Problem with Switching

Hello, is there a way to stop switching or stop certain alters from surfacing? I have someone who keeps surfacing but when this happens they just make a lot of unusual sounds like grunting, and growling that are very audible and disturbing. I wish there was someway I could control this. It's very stressful.

It would be important to try to communicate with them and find out what they need or want. It's usually not a good idea to try to suppress other alters (unless they're doing something dangerous or destructive, and then only as a short-term measure).

It's possible that they can't speak in words--maybe they identify as an animal of some sort, and they're doing their best to communicate. You can try to see if you can get any feelings or thoughts from them about what they might want.

Have outside people noticed or commented on the sounds? Usually other people notice far less than we think they will. And if it's only happening when you're alone, then you don't need to worry about other people overhearing you, and you can just focus on getting to know them better and trying to meet their needs.

In our system, there is one who is not allowed near the front and not allowed to interact with the others in the system because he was extremely destructive and hurt several of the others in the system as well as hurting others outside such as Sister and various pets. Unfortunately, I do not know how it was agreed he would be isolated, but I know that Keira, our dragon, prevents him from leaving his isolation.

Saying that, Marcus is an extreme example. As TheGangsAllHere said, you need to try and talk to this alter and find a way to move forward and hopefully get them to not surface when it is a problem.

I have some parts who verbally stim (make noises just for the pleasure of making noise) and it is something normal and healthy though it can be embarrassing.

I have other parts who have more trouble than others to articulate words and it can make it difficult to talk sometimes.

Like The Gang said, it's important to communicate with them and see what they need/want, and see how to take care of their needs/wants in a healthy constructive way.

You will find examples on how to manage this sort of communication in "Coping with trauma related dissociation" as well as in "Healing the fragmented selves of trauma survivors".

@TheGangsAllHere
The alters only do this when I am alone. But one time I was sitting in a room full of people and I could feel the urge, or feel like it was about to happen and I started to panic. It feels like a pressure bubbling up when I try to hold it in. I quickly excused myself and hid in the restroom. There was another time it happened and it was really loud my mother heard it.

@ArbreMonde
Thank you. I will definitely check these books out.

Thank you everyone for your responses and wonderful advice. I am learning so much. I will try to see if I can understand why they are doing these things and try to communicate with them. Thx.

Hope that things go well! I know that talking helps a lot, but it isn't always easy. And some of us have a 'personal language' that we understand with each other, but not everyone outside does, and it embarrasses us when someone catches us using it.

sunflower001 wrote:I could feel the urge, or feel like it was about to happen and I started to panic. It feels like a pressure bubbling up when I try to hold it in.

It really sounds a lot like my autistic needs for stimming. I would not have been able to describe this better!

@ViTheta

Thanks ViTheta, I agree I feel much better about my diagnosis knowing that I have a whole community that understands exactly what I'm going through.