Living day-to-day with dissociative identity disorder is tough. People sometimes think that they can tell if a person has a mental illness like dissociative identity disorder (DID) just from observing their behaviors (Is Mental Illness Really an Invisible Disability?). But that's just not true. Statistically speaking, one out of every 100 people has DID.* Do you think you could pick that person out of a crowd? I doubt it because living day-to-day with DID isn't what you think.

Dealing with denial in dissociative identity disorder is key. Denial is a defense mechanism we have likely all engaged in at various points in our lives. At times, denial can be a useful method to help us cope. When it comes to your dissociative identity disorder (DID), however, denial can lead to a breakdown in system communication and can hinder treatment efforts.

A diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID) can be overwhelming and confusing and part of the reason can be the differences in DID symptoms. In order for a DID diagnosis to be made, a person has to fit certain criteria. After diagnosis, people may seek out further information in order to learn more about their symptoms and what their diagnosis means (What Is DID?). They may also seek support by finding others who also have DID. But what happens when that information doesn't exactly fit the mold of one's own DID experiences and the people they meet don't share the exact same DID symptoms?

This will be my final post for Dissociative Living as I will no longer be writing for HealthyPlace. I have enjoyed my time with this adventure of being a blogger, but it has now become too much for me to handle. I still struggle with many dissociative identity disorder (DID) symptoms, and lately they have been acting up.  It is becoming harder for me to be reliable and committed to this blog.

Creating alters (alternate personalities) in dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a helpful way to deal with different personalities. I don't know exactly how to tell someone to create an alter, but it seems that when there is a need for one, it will come to be. One such time was with my little girl alter. Her name is Colette, and she is five years old. Colette taught me about creating alters with dissociative identity disorder.

In dissociative identity disorder (DID), communication between alters (alternate personalities) is the key to a person’s well-being. With DID, a person may have one or many alters, all working together to form the whole of who the person is.  I have formed a couple of ways of working with my alters to create communication within dissociative identity disorder between alters.

Alters (alternate personalities) are something people with dissociative identity disorder (DID) may have. Alters are separate identities. Some of these alters may communicate with each other and some of them may not. When I was first diagnosed with DID, my alters did not communicate with each other at all. I was only aware of the current personality state that I was in. I wasn't aware of any other alters in my dissociative identity disorder.

Drug and alcohol addiction are very common. People who struggle with mental disorders may also face substance addiction in their lives. Personally, I tried using drugs to cope with my dissociative identity disorder (DID) and extreme feelings. The drugs numbed the pain and calmed my anxiety, for a while. What I didn't realize is that drug addiction can be just as painful as mental illness and that using drugs, eventually, makes mental illness much worse.

Dissociation is an anxiety symptom that is part of dissociative identity disorder (DID). Sometimes dissociation is not splitting between personalities, but only losing touch with reality for a time. Many people who suffer from DID also experience other mental illnesses, or mental illness symptoms. One that I have noticed is anxiety. Dissociation and anxiety symptoms sometimes causes my panic attacks.

Many people have experiences with dissociation, and at its most extreme, one may be diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID). Sometimes dissociation is a pleasant alternative to dealing with the anxiety or fear that triggered it. Other times, however, dissociation itself may be very scary and cause anxiety. One tool for coping with frightening dissociation is to use a safe object.