Dissociative Experiences Scale

I tried it a couple years ago, when I first started suspecting I had DID, and got something in the 50's. Today, did it again, got 87. I agree with the others who have said it seems to be because over time you learn what is related to DID and you are able to see how the symptoms effect you, so you can reply more accurately.

Dang I scored..88

I got a 51. When I first got diagnosed (~3 years ago) my original DES score was 65.

I can't imagine being in the 80s or 90s. I don't know how you guys function at all. I have enough trouble doing that with my 51.

A lot of the wording is poor and can be interpreted in various ways. But it's just a screening tool to see if further exploration of dissociative experiences is warranted.

My score has been in the mid to high 40s; today was 49. I just had DID suggested by my therapist and I've only been in therapy nine months. I find the % of the time hard to nail down and I think maybe I under-report by being too literal. Like, if it was % of days of the week that I have that symptom occur, a lot of the answers would be a lot higher. Like, do I always have a sense of not being me in the mirror every time I see myself? No. Does it happen several times a week? Yes. I rarely look in the mirror as it is, but it's hard to say how often it happens. How do you guys answer your percentages? Like, if you had something happen every day, but not all day long, would you consider that "always" or maybe 25% of the time? I blank out and don't know where I go or what I was thinking every single day, multiple times, but the actual time loss in low. I also find the "some people have been told" questions confusing and have experiences of not recognizing people temporarily (my therapist or even my husband) while the observer me (usually pushed-back, watching, unable to exert control in these cases) knows who those people are, despite them seeing unfamiliar. The stuff that happens to me hasn't really been noticeable to very many people (though obvious to my therapist from the second week I was there, as he commented on my dissociative tendency). I think most of the people in my life saw that as just how I am...like having people tell me I often "acted 30" at age eight, or certain attitudes that would take over during certain periods of my life. My family has told me about those things for years as just, "Oh, that's just Yaku." If I told them I thought DID, they would think I'm full of it.

Also, even though I have had people tell me I did/said things I don't remember, those people are manipulative family members, so I reported way lower on that then I might have otherwise. My verifiable time loss with evidence of actually doing other things (like being called by other names, finding objects, etc.) is really low. Also, I fill in gaps really well, because until my therapist started asking me about my childhood (and even for a while after), I didn't even realize that most of my memories of my childhood tend to be constructed from outside information, rather than actual recalling of events. So, rather than be able to tell him a specific memory to corroborate my evaluations, I could only say, "Well, in general, this time period was like..." It makes me wonder how much stuff I fill in like that in the present or just assume is normal (like having voices that didn't feel like me, but knew were from inside, and conflicting, suddenly shifting ways of thinking/feeling for years and assuming everyone did). I wonder if it will go higher as I realize things or lower, because I seem to have a pretty good awareness of everyone in there so far...

Yakusoko, there are no detailed rules about how to score yourself. Do what seems right for you. The value comes in later, when you score yourself again: then you can see how things have changed for you, how you have become more or less dissociative, or more aware of being dissociative. For example, the first time I scored myself I was unaware of losing time. Now I know that I lose time, so my score is higher.

Scored 51

I took it and got a 43. That's interesting, because I actually expected it to be lower since I didn't think of myself as "that dissociative" since I don't lose time, or at least not that I'm aware.

Thanks for posting Una+! (On a sidenote, would you mind talking about having been possessed? I know it's not really related to this discussion topic, but it's something that interests me. My mom used to think I was "possessed" at some point when I was hearing screaming voices in head and strong urges to do very dangerous, harmful things that felt like it was going to overpower me, but I think it was probably just some of my parts inside coming up really strong when we first started "feeling again." Only if you feel like sharing...)

73. -sighs- Not surprised.

We really score high on being accused of lying and the conversations thing--I frequently space out or blink out in conversations and cannot remember what the heck we were just talking about, and it gets really awkward sometimes. I hate it. I talk out loud to myself all the time lol, I was even doing it a bit while taking the test!

I scored 35. got something in mid 40's when I got diagnosed

Holy crap, I got a 90.

I know most people don't know.