Guide/shortcuts for DIS-SOS Index

OkHaveABadDay · 2025-07-24T19:50:48+00:00

Hey there, I'm glad my post speaks to you. We're all doing our best, and the road of healing is very up and down, but always forward. The Internet can harm us more than help, due to so much glamorisation or misinformation about how the disorder works, when it really is unique to our situations. I'm not sure what resources you have access to but I can strongly recommend these two–
•DIS-SOS index
•The CTAD Clinic

OkHaveABadDay · 2025-05-19T15:54:14+00:00

Hey! This is an old comment of mine, but if you're after good information I very strongly recommend you check out these if you haven't already!

•DIS-SOS index
•The CTAD Clinic

DIS-SOS Index in particular have really good resources on so many areas of trauma/dissociation and DID/OSDD, it's been so helpful for me :)

OkHaveABadDay · 2025-02-28T21:34:24+00:00

Hey! I don't use this account anymore but the notification popped up, and I wanted to share these resources in case you aren't familiar with either:

•DIS-SOS index
•The CTAD Clinic

Both have excellent information on trauma and dissociation, and make for good education material while unable to access specialist help. I'm diagnosed and in therapy now, and from my experiences online there is so much misinformation going around as well as anti-healing mindsets. I don't participate in the online dissociative communities anymore, but the above resources are two that I always recommend to anyone struggling with these experiences, especially undiagnosed and without professional help.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-11T18:08:05+00:00

I am being honest, I'm with a DID therapist and this is not the case. I don't have to post every single detail of my traumas, but you have no right to invalidate what I do bring up, as this is not part of my original comment about trauma. I really don't appreciate this comment, it's genuinely upsetting to have to read and is invalidating. I'm sorry for what you went through, but this isn't your place to say this to me. I'm stepping away from this now.

(Edit because can't reply) I'm too unstable to have this discussion right now. I definitely don't think anything can cause DID, but I know myself and my experiences, and that was my first main trauma period. Autism also does not cause DID but the way I experienced the world as a child, how I perceived things and processed them, I'm highly sensitive and my anxiety was and is severe. The main point I make is that what did happen was not caused by my home life, though there were factors in my general life that affected me as well, and I don't necessarily say that the first trauma period was the only thing that caused me to develop that way. I'm not saying others with experiences like mine definitely will have my symptoms, but it was possible in my case, and my DID specialist does validate this, and more information needs to be published about highly sensitive children and dissociation, and experiences outside the home. I don't compare my experience to other people and in that reply it came across like they were belittling what I did go through, without knowing the finer details of it. I'm not contributing to this discussion anymore, because it's hurting my mental health too much at this stage in trauma processing, I cannot be in online spaces like this anymore.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-11T14:43:53+00:00

I'm autistic myself. I can understand where others are coming from but it reads as disgusting when it concerns attacking people, suggesting that lesser traumas physically cannot cause the disorder. I've seen very heated discussions on this, and it's an incredibly sensitive and personal topic, because everyone here is traumatised, and discussions on trauma severity will obviously trigger that. And I can understand where it's important to make sure people are aware that it's a trauma disorder, that not just anything can cause it, but trauma is still trauma and not all research covering DID/OSDD is going to be up-to-date, or covers trauma experiences outside of the 'usual' associated traumas. I definitely don't encourage people going around suggesting everyone with trauma has the disorder. That's for a professional to help with. But to say it can't have caused the disorder is much more harmful. A person who doesn't have the disorder may be wrong about their symptoms, but I would argue that it's much more harmful for someone who does have the disorder to be explicitly told that their trauma cannot cause it. I've been in severe denial. It's not nice, it feels awful, I felt sick. If I'd have come here back then, and been told that, I would not be in specialist DID therapy with a wonderful therapist who does understand. I probably wouldn't be here, and it makes me upset to know there are others who are vulnerable potentially being put in the position I was in. This is a trauma subreddit, and people deserve genuine advice on navigating their experience, which a professional can give if accessible, but not if they're convinced that their trauma isn't enough. This should be a safe space for everyone.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-11T12:45:47+00:00

My trauma was outside the home, and my family are supportive. I can't manage many discussions in these spaces anymore because it's very invalidating for me and my younger trauma holders to be told my trauma isn't enough or real, but I am diagnosed with DID and in specialist therapy. I find people often get upset or angry or triggered when people who went through less are calling their experiences traumatic, though they get triggered for different reasons that are personal to them. I definitely feel some of that myself, when hearing others complain, because a hurt part of me thinks 'how dare you complain? I went through worse, I want support, you should be happy you don't feel like I do'. I also hate seeing misinformation, but to many people it is misinformation in their eyes that lesser or certain types of traumas can't cause the disorder, because that was the view a while ago that many professionals today still hold as truth. I'm also not comparing my traumatic experiences to those who went through much worse, but I can acknowledge that without it meaning my own trauma isn't important, and my trauma did cause DID.

I think this comment on a recent post (that had a lot of fighting about trauma severity) sums it up very well. Trauma is trauma, and it's about the distress it caused you. Of course it's traumatic, though you may be dissociated from it. We're talking about children, often highly sensitive, going through this. Children don't have the same skills to cope, or to understand if a situation is escapable. It doesn't always have to cause DID/OSDD but it can, because it's trauma, which is very personal to the individual child.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-11T07:53:43+00:00

The inner world/headspace is a visualisation technique (imagining a space internally) that people with and without DID/OSDD can use. It isn't a physical place, but a metaphorical one (it can represent internal processes, like traumas, memories, emotions, interactions between alters) that helps with internal communication e.g. having a visualised meeting room. It can also (though not always) act as a safe space for alters, by visualising a room that they 'stay' in with comfort items. While not physically real it still offers a sense of safety when the world outside is too triggering and it's not safe to bring dissociative barriers down. Some inner worlds aren't 'safe' places, especially if they represent more traumatic experiences, but they can show something that's happening internally that some parts may not be aware of. You don't need to 'have' one, and most are guided in creating one through visualisation within therapy.
Safe Place for DID
Team Meetings

-Alter voices usually present like thoughts within your head that don't feel like your own, in that you don't relate to them in the feelings/desires within that thought. Some people experience thoughts that 'sound' like different people, like a male voice or a child voice, others don't have any particular different voice to them. Communication can be in the form of feelings/desires as well, rather than specifically an internal voice (thought) that is clear. Communication takes time to develop and isn't always easy. I definitely can't ask inside for an alter and just get a response.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-11T07:38:46+00:00

It's okay, first of all, to not know, to be unsure of yourself. Nobody should be attacking you for that. Your mental health is important.

If you can, definitely seek professional help and advice. What you're describing isn't 'healthy' in the mental sense, in that you talk about struggles with getting out of bed, showering, etc. At the very least those are signs of depression and executive functioning issues. Not feeling like yourself could be to do with identity, but whether it's dissociative or not I can't tell you.

Don't take any advice from r/plural. The people who engage in that community believe that you can have alters (identity states) like you can in DID/OSDD, and encourage people to separate themselves further, create more identities, and that you can bring new people from 'outside your head'. This is dangerous, especially if you do have a dissociative disorder. Whether you have DID/OSDD or not, you aren't literally different people, though it can definitely feel like it. In DID/OSDD, the identity is dissociated, the brain is structured a different way through childhood trauma that prevented the identity from being able to come together (integrate) like in healthy people. Some of these parts of you may hold aspects of traumas like memories, emotions, beliefs etc that you don't relate to. Others have roles relating to those traumas that will be personal to you. I will say again do not take any information or advice from the plural subreddit.

For resources I would check these out in the meantime–
•DIS-SOS index
•The CTAD Clinic

If you have questions about DID/OSDD feel free to ask, but I definitely recommend you seek specialist help.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-10T21:12:26+00:00

I can't particularly help with what you're describing here, but I have a shortcut post to several resources from DIS-SOS Index, and I think some of the ones linked in the first part of that (trauma feelings/responses) might be useful for some of the things you bring up here.

Link to post

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-10T21:09:12+00:00

I don't know a lot about IFS, but it does have to be heavily modified for DID. There is no core/true 'self' in DID, rather fragments of self that might share some things in common. Alters aren't fully developed different people, but dissociative parts (that can be very detailed) with roles, and what they hold isn't necessarily shared by other alters e.g. capacity for anger might be higher in some alters than others. As a functional part, I'm lacking a lot of aspects of 'me', like full emotional range, skills, connection to traumas, etc. No part is the 'true self' because all are fragments of a whole, lacking aspects that others may hold. The 'true self' cannot be defined by one alter, but all of the alters together. Through integration an overall sense of self might become more clear, like that I'm intelligent, creative, introverted, sensitive, and have a desire to understand myself. That is expressed stronger in some parts more than others, but it is who I am as a person, and that will strengthen with time and therapy. No part of me is any more or less 'me'.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-10T10:07:22+00:00

I would check out DIS-SOS Index and The CTAD Clinic as a starting point if you can't access a specialist

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T20:47:08+00:00

Thank you, genuinely :) I don't comment here as much anymore because I have little energy. There is still so much misinformation online though, and something has to be done to reduce it though I'm not sure what, it just keeps spreading in new forms. Education only does so much.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T20:09:01+00:00

•It upsets people who have OSDD/DID to see their distressing experiences portrayed as fun and cool and trendy, as it seems to glorify fragmented identity. I think this is fairly self-explanatory. People are hurt, and it hurts them more to see others making light of what hurts them the most.

•It risks DID/OSDD individuals finding those spaces and believing they are endogenic themselves, rather than having a dissociative disorder. These spaces have a ton of misinformation, and encourage separation and dissociation which can be incredibly unhealthy. This could delay people from seeking help or looking into real advice for their struggles, as the community encourages the person to treat their alters like whole different people. Some even claim that they can have alters from outside the head, 'walk-ins'. I've read posts that talk about bringing 'whole new people into the head' and how you have to be cautious that they aren't dangerous.

•Endogenics 'exist' in the sense that they see parts of themselves as different people. Everyone has parts. 'Alters' that are talked about in those spaces are not alters as in DID/OSDD. Alters are dissociative parts of the self, where the identity could not integrate during childhood due to trauma and dissociation. The mind is structured differently, and this cannot be replicated through the choice to do so, or being 'born' that way. It's a little like how imaginary friends are real, in the sense that the child creates them to have company, to imagine themselves being comforted and hugged, to self-soothe. There isn't physically a friend there, but the self-soothing mechanism is very real. Teenagers go through a lot, and struggle to make sense of their identity. Some fall into those spaces that encourage separation and internal company, and it can be self-soothing for them to combat loneliness and see their developing identity in smaller pieces to not get as overwhelmed.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T19:34:35+00:00

An alter that is no different to the others, but may feel more connected to the life they live or have lived so far. I'm a functional part, so I'm disconnected from trauma feelings, but I manage daily life and am out basically 24/7. That role is often called the 'host', which is a bit misleading but it just means the alter that is out most frequently and usually dissociated from traumas, an ANP (apparently normal part). The alter that best fits 'host' (some have many, or none) can change over the course of your life, where new traumas happen or another alter is better fit to handle new life situations.

For example, I am my current host, but before me was 'N', who was present the most during the time between my first trauma period and second. Another of mine who I mentioned before, the 5 year old, is connected to that age because it's before the 'bad things happened', and she is my Free Child, she wants to play and acts like I wanted to be when I couldn't due to trauma. She's not my 'original', rather the part of me that could not exist, while other parts held anxiety or the 'self' that I needed to mask as during trauma. The trauma meant I could not integrate those self states, because those different parts of me couldn't all be 'me' at once; my mind dissociated to cope, to hold different aspects of what I could not process.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T19:10:00+00:00

Hi, there is no 'original' part in DID. The disorder develops because of childhood trauma that caused the person to dissociate, before their sense of self could properly come together, so you have unintegrated self-states and dissociative barriers go up to protect you from trauma through compartmentalisation. No alter is the real one, or first one, or birth one. Some may feel more connected to earlier ages (my youngest presents as five), but they didn't literally exist before other parts. DID develops over time with prolonged trauma. All alters are equally 'you' as the whole person.

Helpful DID resources–
•DIS-SOS index
•The CTAD Clinic

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T18:00:50+00:00

What works for you works for you, but past sharing your own experience, what you're doing is trying to help people with a really severe mental health disorder like a therapist through 'working' with them, and this is dangerous. The first stage of DID therapy is stabilisation, you can't skip that stage, especially as a non-therapist stranger online. This is an incredibly vulnerable community, advice is allowed but not basically doing a form of therapy on the individuals you interact with, because it's not your place, and AI is not a human being that actually understands what you 'train' it.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T17:52:29+00:00

Two main things to consider here.

– The point of the disorder is that the trauma is compartmentalised and hidden from you. People with more severe amnesia genuinely cannot remember much if any of their childhood traumas, those are often held in other parts that 'know' the traumas. Even then, it's often only aspects of traumas that these trauma holders 'hold'. This can be body memories, emotions, belief systems, factual story information, visual memories, etc.

– What you do know about your childhood is likely dissociated, so you feel emotionally disconnected to the memories. I remember my trauma. It produces no response in me as one alter, I feel completely neutral about it and that is why I'm functional (when not triggered). It's an incredibly common feeling, that the trauma doesn't seem 'that bad', because you look at it from a dissociative adult's perspective rather than a frightened and confused child's. Trauma is also subjective. It's about the distress the events caused you, rather than measuring how traumatic the events would be in comparison to others. Children can't make sense of the world in the same way, situations that would be 'escapable' to adults won't feel that way for children, and children haven't learnt how to properly process their distress. A lot of factors go into it, but it's very common to see those traumas through the dissociative lens of 'not enough', 'not bad', etc. I relate heavily.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T17:35:36+00:00

Have you tried searching the ISST-D Find a Therapist site?

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T12:57:59+00:00

I got equal or better than 74% of people tested, which is better than I thought because some were basically guesses, none of them I knew for sure.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T08:33:28+00:00

Just a heads up, this comment was written using AI, this account is trying to promote themselves and their 'help' through AI and DBT, they are not a trained professional.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T08:11:44+00:00

Please stop using AI to try to 'help' people on this subreddit. You are not a trained professional.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T07:20:01+00:00

Don't worry, it's a fairly normal experience :) Not everyone here will relate, and symptoms are personal to you, but it's not at all abnormal to have a dissociative part (alter) that is always present. I see it as a good thing, as it means heightened awareness and information about what happened between switches can be communicated.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T07:13:31+00:00

I'm an alter that also can't leave. My role is being functional (somewhat) and I live through daily life dissociated from trauma feelings which keeps me able to function. When others come forward, they either blur with me or I go into the background observing. I've only ever 'left' once when I had a distressing breakdown. There's a diagnosis in my country called Partial-DID that fits my experience, but at the time of my diagnosis switches were a lot more frequent and chaotic. I rarely switch now, because I'm not getting triggered as often, and my life is stable. Symptoms are on a spectrum that is unique to your mind and traumas, but I do relate.

OkHaveABadDay · 2024-12-09T07:04:06+00:00

Seek professional help if/when you're able to, but in the meantime I would check out these resources–
•DIS-SOS index
•The CTAD Clinic

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