Monotropism, Autism & DID...A Link????

Hi Jay here

Kit asked me to post these links in case it others can relate to it (but haven't yet heard of it)

Kit has been continuing to do research in the evenings, she's very single minded and was determined to find the exact cause of us having DID if it was in fact that. Her belief is that Bobby fits the PDA profile specifically but because it was not known about back in the early 70's and they instead got forced into intense therapy to 'be normal' plus all the medical testing due to the other medical issues from birth ...is the reason they split many times and the reason our social mask alters evolved to become much more than 'just social masks' (ie due to Bobby's constant demand avoidance).

We realise the term 'Monotropic Split' is NOT the same as DID 'splitting' but what I think what Kit is meaning is that one (MS) caused the other (DID formation of others) in us from an early age.


Monotropic Split

https://emergentdivergence.com/2022/07/ ... pic-split/



What is Monotropism?


https://www.thepdaspace.com/blog/monotr ... flow-state


What is PDA?

https://www.thepdaspace.com/pda-101


This always described Bobby to a tee "Often happy and comfortable in role play, pretence or fantasy, sometimes to the extreme extent..." in either child or adult form.

Kit too but to a lesser degree she always seemed to be able to remain with one foot grounded in reality whilst enjoying fantasy as an 'escape and stress reliever' which is probably why she first suspected 'Maladaptive Daydreaming' - which was happening intensely when Bobby fronts.

Video games seem to help Bobby remain grounded in the here and now that is..they are 'out here' at the front in reality and playing a video game having to think about how to use the controller etc and co-ordinate the body ..rather than just getting lost in their head and then been unable to work out which things happened in the 'Inner world' and which happened in 'the real world'. ..when they play Zelda on switch they always know which events happened 'only in the game'. ..so through this we have been able to confirm that there were in fact different 'alters' who were coming forwards and liking different game genre's and these other insiders weren't just all part of Bobby's imagination!

From then we were able to get them to identify a photo that was them (from past family photo's) so we could 'date' the decade they came from and see a complete timeline of past host's for 50+ years!

Now the challenge is ..can Bobby see that PDA is a demand in itself? ..can they break free of the demand to avoid all demands just because a condition dictates it?

What would happen to those of us that were created just so 'Bobby' could avoid life demands because as long as one of us (ie another alter..not them) is fulfilling the life demand they have succeeded in avoiding it? ..if they decide they will no longer let this PDA control them ...what happens to all of us who were created through Bobby's intense desire to avoid all demands?


Jay
(with assistance from Kit)

If one accepts the idea of Monotropism, I would say that the formation of alters is not a normal expression of autism spectrum disorder. The splits involved in monotropism wouldn't lead to the formation of independent alters, but would split into different parts of an ASD brain.

Pervasive Developmental Disorder is no longer exactly a valid diagnosis as all forms of PDD are now part of ASD, and that is even starting to include Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as all are structural neurodivergencies.

The key step in terms of how a monotropic split would become Dissociative Identity Disorder is still the trauma involved. You have often referred to a great deal of medical trauma in your formative years due to ASD. This trauma created the environment that lead to the DID.

We have often discussed with others away from this forum the idea that the autistic mind is already one that is fractured. However, for them, the fractures are akin to a clay jar that has been damaged so that there are cracks all around it, but it is still whole. For an autistic system, it is more akin to a clay jar that has been shatters and we're now having to glue all the pieces back together and that leaves scars no matter what.

Once the trauma has set in, the formation of other alters is easy to do. Not all of the alters in our system are trauma related. Thus, an alter may have started out as a social mask and then become an alter over time. I know that there is a logical drive to find out exactly why one has DID, but the reality is that the trauma causes it, but for an autistic brain which is already used to masking from an early age, that is easier to have happen than if one was a non-autistic brain.

You have mentioned the repeated and severe medical trauma while for us that trauma was a combination of neglect from parents and other abuses perpetuated by others.

I am not sure how much this contributes to the discourse, but I hope it does.
Octavia (with Vi)

[Jay] Thank you Octavia and Vi The clay Jar analogy is a good one. I can imagine the difference.

So basically even if Bobby was 'PDA profile with an intense desire for living in fantasy worlds'....without the additional and constant medical trauma (for first 7 years) they wouldn't have continued to easily make alters later too as a response to the bullying at school or anything else they found 'traumatic' or wanted to avoid if that early trauma hadn't caused DID?

I think some of us also started only as social masks, maybe that's what Kit was thinking of, knowing not all of us were created directly from trauma? (thinking we came from Bobby's abilities and severity of autism in childhood especially given some of us are not human!).

Honestly when Bobby sends images from the inner world its like having one of those VR headsets on and being there..it's so vivid and intense you feel like you really went and it takes a while to 'come back to reality' I sometimes end up with a splitting headache!

Anyway the Zelda game is due to arrive tomorrow. I've been instructed to set the alarm for 5am for K & B to get up and get Mr Woof out before the school run/work traffic so they can get started as soon as it arrives!

I'll be back next week for the nurse visit!