Dissociative Amnesia Part One: An Overview of Diagnostic Criteria
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- Опубліковано 29 гру 2021
- In this video from the CTAD Clinic, Dr Mike Lloyd (Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinic Director) discusses the main diagnostic criteria for Dissociative Amnesia (DA). Using the DSM-V as a guide, Mike talks about how we establish a diagnosis of Dissociative Amnesia, from initial assessment to completion, looking at what is included and what means DA could be ruled out.
#DissociativeAmnesia #Diagnosis
I've had a lot of trouble accepting my diagnosis of DID cause I don't experience things like finding strange items in my closet or missing chunks of days where I have no recall of where I went. I also recall the worst events in my life, the traumatic bits and yet I forget chunks of easy going times. Sometimes it almost feels like my internal parts don't hold the traumatic events, they went in to stay innocent of the trauma and I stayed to deal with them. I know it doesn't fit the theory but I'm nearly 60 and I have seen a lot of therapists and done different types of treatments and I have never had an experience where I recovered forgotten memories. The three or four times when I have allowed parts to come out in therapy, I am present but it feels like I am in a trance. I cant help but feel that I am just acting out some character but then there's some gesture of the legs or hands, how I move, which seems to happen without my will, as if my hand or leg just moved on it's own... but I am still present. I'm trying to accept the diagnosis, but I also have a psych background, my brain is set to analysis and skeptism mode.
Hi! I also have DID and I also don't experience those things. Like, I had it happen once that I found a CD I didn't know while moving, but thought nothing of it (I thought it was probably an old CD I had forgotten or it belonged to my ex or something). I also remember trauma. For our system it is, that I just don't remember all the trauma. In fact, I probably only remember 5% or so. So, for example, something happened ten times, but I remember only one or maybe two times it happened. Or someone did X and Y, but I just remember X.
"Forgotten memories" (in my experience) can't really be recovered, other alters can just tell you about it. Like, write down "hey, this also happened" or something. But then again, why would they? Most stuff I know is because other alters talked to friends about it.
But honestly, every experience of DID is different. The brain does its best to try and live in the environment it is in and if the "best thing" (I mean that as in "the best way to survive") was that you get all the memories, then that's what happened.
Hi! I’ve also been diagnosed with DID and I have been having trouble accepting it for the same reasons. I am missing almost all of my childhood from before age 10 and my teen years are hazy, but I very rarely have black out amnesia. It’s really hard when you don’t have the “keystone” symptom that everyone thinks of when you say DID, but I just keep telling myself that my doctor knows what she’s doing and that the levels of amnesia differ for everyone. Maybe getting a second opinion would help? It did for me. Other than that, I’ve just been trying to trust in the process and focus on healing rather than diagnosis. Hope you’re doing well!
I can relate to all 3 of these comments maybe a bit off topic but can I ask you guys if you formally asked for your DID diagnosis or if it was given like a spark plug went off in psychiatrists head like that ahh gotcha moment? My psychiatrist doesn't seem to give me my diagnosis I've been treated for 20 years for a varying amount of mental health issues and only once when she left the room for something Did I see the diagnosis written down on her pad. I was worried that maybe she was scared to tell me as I have suicidal ideations and it could be detrimental to tell me I have alternate personalities in me. I am aware of certain states where I am not baseline me but I don't have different names for them per se. They're all me just at different stages of mental evolution when people put up videos online of them switching to baby girls when they're grown men makes me wonder about my diagnosis too. Full disclosure I asked many years ago for my shrink not to tell me my diagnosis just to help with it as labels can make it worse. I've been on every medication under the sun. I just wouldn't mind hearing someone else confused about a DID diagnosis and if/how those alts work. Can one be aware their are other personalities within themselves? Can they be so subtle that not many people notice you've completely altered states?
@DarinBhoy Yes! To everything.
We have diary entries dating back years where we wrote stuff like "it feels like I am different people", I even found a chat log with my ex boyfriend recently where I said to him "I feel like I am two different persons". My now boyfriend once said (pre-diagnosis) that I seem like a completely different person when I talk to my family (he thought I was just pretending to be different, because I don't like them). But he was the ONLY ONE who ever noticed that. And he has this weird ability to tell when something is slightly different. (Them being subtle is actually pretty common! Most cases of DID are like that.)
My diagnosis was a bit difficult. Apparently my therapist routinely looked for signs of DID in everyone who said they had childhood trauma. He later told me, he wasn't sure the whole time, one day he thought I might have DID, the other day he didn't. He was pretty sure I had amnesia though, which led to me ending therapy, because "there's no way I have amnesia, people forget stuff all the time, he's just stupid".
Then after a few months a friend of mine got diagnosed with DID and I watched some videos about it and a spark went off inside MY head like "ahhhhhh THIS IS WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME"
I immediatly texted said therapist and asked for new appointments and then we did a really, REALLY long questionaire about DID and then went
a) okay, the questionaire says I might have DID
b) I feel like I have DID
c) therapist thinks I might have DID
-> I probably have DID.
I spent the next few weeks basically... pretending like it was sure that I had DID, talking to alters and stuff and sure enough, a bunch of "hidden alters" came forward and talked to my boyfriend, so then we were sure we had DID.
@@cirrus.floccus thanks for your reply its something very complicated and all the definitions of it can vary so much like in your previous comment about the CD. Such minute details can lead the light bulb to switch as to say, I've been trying along with several specialists to figure out what's wrong and different therapists have different opinions. Imho in my neck of the woods I don't think DID is seen as anything more than Hollywood fiction. Trying to explain this condition to others (In my experiences) drive people away from me rather than closer. Its something I wanna tell people. Like yesterday when I was apparently rude at your house for example, I want to say I don't recall any of this due to it being DID and being in an altered mental state at the time but the few times I've been vulnerable and trusting enough to try explain it as DID they just laugh it off. Pop culture and movies have demonised it for me. The memories are strange too. I went on a 2 week trip to Spain and it was my first time abroad and even on a plane and I don't recall any of it. There were pics taken so I associated the trip with the pics I'd look at afterwards but that pretty big life event should be something baseline me remembered but there's nothing. That's one of many examples but this being an amnesia issue too I can't think of them.
Could you talk about emotional amnesia if possible please? I'm interested in your thoughts from your clinical experience, of any obvious differences in the way that people with DID experience amnesia compared to those you have seen with OSDD. Many thanks.
Emotional amnesia is what I experience alot when it comes to childhood trauma. I get flashbacks of events but the emotion is not felt. It's strange. But under EMDR or hypnosis the emotional aspect is felt. So maybe emotional amnesia is a protective mechanism (same as alters) that allows us, the organism to carry on.
I think more and more is being discovered about DID as time goes on and emotional amnesia would be something 'experts' may explore more deeply in the future?
i thought this WAS normal memory loss lol
me: i don't have amnesia!!
also me: *literally doesn't have any memories aside from a couple snapshots and disconnected emotions*
i don't remember watching this video OwO
Thank you so much for this! I've never been able to find any description of what "normal forgetting" refers to, and your explanation helped me better understand that a lot of my memory loss is definitely not normal. Now if only I could find a therapist...
Thank you, Dr.Mike. Like all your videos, this one is helpful for better understanding the dissociative amnesia that is a frequent part of my DID condition. I am looking forward to your future video on dissociative fugues. Had a few of those myself (in my mid-twenties). Very scary stuff, those were. I ended up in places with no idea where I was, how I got there, who I was, or how I got back home. No clue, then or now. It's a wonder I'm still alive.
But I'm glad I am! :) My system and I are working through DID treatment now with a great therapist (who has years of experience helping DID clients like me). It's good to get help. It's still a ton of work on my part, but I don't think I could manage this journey without a caring, capable guide and a good support system (loving husband, amazing teens, good health insurance, and a safe home life). I'm in a much better place now than I was a year ago. Even Christmas was peaceful this year. Not too wobbly. It's like a miracle to me, to be healing and becoming more stable and well.
Can you do a video expressing your thoughts on "integration?" Also, as a therapist, what are your goals for the final outcome? We know about the treatment phases, but what do you think is the most ideal outcome of treatment? Where does the healthy client "land," in terms of being able to live life independently of therapy? Some days, I feel like "just me," but other days, we know for sure we are a system. It's kind of fluid, not really all one thing or another.
I have goals for the rest of my life. I would like to have all that past trauma resolved and worked through -- to know what happened to me, what it did to my inner being, and how I became a complex dissociative system in order to survive and move life forward. I'd like to continue growing as a system and as a whole person, with each part settling in to our "new normal," now that the amnesiac barriers are (mostly) down between us all (I do have a twerpy part who keeps hiding my eyeglasses). I'd like to be peaceful, joyful, and reasonably productive. I am committed to loving and partnering in life with my husband, raising our children, and serving in our church and community. I'd like to be physically healthier. I'd like to stay well ahead of despair, however much it runs after me. At some point, I'd like to be a spokesperson or support person for others with DID, especially those in the newbie stages -- just finding out that they are "like this." It's a lot to wrap your head around, in those early days. I'm glad I was diagnosed, though. For the first time in my life, I made sense to myself. ;) Thank you for what you do. Happy New Year!
Ty for sharing! Sounds like you're writing my story💗🙌May we all continue to grow in Christ and have peace within ourselves 🌹
It took a while to understand that you were talking about dissociative amnesia as separate from DID, rather than explaining it as a symptom. I was going to ask or politely request if there could be some discussion on 'emotional amnesia' or 'partial amnesia' but hopefully you can get to that in another video.
I like the word snapshots. That's a word we use a lot when talking to our support team.
I do have dissociative amnesia as part of DID and yes, I don't remember 14 years of my life, yes, everything that happened more than a few days ago is always kinda blurry, but I still describe it to people who don't have amnesia like this: so, everyone knows these things like being sure you put something in a certain place but it isn't there (because you moved it and don't remember) or not being sure if you dreamed something or if it actually happened. And dissociative amnesia is like that, but, ALL THE TIME. That's why it's so easy to mistake it for just forgetfulness. The only reason I figured out that something was wrong was that I had another trauma happen when I was 22 or something and it got significantly worse after that. Honestly, I thought I had some kind of brain damage.
I srsly feel like I have brain damage too. I'm doing therapy for cptsd but my therapist and I are discovering it may be more than that. Its terrifying tbh. I have to force myself to continue the therapy and convince myself I am safe. Idk how to explain it. These videos are helping me come to terms with what may be happening.
Could you talk about emotional amnesia as well in a video please ? :) Thank you for your videos.
this is weird, but while watching this, i just had a very short flashback to being in school. i could smell a nice, comforting, warm person and felt like i was in the presence of some nice male teacher at age 10 or so.
super random... but it was nice :)
Your videos are always so helpful and affirming. Thank you.
Glad I bumped Into your videos. Informative for me
Hope they help!
Thank you soo much for your video. I've gained more understanding about it.
I've been in therapy for a year now and I'm still struggling with understanding dissociative amnesia in our DID system. I often even forget that I have amnesia until something like " how was your weekend?" Comes up and I can't remember what I did to answer the question.
Wait... damn 🙈
Thank you for this I've had this my whole life 🥰 love your work 💓 I don't remember my life, name or most days what I've done that day or the day before. Mine comes from childhood trauma . Undergoing dx for d.i.d - mine was dx dissociative amnesia but now looking at d.i.d due to personalities arising years ago
So clear and concise. Thank you so much - very helpful to me as I'm revising for my exams.
Thank you, hope the exams go well!
Hey so i have a few questions.
So i probably have cptsd and i know that that can cause issues with memory, i also have adhd witch also is commen for having memory issues.
How do i know if my issues with memory are from those two or if i also have dissosiative amneasa?
I have nearly no memory of my childhood at all, im 17 and if im asked to recall events as far back as i can i could recall events that happened throught the last year but only in dry facts, more as if i remember that the things happened instead of remembering the content of the events themselve, and beyond that like 2 more years i can kinda remember specific things that happened but its all blurry, and beyond that i cant really remember a thing.
Also just trying to remember anything in the past takes a lot of energy from me.
Is it possible that my issues with memory are just from cptsd and adhd or is it likely i might have dissociative amneasa? Also if its relevnt i have autism, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, dyslexia and probably depression. Also i have a lot of issues with derelization and depersenlization. I dont think i have DID bc i dont experiance having alters but i might just not be aware of having alters(tho i dont think thats the case).
Amnesia, for me, is one of the top 3 problems I worry over. Not remembering my childhood is frustrating enough, but forgetting current events makes me feel stupid, and I often wonder if I have something wrong with my brain. I don't experience finding myself in foreign places; however, I have a few parts who have come out and wondered where they are or seem amazed by the surroundings as though they haven't been in the real world for decades. That experience is wonderous, but general amnesia on my part is not fun. I feel I must be switching so frequently and seamlessly throughout the day, mainly between ANP’s of which I believe to be 4 or 5 of us. Its crazy-making.
Of topic, I wonder, Dr. Mike, if you’d be kind enough to consider a video exploring coded or made-up languages. I have at least two parts who speak an indecipherable language that is consistent. I'm not sure why these parts speak this way, or what the purpose would be for them to have made up a language. Another part, I suspect, recites chants learned for the organization Mom associated with. I cannot be sure of this but have a strong sense of its truth. Yes, baby parts babble; I get that, but the coded and made-up language is hard to reconcile. Also, it's hard for me to say this, and parts are trying to prevent me from writing but can you talk about ritual abuse? Please.
When I was in 6th grade (about 11) I was in the gym at my school and i remember sitting down next to a wall and the next thing i knew I was in a totally different place. In an office in some other part of the school.. I don't remember anything else about that whole day. It was a long time ago now. I have kind of been on a quest to understand what happened to me that day. I have had other times where I totally checked out but that time was one where other people caught me doing it.
I freaked out a dentist once by dissociating while i was getting work done. He brought me back by going "hey, hey" He said "are you ok" I said it hurts a bit. He said "oh you had no expression whatsoever on your face." That is all i remember from that experience.
That’s exactly how my child to teen memory is-just snap shots.
Same here. Whole years are lost to me. I was abused in very early childhood several times and it all but destroyed me.
In your experience, is it possible for systems to learn to control this and use it as a form of privacy when sharing/not sharing memories.
Sometimes when reflecting a shared memory I find that the a portion of it is being held by the alter that I was co-fronting at the time. Only when they are fronting or co-fronting again are we able to fully retrieve the memory.
I don't have DID. But I do forget a lot and I tend to have problems concentrating whenever I am anxious or burdened with something. I don't know if it's related to anxiety or dissociative amnesia.
One time around 3 years ago, I remember that I was feeling really bad and was very anxious, my friend whose house takes around 15 minutes walking from my university told me to spend the day at her place after I'm done with uni. I remember leaving the university and walking on the sidewalk and the next thing I remember is opening the gate and going into the building, she lives on the 1st, I went up the stairs and stood in front of an apartment door. I started panicking and I was very confused. It felt like I entered the wrong building but I couldn't distinguish between her apartment door and the one that I was standing in front. I couldn't believe that I got into the wrong building because I had been to her place countless times and knew the road by heart, at the time we've been friends for five years. I stood there for what felt like 5 minutes and then went down to the entrance and stood then for another 5 mins looking around and I was still confused and unable to distinguish anything. So I went up again and stood in front of the apartment for a while and down again, I met a girl and asked her if she knew someone by that name who lives in the building, when she said she didn't. I thought that maybe I entered the wrong building so I went out of the building, looked around me and knew the street I was in so I continued my way and arrived safely at last.
Another time was about five years ago, during my grandma's funeral. I don't remember clearly the incident but what I know that after the funeral I was sitting beside my mother outside the church, I had a sandwich in my hands and was looking at people taking sandwiches and eating. I see a man in the crowd approaching us and I tbought his face was familiar but I couldn't pinpoint who he was. I knew he knew us because he smiled at us, he gave us his condolences, asked my mother where my father is and left. I whispered in my mother's ear and asked her who he was, turns out he was my uncle and I completely forgot him.
This is where the solid assessment comes in, distinguishing between memory loss from anxiety/stress, or deeper trauma. Many people experience short term intermittent amnesia when going through difficult times, it’s about working out what is going on, when, and why.
I feel like crap when freinds bring up a memory and I can't remember it because a alter was out. We started a journal after that but we don't always communicate on it. Since healing I've lost a ton of memories from my teenage years . I healed from nine to 3 .
@TheCTADclinic can you talk about dissociative amnesia in DID??
So we are ruling out alcohol and drug abuse. I used to drink a lot in the past. I have also done drugs. But I don't do any of this anymore. I'm more sensible now. I used to do it because I had been through a lot of trauma when I was a child. At infant and primary school. Also, secondary school. But my blackouts started happening in 2021. However, I have had the symptoms of not recognising people who I usually should from my early school days. This was before alcohol and drugs. So my question is, does it count where the person is having these symptoms and they would still be misusing alcohol and drugs, which would cause the memory loss? Or would it still affect that person, even a few months later? Where they aren't misusing alcohol and drugs anymore? But still, it is having the memory loss. But that could still be the cause? I hope that makes sense. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I'm struck be the similarity of this to what's often referred to 'time blindness' in ADHD. Have you come across that term / what do you think?
Thank you for this video, this one has helped me to un a little bit more about my amnesia. Is it possible to recover childhood memories that have been lost to dissociated amnesia?? Its so frustrating not knowing my childhood.
Absolutely, often alongside increased collaboration with alters if in DID or OSDD. Dreams can be informative as well, it’s about looking carefully and with support.
@@thectadclinic thank you that has given me some hope🙏 I am seeing a private therapist who is trauma trained, I am supported well🥰 thank you for answering my question so quickly.
If a person gets stuck in a long ago previous yr. But is aware of that; does it mean there's something about that year significant to that person they were back then?
Speaking of diagnostics… how accurate is the DES? Why would it score low- around 11- when a more dissociative disorder is clearly present (osdd/did)?
What if someone has dissociative amnesia *and* a medical condition? Like, I know a lot of people with chronic illnesses that interfere with memory and who also experience high levels of dissociation. Is it impossible to have more than one type of memory loss?
yes
And that complicates things a lot. Especially if drug use or addiction might be in the mix.
I'm not a doctor, just been studying health and psychology a lot for a long time.
I've had head injuries, but they do not appear to be related to my amnesia patterns which fit the developmental trauma dissociative amnesia profile/patterns (and later subsequent traumatic dissociative amnesia).
I had a medical amnesiac incident when I was an older child that was a play/fun accident while enjoying bikes with friends and had a bad fall (involving a ramp), and I only recall when the bike hit the ramp. The rest of my memory of that event is, I think, formed from what I was told later about the events, with possible snapshots of real memory combined. The paramedics were called because I'd hit my head in the fall and I was apparently quite distressed about a ring and the shirt I was wearing because I didn't recognize them. [They were pretty new.] The paramedics with the aid of my mother ascertained that I'd lost memory of the last few weeks or so, but I knew who I was and otherwise seemed okay. They took me to the hospital for overnight observation because I was concussed (mildly?). I remember snippets of memory of the hospital room and fragments of friendly interactions with the kind little boy who shared the room.
I'm curious if a person (like me, and a lot of us here) has already developed quite a pattern of trauma-induced dissociative amnesia, if they then are predisposed and far more likely than another (who had no previous such experience) to go into amnesiac states under duress, stress or milder traumas.
Super curious about that. I wonder if I would have had the *same* kind of amnesia from that accident if I did not already have extensive dissociative amnesia beginning from a very young age.
I had a weird experience with amnesia another time. Apparently medically explained but .... not so simple, perhaps.
When I was about 19.
Description was too lengthy so I cut and saved it elsewhere if I want it later.
Had another dissociative amnesiac episode in my 40s following a traumatic incident which involved injuries.
I'm very curious about how the OSDD amnesia may interface or relate to other kinds which could easily have occurred independently from the circumstances surrounding the time the amnesia took over.
Do you take clients virtually from the US?
We do, but are currently full for self-referrals. Hoping this will change soon.
@@thectadclinic Do you accept referrals from U.S. physicians?
I'm trying to find if my chronic memory loss is from my trauma or if im just forgetfull lol
Is there a difference between dissociative amnesia and amnesia caused by PTSD? Or are they one in the same?
You can have dissociative amnesia caused by PTSD but it would be considered a part of the PTSD. I got the impression that he is explaining that dissociative amnesia can be identified and differentiated from the other sorts of amnesia in the process of assessment. I think he was talking about making sure that amnesia is caused by dissociation in assessments (to have accuracy), and ruling out other possible causes and types of amnesia.
I am curious though along the same lines as you. .... Just found this abstract.
Not exactly light reading but it is on topic. And brief. Wanted to read and summarize or paraphrase, but that is no easy feat at the moment and might not be later when I'm feeling more capable either. 😆 It's a summary in and of itself.
But it mainly makes clear to me that the concepts and diagnostics are ever evolving with professional and scientific study. I'd like to be an ISSTD member and take the course. Maybe if it's available next year. Says it "expires" 12/31/2050 but idk what that means. If it's theoretically available that long? Or the data would expire? shrug
cfas.isst-d.org/content/dissociative-amnesia-update-dsm-5-text-revision
lol, I'm still trying to figure out if you have to already be a professional or have an advanced degree or license to become a member
It seems like it's for ongoing professional development but I'm curious if anyone who wants to learn and can pay fees could access the information. I might be enrolled again as a student (in my 50s) soon. Fingers crossed for a new career cuz I can't do what I did before.
Bad sound on this. Cant watch but looks good. Use a microphone!
I call it microfiche of my mind …: