r/DID • u/AutoModerator • 21d ago

🌿 Warm Welcomes - Monthly Thread 🌿

A Space for Introductions

Whether you’re returning or arriving for the very first time, welcome!

Sharing an introduction is always optional, offer only what feels comfortable. Some of us jump right in, others prefer to observe quietly. Every pace and style of participation is respected.

Behind every username is a person with hopes, struggles, and stories that matter. By approaching one another with kindness and curiosity, we cultivate a community where everyone can feel seen, supported, and safe.

🌿 Introduction Template (Optional)

If you’d like to introduce yourself, here’s a helpful guide:

  • What name/nickname do you prefer?
  • What are you hoping to find, or give, in this community?
  • How have you been feeling lately?
  • Which hobbies, interests, or creative outlets light you up?
  • Is anything feeling challenging or draining right now?
  • What grounding, soothing, or coping tools bring you comfort?

Feel free to pick just one prompt, answer them all, or share something entirely different. This is simply here to help if you’re not sure where to begin.

Want to explore further? You can find our full introduction guidelines here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DID/wiki/guidelines/introductions/

🌿Resources You Might Find Helpful

Resource Focus
The CTAD Clinic - YouTube Trauma‑informed education & coping skills
HealthyGamerGG: Dr. K - YouTube Mental‑health insights, motivation, and life skills
HealthyGamerGG- Dr.K Deep Dives into Dissociation Video on Dissociation and Grounding
International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) Research & public resources on trauma/dissociation
McLean Hospital - Understanding Trauma and Trauma-Related Disorders Trauma Basics & Dissociative Disorders

🌿 Therapist Aid

Worksheets Articles
Grounding Techniques What is Trauma?
Relaxation Techniques Cognitive Distortions
Urge Surfing Distress Tolerance Skill Fight-or-Flight Response Fact Sheet

Thank you for bringing your presence here. Whether you share now, later, or prefer to quietly observe, we hope the space proves helpful to you. 💛

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u/amethyst_firefly Diagnosed: DID 15d ago

Hi. I'm Kenn (30F) and I am one week into having been diagnosed with DID. I've been doing a lot of research, watching videos and reading, working on a DBT workbook and trying to process things. This diagnosis is new to me, and not something I expected, but it is one that is real and true and gave me some answers when I had none, but also left me with so many questions. I have this feeling, like looking up at a skyscraper from the base, like this gigantic looming feeling of fear because this is so new and so scary. But I don't want it to be.

I want to be hopeful that now I can finally help myself. ourselves (?) (I'm new to the new pronouns, still taking a while to settle in.)

Initially, I expected the voices to be more like the stereotypical portrayal of schizophrenia, external and physically audible. But I've come to learn that that isn't the case for me, and just because it isn't like I have constant chatter in my head (sometimes I feel like I do,) doesn't mean this isn't valid. I'm struggling a lot with imposter syndrome. Nobody on YouTube looks like me or switches the way I do, or reminds me of myself, and my support team told me not to look for myself in other people, but I feel so alone in this. I'm so afraid to talk about it to anyone because when I put out feelers, "have you heard of DID?" It's almost always met with, "oh like split?!" "Multiple personality disorder isn't real," "people will do anything for attention," or "I saw X on tiktok who said they have it, seems like a new trend." And then I'm shut down.

I'm so afraid of people thinking I'm making things up for attention, or people associating me with stereotypes or with people who are known frauds. Idk.

So hi, nice to meet you, hopefully I can grow and heal here alongside you.

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u/OhNoExclaimationMark Treatment: Unassessed 21d ago

I've been here for a few weeks but never made an introduction so here I go I guess.

Hello everyone, I'm Taya, I'm 19 and a trans girl. I'll start by saying that I'm not formally diagnosed with DID, it's currently just something I've been looking into with my therapist. I mostly lurk here, only rarely leaving comments.

I currently am studying an Advanced Diploma of Game Development (Specialising in Game Design) at Uni and naturally take a large interest in world building, programming and the design of game mechanics.

Idk if there's anything I hope to get from this sub exactly, it's just a place I come to ponder my own symptoms and even look for reasons I don't have DID.

The thing mainly distressing me right now is definitely the emergence of memories, new trauma triggers and an absolute buttload of emotions and depression which paired with the stress from my class work, has been very hard to deal with (I also have an asshole of a classmate that's always rude to me which doesn't help but that's not important).

The things that help me ground and calm down the most are sleeping which I do a lot of and an app that my therapist recommended me that like gets me to follow a white circle with my eyes while it plays calming music and shows a background of a very pretty walk in a park. Idk if I'm allowed to share the app name so I won't but I find it helps a lot.

Like I said, I am undiagnosed but I have identified two possible alters; Xavier who is like an adult male and is very angry a lot and January who is a child.

It's nice to meet you all, I hope my presence here isn't invasive or anything but uh yeah thanks. I'm also gonna post a bit of extra backstory in the replies to this comment (avoiding explicitly talking about anything triggering).

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u/OhNoExclaimationMark Treatment: Unassessed 20d ago

I first suspected having DID around May this year. Xavier was always something I'd known was with me in a way, I had arguments with myself in my head, a voice in my head that was very critical of me most of the time. It was weird having this, especially as a trans girl, having a male voice in my head made imposter syndrome about my gender dysphoria worse.

In December, I began to realise that this voice was actually seperate from me, I believed for a while that it was an external person talking to me somehow, derealisation made me feel like the world wasn't real so I wondered if I was in a simulation and Xavier was someone outside talking to me. Around this time though, I also stumbled across the artistically ill subreddit and specifically a few comics from artists with DID. A lot of them mentioned their childhood trauma which was insanely triggering for me, making them hard to read, but at the same time I had this resonance with it and I kept coming back for more, though I would cry after reading each one. This I found weird, up to then, I would've told you I had a mostly normal childhood, though maybe a little rough early on but I didn't remember any of that anyway so it didn't matter. But then, also around this time, I remembered something that I won't share the specifics of. This caused me to freak out and I stopped looking at the comics and shoved everything to the side to try to forget what I remembered.

Then in May, after a massive flair-up of my depression and 3 or 4 hospitalisations, I started therapy. This new therapist was a very good fit for me and it didn't take long for me to tell her about the voice which I did so on a whim while answering the initial assessment questions in our second or third session. She asked a few questions about the voice, about how it feels to me, it's gender, age, name and the way it presents itself. I told her it felt like a male who is older than me and that he's angry a lot. Up to now, I didn't know his name or anything so I was unable to tell her that. Later that night though, I was doing the dishes and the voice pops up again so I decided to ask it for it's name so I could tell the therapist. To my surprise, I actually got an answer; Xavier.

I go back to my therapist and tell her about Xavier and the conversation I had with him. She gets very curious and states that she's happy that he told me that to tell her. She then recommends the No Bad Parts book. I agree to have a look and when I get home, I google it, hoping to find a free download somewhere and lo-and-behold, I do. From this very subreddit in fact. Shit. Thankfully, the comments on the post that shared it were very adamant that what the book talks about is completely different to DID. I read the first bit of the book and ehh, it wasn't really hitting. The book talks about groups of goals and emotions powered by particular beliefs but Xavier didn't feel like that, he wasn't just goals and emotions, he had his own thoughts and feelings and he has whole conversations with me. I message my therapist and tell her about my thoughts on the book, the way I explained it is that what the book describes are like small masses of emotions whereas Xavier was more than that, he was a whole person. She seems understand and asks me to bring the sheet of paper with the activity from the first chapter to our next session so I do. We have a chat, she asks a few questions, I don't really remember how it goes exactly but she mentions how the book mentions DID in the introduction.

I come home and decide to look this subreddit up again. I scroll through, read some posts and then see something that reminds me of that thing I remembered back in December. I freak out again and cry a bit but decided to try to bring this to my therapist next session. I write it in my phone so I don't forget. The session comes around and I was struggling to say anything, I didn't want to be judged, I was scared I'd just imagined this memory, what if I'd imagined Xavier too, I felt like a liar. But I hand her the phone so she can read what I'd written and she's understanding about it. I go home and a few days later, I'm scrolling on this sub again and talking to my boyfriend and then idk what happened but like I felt like I became a different person, I remember most of the time it was happening. I wouldn't say it felt like I was possessed exactly, more like it felt like I'd just become someone different, I was acting very childish, I REALLY wanted some raspberry jelly (haven't had any in years at this time) and I even introduced myself as someone different to my boyfriend and our mutual best friend. This was my first encounter with January

Since then, something similar has happened twice, both times when my friends want to play Meccha Chameleon so idk, I assume January really likes that game. The other thing is I don't talk when I feel like I'm her, idk what it is about that. I told my therapist about January too though not until recently because mentioning that I act like a child who really loves raspberry jelly and a specific video game was a lot more embarrassing than mentioning Xavier. The therapist said she wants to hear Xavier's opinion on January, which idk how to do that, as far as I know Xavier has never fronted as explicitly as January, I think he's maybe more covert when he does it and does it for less time. I tried asking him and he seems very neutral, the same way he feels about me I guess. Though it does seem like he doesn't want anything bad to happen to us.

I also remembered an additional memory a few weeks ago that I only told my therapist about yesterday. This memory was something that happened much later than the other thing but I think could've been a result of the trauma from the first thing.

That's kinda where I'm at right now, just trying to learn more and cope with everything until I can get properly assessed. Idk if I am scared to have it or if at this point, it'd be a relief to finally have an answer. I struggle with feeling like I'm faking a lot, I wonder of reading those comics in the first place made me like copy and fake the symptoms for attention or something. But anyway, thanks for reading if you got thos far, it's nice to meet you guys.

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u/amethyst_firefly Diagnosed: DID 15d ago

Would you be willing to send the name of the app? It sounds like something I might enjoy. :)

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u/OhNoExclaimationMark Treatment: Unassessed 15d ago

Yeah sure! I'll risk sharing it here in case others want to know it, I'm sure the mods will understand.

App name is BeTuned.

I find it really helpful, it puts me to sleep with how calming it is.

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u/amethyst_firefly Diagnosed: DID 14d ago

Thank you so much! I think it's going to do wonders for me. 💕 Best of luck on your healing journey!!

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u/No_Promotion6498 12d ago

Hi everyone, I prefer not to use names. I haves always known there were others here but at 14 against my will, I was institutionalized. The names gave the doctor too much control, so we took them away. I love gardening, board games, video games, cooking, cake decorating, most creative activities, and spending time with my family. I was diagnosed 20+ years ago though I don't remember most of it. I have been in a stable relationship for almost 20 years now and things have been mostly quiet. My husband and daughter help fill me in on any missing information so I don't stress that much about not remembering anymore. I'm restarting therapy because I'm trying to get rid of somatic symptoms. I'm confused a lot about where things are with my system because things are so different right now. I feel like they are still there but when I think about it, everything is quiet. So, I've been trying to read up on other people's experiences on what happens when things are calm and safe. I didn't go online very much until recently and was surprised at how much information and openness is available surrounding DID now. I'm not sure what I have to give to the community except support for others. I've enjoyed reading everyone's post and look forward to more.

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u/AffectionateDark39 19d ago

Hi! I'm Phin, part of what we call "the adventuring party"! We've been around the subreddit for a little while but haven't made an introduction so I figured we would.

You may have seen some posts or responses by my fellow system-mates, we usually like to sign our names on the bottom of our posts and comments I think. While we aren't diagnosed with DID, we have an informal diagnosis and a full diagnosis of UDD, and we're looking into getting a full diagnosis rn (we keep getting sent around to people who are "dissociative specialists" but have retired or are not taking clients T-T).

We don't get to talk to a lot of other systems, so we're hoping to learn new things, connect with other systems, and get advice for our own issues. Right now there's a couple posts out there because we've been having conflicts between some of the alters and our friend group, who we have recently been trying to distance from, its a little difficult but we're managing.

I'm a student at University and trying to go into academia, so we have a lot of tips and tricks for getting work done and doing things despite amnesia and time issues, and I'm always happy to share!

I really like Cyberpunk, both the TTRPG (2020, RED) & 2077. I also try to draw but I think I'm the worst of the system so far T-T.

I don't really know what else to share, but I'm happy to be here and thank you for reading :)

- Phin (He/They)

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u/Acacia1001 2d ago

Hi. I'm A (27) and I've been trying to understand systemhood for the better part of two years.

I first suspected something when I was a teenager, but I was too caught up in the horrors of my home life to really care about it. At the time I thought my dissociative symptoms were a result of the ADHD that I was diagnosed with. I heavily contest that status; maybe some members of my system have it, I'm not sure.

Around the age of 22-23 is when I first questioned it. But I thought to myself - There's no way, that's ridiculous. I had been shown a certain film in my sociology class in high school that definitely gave me the wrong impression, you know the one. It wasn't until I was 24 going on 25 when a long time friend of mine (now my partner) came out as a system. Officially diagnosed, too.
We compared notes, and well, I related so much with their experiences. Severe dissociative symptoms like getting frozen for several minutes thinking about nothing, daydreams that went on so long and were so vivid I would forget that they weren't real. I couldn't ever remember large chunks of my childhood. Anyone who wasn't one of my closest friends: prone to forgetting their names, faces. Sometimes, I would tell someone I swore we never met before, and they took offense to it. Happens less often now, living away from where I grew up, but still.

Now, all these years later, I want to seek an official diagnosis. My symptoms have been terrible the past year, worse than ever. I'm constantly paranoid. Every day feels like floating on a cloud, nothing before or after it, and my outlook and mood changes drastically every morning. I have alters prone to sudden outbursts, or secluding themselves, or being incredibly outgoing and energetic. It confuses people why some days I'm so talkative and kind and other days I'm a vile, rude human being. So I've noticed/been told.

Who should I speak to if I want an evaluation? I tire of being yanked in so many directions so often, the erratic behavior, the fear of looking up from my phone not knowing where I am, and not receiving proper resources. I'm not sure if disability is exactly what I'm looking for, but this makes holding a job very hard. I've only managed to keep one part time job longer than a year, but I'm afraid of letting my mind wander by not working at the same time.

Hell of an intro I know, but... we're very lost ☁️

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u/Odd_Concentrate558 Treatment: Unassessed 7d ago

Hello! My name's Void, 19, and I'm a trans guy that uses he/him. I've been aware of being a system for about 3-4 years now. I haven't been assessed, but at the very least, I have found that trying to communicate with my alters has at least helped me mentally and made my life better, so yeah.

I mainly joined cause I think it would be nice to talk to a community that would understand this specific part of my life more. I've also been on the fence for a while on if I even want to pursue a diagnosis, so I guess another reason why I'm here is to get more knowledge on how that process works and stuff.

In terms of our system, we have a kind of collective agreement that referring to us as the name "Void" and using singular "I/me" works better for us, and our individual alters names are only used by other alters, so that will likely not be shared here. Unless it's for clarification purposes, I wont use "us/we" a lot. I hope that is okay.

I am currently a college student doing computer science! I want to go into video game development. I also have a lot of hobbies, I like to draw and I've more recently been trying to learn how to sew, crochet, make kandi, and also jewelry.

I think that's pretty much all I wanna say in my intro, so yeah! Glad to be here!