I saw the interview that there was going to be some kind of sexual abuse or rape history, then they go on to play some of the conversations she had with the boy and it was so scary, because she sounded like she was a child. Now she is not claiming to have DID, but if that isn't it, then I don't know what is. She said things like, "do you pinky swear?", she giggled like a little girl, she sounded like one and based on what she said in her interview about not even thinking about getting in trouble, or getting him in trouble, it didn't sound like the 23 year old she was at the time wasn't even there. Others talked about her going into this teenager stage at that time, doing things teenagers would do. I am not condoning what she did, but I can relate to acting so much younger at times that it could have been destructive for me. The more I look at my past, the more incidents I find when I felt like I was still sixteen, I even said that into way into my twenties. I felt stuck at that age (it was the age I became pregnant and had a baby girl) So for most of my early twenties, I was like a teenage girl.

Then when I became a teacher, I often fell in with kids at times, laughing, joking, like I was one of them and I'd have to correct myself. I would get upset with them when they "hurt my feelings", I felt betrayed when they didn't behave. I often joked with them and found myself acting like them at times. I was also known as one of the best teachers in the school, and did above and beyond my duties, often spending money for supplies so they could create projects (I worked in the Bronx), modeling lessons for other teachers, being very liked by the parents. I was a professional the majority of the time but I did "regress" into a childlike personality at times and I always remembered it when I did. Does anyone know if that is DID? In my personal life, there have also been times, when I did not act my age and dealt with major crisis in a childlike way. I'm wondering if I have alters.

Stephanie

Stephanie,

I saw the movie Sybil and thought it was a little extreme, artistic licence and all that - laying it on a bit for entertainment. Certainly not all cases are that extreme.

"Is acting like you are 8 years old again, but being fully aware of it the same thing?"

I would say yes, but I'm no expert.

DID is not always the result of sexual abuse or rape.

"I felt stuck at the age 16 (it was the age I became pregnant and had a baby girl) So for most of my early twenties, I was like a teenage girl."

I feel 'stuck' at 19, the age I was when my father committed suicide. he had been very violent and abusive all my life.

"Then when I became a teacher, I often fell in with kids at times, laughing, joking, like I was one of them and I'd have to correct myself. I would get upset with them when they "hurt my feelings", I felt betrayed when they didn't behave. I often joked with them and found myself acting like them at times. I was also known as one of the best teachers in the school, and did above and beyond my duties, often spending money for supplies so they could create projects (I worked in the Bronx), modelling lessons for other teachers, being very liked by the parents. I was a professional the majority of the time but I did "regress" into a childlike personality at times and I always remembered it when I did."

The above is familiar to me. I used to join in when I took my kids to parties - nothing unusual about that, but when we played musical chairs and I won a prize I pleased and proud and wanted to keep it. I was able to 'cover' up by pretending I was just joking, the kids enjoyed it but the parents gave me some funny looks. lol

Want to tell me a little more? Does it scare you? Do you feel threatened by it?
How old are you?

Rose

Thanks Rose!

Hi sgagos,
Its really hard for us to say whether you have DID hands down or not. ITs really a case by case basis and the criteria has everything to do with it. You may experience symptoms closely related to DID and have another dissociative disorder or not even realize you are experienceing symptoms of any dissociative disorder but things are unexplainable. THis is where a caring and knowledgeable therapist comes into play. I say therapist because in my experience psychiatrists are really about the drugs to fix the problems, and there is not a single drug out there that will fix DID. There are things that will help, certain medications for anxiety, depression and sleep for example, but you really need someone who will listen to what you are experiencing and properly diagnose it so you can have a plan of attack. Good luck to you.