Is our T creating a new alter?

We love our T. But she is not a DID specialist and I'm wondering if she is making a mistake. She has been encouraging us to look for someone "who has been there all along." We already accepted that Heather is most of the Original so I don't know where this is coming from. When we "look" for the Other, each of us sees someone different which makes me think the Other is not an alter but an imaginary guide crafted after each of our different ideals. T has been after this for several weeks, encouraging us to do art work describing her/him/it and other things. The exercise doesn't hold a lot of meaning for us and it's a bit tiresome. I know I should talk to her about it but I keep thinking she will reveal her plan eventually. I'm just concerned it will cause another split or confuse some of the more suggestible ones. What do you think?
Heather & Terrin

I think it is ok to ask where she is going with this. maybe she did see someone you are not aware of.
the T is not controlling your treatment, you can speak up and tell when its not working for you.
when we started treatment we did not know that we could say no and it led to mistreatment.
now... we keep an eye on the T and when she does stuff we consider unhelpful we tell her and discuss it. we follow this idea: never trust your T more than your system. if you feel something is off it probably is.

birdsong87 wrote: never trust your T more than your system. if you feel something is off it probably is.

Agreed.

Colin

ColouredLeaves wrote:But she is not a DID specialist and I'm wondering if she is making a mistake. She has been encouraging us to look for someone "who has been there all along."

This does not seem like a question someone with a solid understanding of what DID is would ask. It sounds like somebody with a set of preconceived notions about DID would ask. What does that even mean? What is she assuming you'll find?

I'd suggest you send her to the Guidelines for Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder in Adults, Third Revision (2011) by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISST-D)

Better yet, print it up yourself (74 pages) and hand it to her. And of course, read it yourself too.

i wonder if she is maybe meaning an internal self helper. it seems similar to what my therapist keeps referring to. i never thought i had one, but i have heard a part say random things before who seems to know things but never comes to the surface. i don't know how to access her though.

it doesn't sound like she is trying to create a part though. she probably believes there is a part (which there may or may not be) that has been around for a long time and has knowledge other parts might not.

even if she was trying to create another part, sometimes they can be helpful if it can help bring parts together or help with communication. if you have young parts but don't have a part who helps care for/nurture them, a part could be created to help them which would help them heal. in that kind of situation, it could be useful and in similar situations to help with overall healing and system work.

Everybody runs the risk of creating a new alter! Everybody extenuating circumstances causes it abusive relationships also mind control and just not knowing. I would make sure you say it happens every where if if that isn't true!. Who else to answer but one that first had it happen the movie way . It is right on the research board driving in and forcing out alters nothing to do with dissociation driving in or anything about restaurant.

I'm glad to have folks switching even if they don't comment on my post....Please don't now I know how to read when someone is switching to someone else just like folks in phases others arent.. ......Why do I need replies you are bringing the post back up right and also getting a friend in the process.

IT is hard to say. I agree with the suggestion that someone experienced in DID would not ask for that - but then I am being asked for a name from someone experienced with DID so who knows.

Maybe she truly believes (or wishes) that part exists. However even if it is there, and you don't see it, I doubt looking for it is going to help you find it. These parts make themselves known on their own terms.

Maybe you can gently suggest that though you understand what she is saying and why there might be a part there, you don't see it or feel it so for now it is not worth spending valuable therapy time on. That if and when that part makes itself known, then you are ready to engage with it.

For what it is worth, I don't feel like I have a part that has been there all along. As mentioned elsewhere, I have Frank who is wise, knowledgeable and somehow all encompassing, however I would not describe it as having been there all along> Perhaps he has been, but that is not my perception, so looking for him with that map would never find him. (sorry I switch between he and it because it sounds so abrasive sometimes but it is genderless as in above gender distinction)

As for the "been there all along" I would ask the T if by that she means something like someone's true self. If so, this has nothing to do with DID. It's superimposing a religious or spiritual notion or some philosophical or psychological framework, such as internal family systems (IFS) therapy, onto a dissociative condition. Do a search for "been there all along" and "true self" to see what I mean.

That's a guess, I don't know your T. But that phrase "been there all along" reminded me of meetings with two separate therapists whose training background was IFS.

Do you feel a pressure or desire for a new alter to appear who can satisfy her assumption? Just asking because you don't want to inadvertently create a new alter under those circumstances. What concerns me is that I could imagine us doing that a couple decades ago, thinking we were in good hands.

Oddly enough, I actually could answer that question, and accurately for my system. Adam has been here all along, we refer to him as our core and nothing has given us reason to doubt that. But he is a baby, an infant still. So I would answer that question "yeah, Adam's been here all along, why the question? I can pretty much guarantee he's not going to be joining our conversations for quite a while."

Johnny-Jack wrote:Adam has been here all along, we refer to him as our core and nothing has given us reason to doubt that. But he is a baby, an infant still. So I would answer that question "yeah, Adam's been here all along, why the question? I can pretty much guarantee he's not going to be joining our conversations for quite a while."

Like our amanda. She won't be joining any conversations either.

We're really glad our T doesn't go down that route.

MDs

PS: We don't consider amanda our core, as this brings up too many conceptual issues for us. We simply consider her an infant who's been there since the beginning.