Myths about DID & Dissociation
Myth: Dissociation only happens under times of stress.
Fact: Dissociation can happen anytime, regardless of stress level or stressful stimuli. Heck, some people dissociate when they’re bored!
Myth: When dissociated, people are completely unaware of what’s going on.
Fact: There are different levels of dissociation. As a general rule, dissociation is a certain kind of mental detachment from the body. When dissociated, a person may feel like they’re outside of themselves, but be aware of what is going on outside of their body (and perhaps not aware of what’s going on INSIDE). However, sometimes dissociation, in the case of dissociative amnesia, can cause a complete loss of knowledge of what’s going on while in the dissociative state.
(Note: I would personally argue that “day-dreaming” is a kind of dissociation, though I think the psych community considers it more of a feature of poor executive functioning)
Myth: People with DID have no awareness of their ‘alters’ unless others outside of their body have mentioned them.
Fact: Not everyone knows about their ‘alters’, especially younger in life - but many people with DID are aware of at least one ‘alter’, if not a large portion of their fronting system.
Myth: Persons with DID are never aware of the actions of their ‘alters’.
Fact: Research by Paul Dell has found that most multiples have subjective awareness more often than not while their others are out - this is called “co-consciousness”. More often than not, people are ‘partially dissociated’ while their alters are present, rather than being amnesic. Of course, some people have worse dissociation than others, and may have amnesia every-time their ‘alters’ are out - but most people with DID do not experience amnesia every single time.
Myth: Persons with DID who experience co-fronting or co-consciousness are ALWAYS aware of the actions of their ‘alters’.
Fact: It’s probably pretty blatant that this isn’t true, yet some people still believe it and try to say “you know when ____ was out and said ____”. Frankly, most people with DID lose some time (but not all)… it could be anything from a second to months. Even if they were co-fronting with the other you’re speaking about, they may not remember what they said (or what you said).
Myth: It is obvious to those who know a DID person that that person has ‘alters’, even if they haven’t been told.
Fact: DID is, in fact, extremely hard to spot (perhaps because of ignorance, but also because it may appear as other disorders, such as Bipolar (because of mood-swing) or Schizophrenia (because of psychotic episodes). Many people with DID “fly under the radar”, and many do not switch rapidly or often unless under a lot of stress. In fact, DID can be so silent (so to speak (pun not intended)) that even long-time spouses and therapists of DID people may completely miss it. There has even been comments in the psych community made about the diagnostic criteria because it may be difficult to spot ‘alters’ as well as that they may come out very rarely.
Myth: Everyone with DID has a child/protector/abuser-introject/psychotic murder in their system.
Fact: I have never known an archetype of multiple systems that is absolutely accurate and goes across the board. Many people do not have a child, a protector, and introject, or even anyone in their system that is violent. DID is very specific to the person who has it - every system is different because every person is different, and every experience is different.
Myth: Every ‘alter’ in a system is so startlingly different that there’s no way to mistake them for another.
Fact: Just as you may have two people who aren’t DID that are very similar, it’s possible to have two system members that are similar as well.
Myth: DID is basically just schizophrenia with internal voices instead of external.
Fact: First of all, schizophrenics may more commonly (statistically) have external voices, the voices they hear (if they hear any) may come from anywhere. Second of all, while DID may manifest in a way that looks like schizophrenia, or a person with DID may also have a co-occurring psychotic disorder… they are not even remotely the same. DID has alters that take control of the body, and also dissociation, neither or which occur in schizophrenia.
Myth: DID is accurately portrayed in media which shows people with more than two personalities (aka, not Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde).
Fact: There is not a single show or movie (including those about Sybyl) that accurately portray DID. Just as “A Beautiful Mind” over-exaggerates the symptoms and manifestations of schizophrenia to make it more entertaining, Sybyl and nearly every other movie or show about DID (besides actual documentaries, obviously) are over-exaggerated, highly-dramatized, and… often, just plain wrong in almost every way.
Most people agree that to date, “United States of Tara” is likely the best portrayal of a DID system… though it is still exaggerates for entertainment value.
Myth: I learned about DID in psych class and I’m pretty sure my psych book(/teacher) is the whole truth and the only truth.
Fact: Sadly, DID is also inaccurately explained in psych class - mostly because psych classes explain the diagnostic criteria, and pass over anything else that may be helpful in teaching students about DID (like documentaries on DID, or first-hand accounts). While there may be a class or two that actually did a good job on this, I can pretty much guarantee that you were taught inaccurate, and highly outdated information.
Myth: People with DID can control their ‘alters’ - what they do, and when they come out.
Fact: No one has full control over anyone else - whether they’re inside or outside of their body —- unless of course you’ve learned some fantastic mind-control techniques (it’s a joke). While some systems communicate well and try to work together, one person in a system has no more control over someone else in the same system anymore than I can control my cat.
Myth: DID isn’t real - after all, my psychologist (who likely doesn’t specialize in dissociation or DID) told me so.
Fact: Your psychologist is one of the many people who has been brainwashed by things like Sybyl, to believe that Sybyl is an accurate portrayal of DID. Because that’s not actually how DID works, it leads people to believe that it doesn’t exist. There have been quite a few psychologists in research fields that have gone into studies believing it doesn’t exist, and come out believing it does.
Myth: DID doesn’t exist and everyone who says they have it is lying / just roleplaying. (basically the same as the last, so sue me)
Fact: It very much does exist, many people just have the wrong vision of what it is. That’s what this blog is all about - giving a more correct idea of what dissociation and DID are, rather than the common (and blatantly wrong) stereotypes that society has put in front of us.
In reality, different system members may have different blood pressure, blood-glucose levels, different voices, handwriting, mannerisms and ways of walking (ect, ect, ect). Some even have different blood types (I’ve only heard of one case where this happened, but I guess it was big news to the psych community because my therapist told me about it)! You can say it doesn’t exist all you want, but you can’t fake a blood test.
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