Keeping records of discoveries about your system

This is about as strong a recommendation as I can make. Write down details of your system, your alters, your memories, etc. as you discover them or as you think about them. You don't have to certify the truth of anything, you can have plenty of doubts, which are 100% normal for someone with DID, just include those too. My advice is to record -- on paper or electronically -- observations, theories, discoveries, whatever you find. Encourage alters to do the same. This can be in journal format, blog posts here, journey threads, etc. or any combination of these.

Have others here discovered, like I have, that you forget a lot of what you happen to learn about your system, about alters as you meet them?

What methods do you use to ensure that things discovered about your system aren't lost?

I second that.
we write here. we write a much more detailed journal. and we keep a system-book where we write down specifics about alters, their personal resources, what helps them, anything that turns out helpful. everyone has a chapter in there just for them.

we have started some integrative memory work using Progoffs Journal workshop, but we are pretty sure that it needs a very stable system to make it work at all. it could easily get overwhelming. and we are just testing it to see if it is an option.

all the records in the world don't mean a thing if they are not re-read.
to work with a journal or even a journey thread it should be re-read and notes can be taken about later reflections.

We write and draw things in a sketchbook, or in a note on our phone to put on paper later if we're not at home or in bed. We've been trying to figure out how best to take the disparate pieces and organize them.

So far we have redone our system map probably 5 times in the last few months. The most recent time we did it by type of being - we have humans and a variety of non-humans, but more than one of each for most, so we're trying to figure out what is thematically common for those who are of any given type and see if that makes it easier or more difficult for those of a type to communicate or work together or do specific types of tasks.

We also made a spreadsheet listing everyone (we have around 25 in total, so this is manageable for us, but imagine it would be more difficult for a polyfragmented system), their age or age range, gender, species, needs, wants, likes, dislikes, skills, strengths, and so on. We'd like to use this to do further exploration of how this impacts internal relationships and if anyone has needs that someone else in the system has the ability to fulfill. It occurs to me that it would also possibly be useful to note how everyone relates to particular trauma subjects, including whether they're aware of it at all.

We do forget a lot though. It's a LOT of work, writing everything down and putting it together in a meaningful way. We're hoping that the on-paper processing will help the internal processing along faster. I'd really like to see us communicating more, but I've at least convinced a few others to make the effort to write down their own thoughts and feelings and to contribute to these system-wide projects, and that's a start.
-Sev

We've bought many paper journals but almost never write in them.

The only journal that's ever worked for us is the compilation of blog entries and forum posts that we've made and saved since we discovered in 1996 that we were multiple.

Your Mileage May Vary (tm).

MDs

You are 100% right but generally I don't do it until I found this site.

When in therapy around 10years ago I did discuss everyone named below. Then I finished therapy, got on with building my life. Didn't think about any of it very often except that for years Karen was asleep, we thought dead but she woke up, thank God. Completely forgot about the twins being asleep until they woke up only about 6months ago. Literally all I did for years was use a dissociative scale to monitor that my dissociation was remaining stable and we wrote some letters to eachother occasionally when we were working out life aspects like religion and career and personal care and how to encorporating all wants and needs.

I think just writing a bit here even helps alot from the perspective of I have different memory levels so seeing something is one type of memory held differently to hearing, held differently to feeling, held differently to emotional memory so when I write here it creates another type of memory although at the moment I'm coming on here and seeing I've replied to stuff and not remembering doing it.

It's definitely been harder with the twins awake but it is also settling down slowly.

This is a really good idea. We have a lot of informaiton in our journals, like when we discover something or whatever, but it's not organized by alter, it's just whenever something comes up it gets written down.

So it'd be hard to find info about any one part. Like, we're on our 5th physical book, so there's at least a thousand pages we've written so far!

We also have at the back of the journal, like a half page for each alter with a photo and some details. But it's limited space, so with each new journal book we only keep the 'curren't info, not the progression and not a lot of detail at that.

I'm going to suggest to the others, maybe we can set something up on our computer, like if each of us has a file or something, we can log more info in there and keep it as an ongoing record.

Oh and someone just reminded me, V1 started keeping a spreadsheet at one point with info, but then stopped when it got to be too much for her, like too many alters and too much info that it overwhelmed her.

Arin

totally right. we have a coms book. but that's just mostly for talking to each other about life and things. we use our journey thread here to document the arc over time. it's on the internet so we can't get rid of it like things at home. it's there. and I also like that not only are my insights recorded- others are as well. so I can reread and still be impacted by something someone said a year or two ago. but I need to keep reading and rereading these things over time. it shows progress more clearly than my paper journal which is filled with pages and pages of us bickering, talking, planning.

I guess my secret weapon is the photo album on my phone. everybody chooses a picture that represents them and I put their name on it. and then.... like that's it. no forgetting. we are here. same reason I keep my roll call here updated and linked. i look at my roll call a lot.

so yeah.....it kind of like is a work metaphor for me now. like the album is our roster. employee record/badge. the coms book is like all the #######4 day to day emails. and the journey thread here is more like the official company record.

everything has a purpose and is used accordingly.

a project I would like to do is create a binder with sections. so we ca learn more about who we are. because how we see each other is not how we see ourselves. ex - we think Texas is this tough as nails cowboy. because Texas handles life when we are stressed. smokes. listens to country music. doesn't give a ###$ about manners and people's feelings. we see Texas as so tough and rugged. but SHE sees herself as very feminine and light. i don't actually know much about my facets.

where I struggle to get more info is we are all so blendy and mishmashy anyway. i don't know I was Texas until somebody else says that Texas was around. and then.......

you've been at this a while Johnny-Jack what's your go to?

We haven't thought about doing this, but we do have a name for our system. That is something that our Host insisted that we have, early on. I have read other postings, that have mentioned journals. Writing to each other and so forth. I think that this is a good idea. It could be highly beneficial for us all, including our Host. It is something that I will mention to them. Though, in saying that we do have good communication between us all. Most of the time!

- Autumn J

BeccaBee wrote:you've been at this a while Johnny-Jack what's your go to?

A primary go-to has been a google doc where we record information about each of us, especially when we first meet them. We're less regular about adding other insights to this list that we get later. Some discoveries and observations are recorded in my blog entries here or just as side comments in forum posts. Others are in IMs and PMs. I do want to record significant discoveries somewhere because I know if I don't, most will be lost.

We have hundreds of pages of journaling, most from the early period after discovering DID. The oddest small details, recorded but quickly forgotten, can help you have new insights, even years later when re-reading. Or something I just learn but am doubtful or confused about can be completely confirmed or clarified by reading things I recorded long ago.

My system is large so to help my therapist and me have an overview, I keep a large printable system map with short descriptions, briefer than our Summary of who we are, which is in turn much briefer than our google doc. Unfortunately we start relying more on the truncated versions and forget other useful details if we don't refer to them periodically.

birdsong87 wrote:all the records in the world don't mean a thing if they are not re-read.

Yes! This. The second half of the equation. Record the details. Then re-read them over time, as you grow and change, to help create new insights and foster healing.

Example of a quick reference
Vince 8, #46. Choked by father as a warning never to reveal abuse; came same time as Sky; no anger or bitterness

Example of a longer entry
Vince 8
Name: childhood friend's last name; also short for Vincent (as in Vincent Price, horror film actor)
Appearance: like the body but stronger? Sandy floppy hair in front, short on sides, sturdy body. Thin pleasant features.
Arrived: age 8
Became known: 10/7/15 5:45pm in therapy, deliberating looking for someone new who was triggered and made us put up a wall with Nic. He was there but why he blocked was completely unexpected, it’s probably Ulric who does the blocking
Description: nice kid who seems comparatively brave and rather savvy for his age, seems older, more worldly and mature than Luke
Likes: running, he says, running extremely fast, like the wind, covering a long distance in a short period of time, getting far away
Concerns: seems triggered by strong threatening males who are angry

Johnny-Jack wrote:
Example of a quick reference
Vince 8, #46. Choked by father as a warning never to reveal abuse; came same time as Sky; no anger or bitterness

Example of a longer entry
Vince 8
Name: childhood friend's last name; also short for Vincent (as in Vincent Price, horror film actor)
Appearance: like the body but stronger? Sandy floppy hair in front, short on sides, sturdy body. Thin pleasant features.
Arrived: age 8
Became known: 10/7/15 5:45pm in therapy, deliberating looking for someone new who was triggered and made us put up a wall with Nic. He was there but why he blocked was completely unexpected, it’s probably Ulric who does the blocking
Description: nice kid who seems comparatively brave and rather savvy for his age, seems older, more worldly and mature than Luke
Likes: running, he says, running extremely fast, like the wind, covering a long distance in a short period of time, getting far away
Concerns: seems triggered by strong threatening males who are angry

I like your examples. I can sense Weirdo does too. We've been keeping records as we find out new info......we log on here (our journey thread) and we also have a paper journal. Your examples seem like a really good way for us... to organize our info better. Thank you for sharing them.