Living with Dissociative Identity Disorder

Today I wanted to touch a little bit about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. 

A large part of having DID is also having and coping with PTSD. My therapist recommended a very helpful book and I would like to pass the recommendation on. It’s called “The PTSD Workbook: Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms” and it is a pretty good starting point if you are just being diagnosed with PTSD. You can find it here.

Personally, I have “go to” strategies when dealing with PTSD, and that is what I would like to share.

• Knowing my Triggers - Prevention is the key here. I think it is very important to know my triggers. That way I can avoid, a flashback, dissociative episode, or a switch. Knowing my triggers and avoid them all together is by far the easiest route to take, however, it’s not always practical. For instance, sometimes there are things that trigger me that I didn’t know where triggers or that are unavoidable; like the way a certain word is said or a look.   
• Grounding - Grounding is way for me to stay in the present when I feel I’m about to go into a flashback or dissociation. I used to think that a good way to do this was to listen to some music, until I realized that I dissociate into my music. But in may be a good way for you. Some ways I ground now are to smell a peppermint - I always have a few on me - or anything strong smelling, have a bite or sip of something sour, grab onto a piece of ice (this one isn’t very practical unless I’m at home or in a restaurant), or concentrate on my surrounds - for instance see how many red things I can find or count the chairs etc.
• Meditation - As stress is a very big trigger for me, I like to meditate, especially if I know that the day is going to be a stressful one. This can be a preventative measure or one used as a way of avoiding an impeding flashback or dissociative state. Personally, I only use it as a preventative measure because if I use it as a deterrent I find it only pulls me into the flash back or dissociative state faster.
• Bringing a friend - Sometimes the best thing you can do is have a friend around who knows about your PTSD/DID. I like to have my boyfriend around especially if I know I may be going into a triggering situation. This way if I do have flashback or switch, he is there to help me with it.

I hope this proves to be helpful to someone besides me. Again, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has been diagnosed with PTSD.

Thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Kay

OK, so I’m not really sure what I would like to post about next, so I thought: “Why not ask the readers?” So I shall. 

FOLLOWERS: Is there anything specific you would like to post about next? Got any DID questions for me? Or any questions at all? Let me know!

Until next time,

kay

We get a lot of question about our body image (how we see ourselves) and how it differs from alter to alter even though we all really look the same on the outside. So, that is what I’m going to try and talk about today - and I hope I make it make sense.

First off, what do we look like?

Well my [kay’s] body image is that of the physical body. I’m 23, 5’0” - slim build, green eyes, buzzed red hair, and I wear glasses.

D describes her body as this: “I am taller - 5’8” or so. I have very long, blonde hair that I keep pulled up most of the time. My eyes are the bluest of blues, and my pouty lips are always a lovely pink. I am athletically built - lots of sinewy muscle. My nails are kept long, but I hardly ever have to do anything with them. I have a nice smile, and I consider myself fairly attractive. I also have to use glasses, though I would choose slimmer frames than the ones we currently have.”

Lola also has long blond hair that she keeps back with a black head band. Her face is rounder, and she does not need glasses. Picture Alice in Wonderland and you’ve pretty much got Lola. She even has the blue dress and white apron.

I would like to point out that this is what we see inside our mind for each alter. Obviously, the body does not have these different looks when each different alter is out.

Some people ask questions similar to: “When Lola is out does she look down at the body and see a little a girl’s body?” The answer is no. She looks down and sees the body as it is. We’ve had a talk and we explained to Lola, that this is what a grown up girl’s body looks like, and that the body is just more grown up that she is at the moment.

It’s a little complicated to explain, but I guess it boils down to the fact that it is all mental. I hope this helps to enlighten you. If you have any questions, you know how to ask. 

Until next time,
kay

I would like to welcome you on behalf of everyone here.

Should you like to ask any of us a question, or submit your own personal thoughts, feelings, opinions etc please feel free to do so. 

You may contact us directly at livingwithDID@yahoo.com we welcome all correspondence - good, bad & indifferent.

-kay

Yesterday was our birthday. We all tend to celebrate the same day because we don’t all know when our own birthday’s are.

We went to the beach and had a nice Italian supper. Lola particularly enjoyed going to the beach. She doesn’t get to be out very often, and she had a great time hanging out with our guy. She thought catching the muscles and watching them dig back into the sand was the most hilarious thing in the world.

Everyone (that we are aware of) came out at one point or another, and we were all well behaved.

We don’t have many days where we were all out and it wasn’t because of some disaster or mental break down of sorts. It was nice.

I hope we can have more days like this in future.

Until next time,
kay

Haven’t been me lately. It’s been like the alter merry-go-round around here. But I seem to be back in action now, and I’ll post again once I’ve got my head on straight and something interesting to say.

Until then,

kay