Only hear voices at certain times?

Hello!

I'm new to the forums, but I thought I'd just go ahead and post here directly. I'm not diagnosed professionally with DID. I'm working everything out slowly to see if I actually even have it. I experience a lot of dissociation and memory gaps. But the voices thing is a bit different. I DO hear voices, however I only really hear them at certain times. Like when I'm laying in my bed at night or when I wake up in the morning. One time I even jerked awake for no specific reason in the middle of the night and I heard two voices talking. No one was in the room and I know for sure everyone in the house was asleep, as well as the fact that these two voices weren't 'familiar' (like a family member's might be). I experience a lot of uncontrolled 'twitching'. Like, I'll hear the voices and my hand will start twitching or my fingers will do stuff on their own or my whole body will suddenly 'lurch' in one direction or another.

My question here is, does anyone else only really hear voices at night or when they're in a quiet situation? I do see a lot of images and I'm fairly sure that I have alters, but I don't really hear their 'voices' a lot. Mostly I just get weird feelings on top of my own (like someone inside is feeling them and they're just there, alongside my own specific emotions). When I try and communicate, the only feedback I really get is images and bright/pushy feelings, like someone is trying to tell me something without using words (and I usually do get the gist of it anyway).

I don't know if you have DID or not, but I'll reply under the assumption that you do. My alters and I have always communicated with and without language. Sometimes its easier to just use images and feelings to communicate and can be less triggering. Not all alters talk, so this could be the case with you. I've also noticed that when I'm meeting new alters, they communicate more without language than with for awhile.
My alters and I talk throughout the day, but I can understand there being people who only hear them at certain times. Before and after sleep are usually quiet times and are some of the few moments when (for me at least) it's safe to completely let go and "listen" to alters we normally can't fully engage with when we're around other people. DID is very complex and is different for everyone, so I'm not sure there is really a "normal" experience.
I don't know if that really helps, but good luck figuring things out

Even now, 4 years post diagnosis, I have little verbal communication with my alters. We tend to have the easiest communication in bed, before and after sleep. So that is when I plan for internal meetings.

Those times on either side of sleep are when a person's natural brain waves are strong in the theta frequency band. The theta band also is strong during hypnotic trance. So it makes sense that this is when you can most easily hear and talk with your insiders.

Hi wirt,

2 years ago. I usually awake overnight due to a dream or something that unsettles me at home a noise, phone call, person up using the toilet etc. Most of the time it is a dream some scary some not so scary. It is the best time to listen inside, I just listen!!! Quiet moments are the very best time to listen. But, when I turn on water at a sink and worked in a warehouse, my head was so loud !!! I worked one day in a warehouse recently...It was as if the noise excited us! I just talked out loud we had a good time we had good conversations that day. I've gain a lot on internal safety and peace since then

It is so situation specific...

Welcome to boards!

We only talk at certain times too. Particularly when we're alone or it's quiet. A big part of dissociation for us was to look normal in public situations no matter what was going on internally, so we hide. That's what we've always done. *shrug* Lots of twitching over here too, among other things we (Us and doctors) have checked for neurological issues too. Just to be safe really. Like, just wanna make sure that it's not something more serious or easily fixable. idk if it's alters talking to you or not, but I do know sometimes we don't talk cuz we don't have anything to say.

Thanks so much everyone for all the replies!

I talked to my therapist about it and she told me I probably do have DID in some form, just as clarification.

Even now, 4 years post diagnosis, I have little verbal communication with my alters. We tend to have the easiest communication in bed, before and after sleep. So that is when I plan for internal meetings.

Yep, this is the same for me. I have to have a quiet space in order to actually talk to them 'inside'. Usually I get more expression/feeling/sometimes talking from them when I actually settle down and go inside myself in our designated 'world' or 'place' (it's basically just some sort of building and for some reason it's always set in the evening when i go inside, so I'm guessing that my alters are more comfortable in the evening). I only really have good communication with one; Bren, the Protector. He's pretty nice all around, but the others don't like me (and I'm not too big on them either at the moment, tbh). Poor Bren. He's gotta deal with all our angst and internal conflict. Bleh.

I don't know if you have DID or not, but I'll reply under the assumption that you do. My alters and I have always communicated with and without language. Sometimes its easier to just use images and feelings to communicate and can be less triggering. Not all alters talk, so this could be the case with you. I've also noticed that when I'm meeting new alters, they communicate more without language than with for awhile.

I'm pretty sure I do. But, either way, I know I have alters.
Bren usually speaks to me through feeling and facial expressions on the inside. Somehow I can always tell when he's amused or angry or frustrated or what-have-you. The others? Not so much. They're the ones that speak more verbally during the night, but during the day they're silent. That is, unless Damian comes out. When that happens it's all up in the air (I think he has a ton of tantrums when I'm not at the front, but Bren partially blocks the bad memories he has from me more often than not, so, who knows??).

My therapist only ever gets to communicate with Bren, though I usually have to tell her what he thinks about whatever she asks/says. I'm glad he's around, but he's big on being the mediator in every situation between me and the other two alters, which makes direct communication between all four of us really, really hard.