can one have DID and be highly functioning professional??

Hi,

Sorry, this might seem a stupid question but I am a professional and was diagnosed with DID and PTSD a year ago. I have noticed that my DID has never interferred or caused issues with work; So sometimes I wonder if I really have DID ?.... My question is can someone have DID and still hold a job and appear " normal" to other people? I am questioning myself because it seems that whatever trauma I went through in life is much small than what I have heard from some other people who have DID.

Yes one can be a highly functional professional and have DID. i do and am a criminal trial attorney with an excellant record. One of my alters is the attorney and for the most part the others do not interfer and almost no one suspects which is good as I work in a very small county. There does have to be some cooperation so the "kids" don't interfer.

Yes one can be a highly functional professional and have DID. i do and am a criminal trial attorney with an excellant record. One of my alters is the attorney and for the most part the others do not interfer and almost no one suspects which is good as I work in a very small county. There does have to be some cooperation so the "kids" don't interfer.

Many people with DID are highly functional. Usually there is one alter who does all of the functioning at that level.

Hi,
I'm new here and kind of nervous. I've never joined a post before, but my therapist told me that it could be very helpful. I am a professional and have had DID since I was a child. I have a highly functioning alters who (in my friends' opinion) functions very well when she is in control. Most of my co-workers don't have a clue that I have DID and it would be difficult, at best, for them to even conceptualize that I'm living with this problem. I think part of the problem is that "we" as professionals do hide and as a result aren't able to give others the support and ancouragement that it often takes when living with a mental illness. I myself am looking for suppport, perhaps through this message board, that would help me to really accept and deal with my mental illness, which is a difficult one for me, and develop healthy coping skills so that I can try to be at peace with my(selves). Hope that helps. Perhaps, when I feel more grounded, which is what I'm aiming for, I can fully return the work I love to help others like myself. Good Luck.

Anzea, this sounds strangely familiar to me......
I always doubted myself as my past and my reasons seemed so much less significant than that of others. However someone can have DID and appear to have no interference in everyday life. I usually have someone who surfaces simply to keep this in check when people almost find out about us.
I also find that people with DID are able to function at a higher level to others, hence I imagine that a lot of multiples are professionals like myself.
You are probably multi-talented too, I bet!
The funny thing is, nobody seems to rule DID as a reason for me, they just tend to think I'm some kind of boff...
So yeah, anyway, (sorry, rambling there...) it is not only possible, but probable that someone with DID can be a highly functioning professional! ^-^
Didsee: welcome to the forums! I was new, and in ur position last year & a half ago( was so nervous I couldn't even explain myself properly!) Having gone through mucho therapy, I've discovered a few coping skills that have helped me since then, so i hope, maybe, it'll help you someday? I hope it won't take long for you to get grounded! All the best!
xx

Many persons living with DID are high functioning, having one or more alters who are reasonably healthy and well adjusted. Being aware of our condition, and getting appropriate therapy, really helps! (I see my time and money spent on psychotherapy as an investment in my professional development.)

I have just read a new article in Australasian Psychiatry 2014, Vol 22(5) 489–491, a brief case report of a retired psychiatrist who has DID, titled "Meet Dr Jekyll: a case of a psychiatrist with dissociative identity disorder." The article describes a fairly typical presentation of DID in an older person. He arguably is high functioning, having made it through medical school, licensing, and a long professional career and marriage. However he also is described as an unfaithful husband and an alcoholic.

I don't know if the article is a fair representation of his case, but it states the man had known of his DID since about the age of 20 and thought there were just two alters: faithful married man in long term psychotherapy (the one who became a psychiatrist) and unfaithful playboy. Then near age 60 his wife found out about one of his affairs and left. This sent him into a crisis during which he was hospitalized and a little boy alter emerged. Evidently the little boy split off during a hospital stay in his early childhood and had thereafter remained covert but exerted passive influence throughout the man's adult life.

I am not impressed with the quality of psychotherapy he received, and I wonder if he concealed the DID from his wife. Perhaps he will read this and comment.

I would imagine that if the right alters are out at the right time, then maybe D.I.D. could even offer a sort of advantage for a career. If there was adequate communication and teamwork between alters, then even better, I guess.

I seem to be able to do okay with a job until I start getting unexpected, unannounced 'visits' from very troubled alters, and I also start disassociating and having all of the resulting anxiety, memory and disorientation problems. It seems like it will usually be other parts of my life that start to crash and burn, and my job winds up being a casualty in the process.

For example, a job I held for about 6 months (I think) was working as a CNA in a memory care facility (nursing home and assisted living for residents with dementia). I believe I can remember just about everything from while I was at work, but there was apparently a long chunk of time when that was all I could remember. I wound up losing the room I was renting, having terrible hygiene and self-care and almost going insane from sleep deprivation (the last one is my guess, because I have no idea how much I was actually sleeping, but I felt completely exhausted and crazy all the time).

I know that for a while between the CNA memories and when I actually lost my apartment place, I switched to another job, but my timeline feels very off regarding that.

I like to think I was a decent worker, but D.I.D. problems outside of work eventually cost me my jobs.

But if I imagine my system as being very stabilized and working together, then I don't see why I couldn't have a rather normal life otherwise.

It depends.
At high school I already clearly had DID, but functioned very well, in the sense of getting high grades.
After entering university I had a few difficult years, but when I was 21, things settled down. I graduated in both physics and computer science, married , build a decent career as a researcher and lecturer, got two lovely children.
When I was 34, I became severely depressed, and collapsed into a psychosis a few months later. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, lost my job, and had to be hospitalized several times. When a finally got the diagnosis of Dissociative Disorder (when I was 41), I regained my life with help of a very good therapist. I was healed and integrated. I resumed my career, very successfully.
Two years ago, when I was 52, I got a lot of physical illnesses and after a year I collapsed into a permanent DID crisis. I’m losing my job again. And yet again, with the help of another therapist, I’m trying to rebuild my life. It is much tougher this time, and we don’t even think about healing or integration.

Old thread but the question is well worth discussing. It seems that those with DID vary widely in functioning. Some need immense help while others appear to cope and live well in a high functioning job. I know many with DID are exceptional at art, music or literature since they can communicate feeling so well to others. A gift of imagination I guess. Ive heard of many actors supposedly having it since they are so good at picking up social cues and acting them out.


DID does have many horrible side effects, but I do see some that are good also. Intense absorption in material, strong emotional inelegance within some alters, great neuro linguistical skills, exceptional working memory in certain alters are common things I have seen. I know I can so deeply get involved in something I loose sense of all else. Gifts, or specific talents are more like norm than an exception. Many have alters that excel in a certain area too.

I forget who said it (It might have actually been Cornelia Wilbur) that DID exists to protect exceptional talent. Doesn't seem like it on the surface but I believe it more and more time continuing.