Metaphors to explain DID

Chatting with a friend I realized there are many metaphors that can be used to explain phenomenon found in DID and other dissociative disorders.

Feel free to add your own.





Persecutor alter: auto-immune disease. (Since persecutors are maladapted protectors who attack everything in sight, including the system)

Dissociating a traumatic event: getting a vaccine shot in order to recognize future instances of the traumatic events.

Traumatic flashback: allergic reaction.

Dissociated mind: the mind is a puzzle box.

Integrated mind: the mind is a puzzle that is completely finished and glued in place.

Dissociative part/ fragment: puzzle piece.

Alter: an enveloppe containing some specific puzzle pieces, with specific decorations and informations on it. They can look alike or appear completely alien from each-other.

Integration therapy: sorting out the puzzle pieces, trying to make them fit together.

Fusion of alters: Power Rangers piloting the Megazork together.

Dissociative amnesia: this software cannot open this filetype.

Trauma therapy: allergy disensitization.

Getting oriented in the here and now: getting a software update.