Cookie-cutter DID? I must not have DID because...

I like this post.

I do not have did, also because I don't lose time as an adult. Nevermind that I typically can't tell you what I did yesterday, or earlier today, or if I remember doing something I can't remember if it happened today or some other day in the last 2 weeks.

I do not have did because when I switch I am usually aware of who is out front and what they are doing or saying. Nevermind that most of the other alters also can be aware of what I am doing or saying.

I do not have DID because today I just don't understand how it might be possible.

I don't quite understand this thread. lf you really don't meet the full criteria for DID, doesn't that just mean you have DDNOS/OSDD instead? (If that's the case, there is another forum for that.)

Truly_happy wrote:I don't quite understand this thread. lf you really don't meet the full criteria for DID, doesn't that just mean you have DDNOS/OSDD instead? (If that's the case, there is another forum for that.)

it is people sharing reasons why they do not feel they have DID despite knowing they really do (usually who have a diagnosis of it) because they don't fit the 'usual' criteria for it based on the DSM criteria which doesn't cover every unique aspect of it that those with DID and the rest of the spectrum can/do experience.

I must not have DID because things are different than they used to be.

Maybe I used to have it but it must have morphed into something else. I don't switch as distinctly or as often as I used to and when I do I don't feel so far away. So maybe we got rid of the DID. That doesn't mean we got rid of any of our alters because we care about each other, every one, especially the littles. We're all still here together, but we must have some other thing now.

I actually used to think I developed a "mild case of DID" in childhood, whatever that meant, and I feel myself returning to that concept from time to time. DID Lite maybe? Even though our signature is cram packed and looks like a painter's palette.

Truly_happy wrote:I don't quite understand this thread. lf you really don't meet the full criteria for DID, doesn't that just mean you have DDNOS/OSDD instead? (If that's the case, there is another forum for that.)

Hi Truly_happy - I find this thread brilliant. Really helps get to grips with the frustrations of having a label but spending half your life thinking you don't have the condition or fit the criteria. Amnesia for amnesia for example. Regarding DID and DDNOS - diagnostic criteria is not always straight forward - this is a really good article on the subject - it is an excellent read.

http://www.pods-online.org.uk/index.php ... fied-ddnos

For me/us there is a real issue over denial so we can spend days at a time being convinced that we don't have DID. I believe that denial is extremely common. I hate this way of being so for us being able to express why we definitely don't have it has been a bit of a relief. - Hope that makes sense!

we have actually thought that we cant have DID because we are not in denial all the time and that seems like such a big problem for most.
obviously you can be in denial of denial

birdsong87 wrote:we have actually thought that we cant have DID because we are not in denial all the time and that seems like such a big problem for most.
obviously you can be in denial of denial

Your post is most excellent birdsong.
It is like a subversive 'you know you are DID when'.

I must not have DID because I don't lose time very much even though I can't tell you where I was an hour ago.
Or because I am successful in my line of work, and I don't think my childhood was all that bad.

I "can't" have DID because I haven't been diagnosed. (Never mind that it took me over 8 years to be diagnosed with ADHD, something everyone around me believed me to have... or that my access to any health services is strenuous at best, let alone access to mental health, which my parents don't believe in.)

I "can't" have DID because nobody notices when I'm not fronting. (Not that they would notice, unless they also had experience with DID, since most people don't conceptualize others as systems of alters but rather a single, integrated person.)

I "can't" have DID because I sometimes remember what others in our system do, and they sometimes remember what I do. (Never mind the time when I last saw someone while having a panic attack about my health, and the next time they came out months later, they thought we were dying. Or just the general fact that my memories of others' actions aren't as clear as theirs, and theirs' aren't as clear as mine. Etc.)