Inner world takes time out of day??

I’m not sure if this is the case for anyone else but I (Nova, host) figured I’d post about it. We’re still five months new to knowing about each other an interacting, so some basic stuff is brand new to us.

Does anyone else experience the inner world taking time out of outer world time? Like if something happens in the inner world, like an event, or a dispute, you actively have to stop what you’re doing outer world to deal with it? Take some time to sit down, figure out what’s happening (usually told to me by our Gatekeeper), and then address it with everyone involved. Does anyone else experience this? I know it’s probably just another calling card for having this condition, but inner world struggles take just as much effort to fix as outer world struggles.

Thanks for whatever responses!!
-Nova

We've had that happen. We've had a few arguments here and there between alters which have resulted in us having to take time to handle it. Early on, it was at it's worse with alters insulting each other and such. It's part of why our caretaker Beth has stepped back heavily into the inner world to take care of things and keep them from escalating. Most of the time, it's been the younger alters who get into fights or we've had situations where one of our more damaged alters has said things deliberately to upset someone and we've had to sit and sort it out.

I don't know about everyone else, but there are days when it's like we're one great big family living in a single place. We don't always get on.

Take care,
Vi.

The technical term for this is "inner conflict" or "inner struggle". Everybody has time when they need to just stop and think and ponder (the orb) over something, but it is much more "visible" when you have DID.

An integrated person have "shortcuts" directly between the different parts of their mind. That's what integration is about. Us DID need a lot more time and effort to "connect the dots" through real-time interactions between the alters.

This is eased up with the integration process, because it re-builts the direct shortcuts between the alters and they can interact more directly and more and more instantly. In my personal experience it takes me/us less and less time to decide over what to eat (as an example) and it is less and less noisy. It feels more and more like a bit of a brain lag then I percieve the general answer, instead of "hearing" everybody's opinions and all of the voting and decision process over a few minutes.

You will find ressources on how to encourage cooperation and work towards integration in the book "Coping with trauma related dissociation".

At one point, Beth sat down and created a set of rules that were physically written out and we all have had to read it and, if possible, sign it. This includes things like no name calling, etc. We still have conflicts from time to time, but they've been lessened by the fact that we've come to realize we can't walk out the door and never return.

I don't know if something like that would help until there's more integration and cooperation, but it's also helped that Beth is a caregiver/caretaker. She's pulled back severely from the front in order to keep the peace internally.

we don't have an elaborate inner world where parts live out stories. Just a couple of imagery rooms. We wouldn't consider inner struggles an inner world thing. more like just an inner life thing. every human has an inner life that needs attention at times. ours just has more trauma to manage