Dissociative Experiences Scale

UnmotheredChild wrote:Why is it that no matter what 'DID' forum I visit, there are threads like this one?

If it offends you so much, then either ignore such threads, or don't go onto DID forums.

Guys, please don't argue. Each person is entitled to their own opinion(s), so let's leave it at that.

UnmotheredChild - I'm sorry so many threads here upset you. If the topics that are discussed in certain threads bother you, please try to avoid reading through them.

We apologize for the words that have been said. Anger will solve nothing in a virtual world.

I took this test a few weeks ago and scored 37 but I don't know if I did it right. I'm highly dissociative and have been for most of my life, so I would have expected a higher score. I found the questions difficult to answer especially things like "some people have been told they don't recognize people". Nobody tells me, because as soon as the person speaks I recognize the voice, and when I see the face I (one of us, anyway!) know that I know this person just don't know who it is. So my initial lack of recognition is almost completely covered up. Also the scoring is hard because it's so subjective. To me "always" means 100% of the time, so unless a symptom was permanent I wouldn't score it "always". What is the difference between "sometimes" and "almost always"? I find that really hard to tell. Between the (probable) DID, the (probable) Bipolar and the fact I've spent most of my life dissociated, I barely know what "normal" is anyway, so I find it hard to tell what is symptoms, because it all feels normal to me! I think it's a useful test as it at least gives some indication, but I also think it's very confusing. X

Perhaps consider each dot as 10% of the time. So if you find that around 90% of the time, you can ignore pain, then you'd mark the second last dot.

When I go through and do the DES, I do it from my own views. So I've never been told that I don't recognise someone, but I've found myself shaking hands with people I don't remember. No one notices (as far as I can tell, at least), so no one has never actually said "don't you recognise me?" But I know that there are times when I don't.

Also, there is no right or wrong answers or score. Plenty of people with DID score below 30, plenty of 'singletons' without any dissociation score high - back a couple of pages one member wrote that two of her friends did the DES, the more normal of the two scored well above 30.

Thank you that makes a lot of sense to consider each dot as 10%. I know it doesn't matter what I score, because I'm not comparing it to anyone else's score. But it's a test of dissociation rather than DID, and I definitely feel a lot of dissociation. There are times when it would be hard for me to be any more dissociated without being completely catatonic. That's why I couldn't understand my low score and wondered if I was answering "wrong". I guess it just frustrates me because if I'm going to take a test I want to do it right. X

Kerry H wrote:it's a test of dissociation rather than DID

The DES screens for all the dissociative disorders, including DID.

I have a hard time deciding how to score myself on question 7, Some people sometimes have the experience of feeling as though they are standing next to themselves or watching themselves do something and they actually see themselves as if they were looking at another person. This is a symptom of depersonalization. Many people with DID, myself included, do not experience going out of body; in situations where other people would go out of body, we go inside our body or even to an inner world.

On question 4, Some people have the experience of finding themselves dressed in clothes that they don’t remember putting on, I have always scored myself as 0. But what about finding myself in no clothes that I don't remember taking off? If I count that, I would score myself as 2 or 3. This has happened to me only once, but it was a very memorable event.

Oh thanks for that I guess I misunderstood. I know what you mean about going inside rather than outside your body. That's what I say, I look at my hands and say no I'm not in my body today I'm totally switched off. They ask where I am but I don't know. I say it's like being a pinprick of human essence floating about in a vacuum of empty space in my head. I guess when that happens it means all of us have dissociated and nobody wants to feel anything, or talk much. Other times it's like one shuts off goes inside but another takes over. It probably looks like a sudden mood change to whoever we're talking to. I think maybe I took the DES test questions too literally rather than relating them to my own situation. I hope it was nothing bad going on when you suddenly found yourself naked. X

Kerry H wrote:I know what you mean about going inside rather than outside your body. [...] I say it's like being a pinprick of human essence floating about in a vacuum of empty space in my head.

Exactly.

Kerry H wrote: Also the scoring is hard because it's so subjective. To me "always" means 100% of the time, so unless a symptom was permanent I wouldn't score it "always".

This is my problem with this test too.
Do people agree that an answer of "always" to any of these questions would be inaccurate?
(I know there are always exceptions, but I'm talking 99%)

Best, Zel.