My alters will often project into the space around me and it’s like that phantom limb thing where it perceives them in that space. It makes communication so much easier, and we’ve learned that it can work with touch as well! One time our caretaker washed my hair in the shower while singing to me and it felt so comforting and safe. We also have a specific plushie that our child part projects into so we can hold her and soothe her. These are very useful tools!
In times of great distress I find it comforting to hug a pillow (better if it's a body-sized pillow) and talk to my parts during that moment. The pillow alone provides some comfort but the association with an alter makes it that much more soothing.
when we've had distressing nights sometimes we will "feel" someone come in for a hug or to hold our hand. sometimes one hand will stroke the other comfortingly, sometimes hugging a plushie makes it feel like we're hugging an alter. it's nice to know we aren't just making it up.
Never expected a clinical take to come out on this subject! Awesome! Touch is a huge part of the internal communication in my system, and something we’ve been doing as part of healing work even at home. It’s nice to hear a clinical perspective that sees this as a positive tool rather than simply a sign of severe levels of dissociation.
Once I learned how to do parts work and self-regulation, I developed a much kinder relationship to my headmates. When the littles are co-conscious, I'll often carry them or hold their hand while we walk together. They find it reassuring to finally have an adult who loves them and will protect them, tend to them, and comfort them when they need it.
This was incredibly validating as a system since we experience touch inner world all the time. I would believe that even if you had disagreed since we experience it but still, means a lot that a person without DID understands that as well. Thank you for your work 🙏🏻
Will never forget the shock of the first time we felt an Alter put the boot in and kick us. Also, therapeutically, this has been essential to learn about gentle touch and hugs from them. It is of great comfort when it happens. The outside world can so often feel so cold and alone, but knowing they can help in those times is inmeasurable. Thank you so much.
Touch between alters in our system has always been a great comfort rather than something we found off-putting or fear inducing. For a myriad of reasons, ASD being one, I find it really very challenging to accept touch from other people irl, but intersystem touch is almost always experienced as positive. I can see how it might cause fear in someone the first time they experience it, and part of my comfort around it might have been because of how it was framed for me in the beginning(it was read as something spiritual rather than a mental health disorder and had to be reframed later), but yeah. It's one of the few things I consider a positive with my DID.
This is a really good subject for a video and we appreciate how you handled it. It’s a really good point the way it can solidify the experience and it’s reality, for sure that was absolutely terrifying for me as someone who’s spend a long time being a host. At first it would give me panic attacks because it was so uncontrollably, inescapably Real in a way that could offset the denial for me as well. It was really comforting and validating to hear you describe about the internal pushing which is something I would experience a lot growing up and at the time didn’t really understand what was happening. Now it’s not terrifying at all and it’s so, SO comforting and reassuring when other people in our system does something like holds my hand or hugs me when distressed. It’s gotten to a really therapeutic place now where it helps me to feel grounded and safe and supported even when I’m dealing with a lot of trauma. It’s something that makes me feel so grateful now, both that it’s something we can do as a system and that it’s something other people in my system Want to do to support me. We’re learning to be able to reach out to people inside not just when someone’s fronting to offer hugs and holding hands and maybe just back to back leaning for support for some people. I honestly can’t put into words how comforting the fact that we can do this and how tangible it is really is now. Thank you for making this video, this is so important and helpful for systems to know about and it was really cool to hear about you talking about things we’ve experienced so much.
Hi Dr Lloyd; thought provoking video, especially for me: my alters sort of use one part of our body to touch other parts. So, the left hand holds the right, or both legs are touching each other, or a hand might massage a foot. And it feels like two of us are touching each other. A lot of times it is a left vs right thing; so, we can hold hands like that, which we do a lot.
I appreciate and am so incredibly grateful for this channal. Dr.Mike & CTAD Clinic I’ve brought your videos into my therapy setting and they are invaluable. Thank You so much. Hope everybody over there is doing well. 🇨🇦
This is incredibly helpful and validating. I get literally “knocked” out of the front, at times, kinda violently, in the way described in the beginning of this video. It’s always surprising how much these kinds of validations mean to us. Sometimes just knowing you’re right is in itself healing. In this case it’s validating because as fairly athletic person tripping, stumbling, having my knees buckle, etc all felt very inauthentic for my “body” to experience, upon hearing anything triggering. Knowing it’s my alters pushing me out of the front feels very authentic. It’s nice to have that sorted. But since learning about my diagnosis, and working past years of denial, we started using hugs to comfort each other when any of us are triggered. The first time we tired using hugging our actual body, to calm down an alter(s) or the whole system. I fought it so hard. I felt like such a crazy person going to intentionally hug myself in the attempt to comfort myself the way it would feel if the hug was coming from a person I was missing. But my alters were literally clamoring like a cacophony in my head to just do it. So I did. And it WORKED! It felt amazing. The alters inside who needed that hug felt it, in the emotional way, when getting a hug from someone you’re specifically missing feels. The whole flood of oxytocin washing through our heart, calming its cadence, etc. we felt the love hormones no differently than if that hug was coming from an actual external source and was actually connecting to another human. Knowing hugs between our system work in the same way as hugs between a spouse, child, parent, sibling was the moment our healing truly began. I never thought of these things in terms of “touch” before. But that’s exactly what it is.
Hi there! We wanted to share our experience as someone diagnosed with autism. First of all, our whole system is autistic. No one is more or less autistic than others in here, but that’s just speaking for our system, not any other autistic system. We also do like touch.. depending. Tactile stimulation is one of our safest aspects of receiving sensory input. We collect squishmallows and have gotten our system to use them for integration purposes. We held two while watching the video. One represents everyone on a subsystem of one part, and the other represents another part. These two parts are connected to each other, which we learned recently. We don’t have therapy anymore. Weirdly we were evaluated by a case worker who agreed we can’t handle therapy right now. We can’t imagine doing this exercise with anyone. We actually felt safer trying it alone and knew when to stop because we are working on bodily attunement too. So, the hand holding one, we got a hold, and felt surprised and even startled. Our body shook and we came out of it right away. The hands clasped together, we saw our two friends holding hands. We have aphantasia so it’s more of a felt sense than seeing it, but we could feel it so intensely. We’ve seen them hold hands before too, so it’s not new. Thank you so much for this insight on such a specific and fascinating topic! There’s so much more for us to learn about OSDD/DID. And we appreciate that you’re learning about the autism intersection too!
its interesting because this is something that I think we've always done. physical touch is really important to us as a way to show and receive support, and because we often didn't have anyone around us when we were in distress, we relied on each other to provide that support. its really interesting to know that not only is this a relatively common experience, but that it can actually be a healthy way to deal with stress.
This is an amazing video and something that needs to be spoken about more often. I have been conscious of my alters move me around since about the age of 27. I am now 57 and it has taken this long for the diagnosis to be made. I have them hug me as in, I'll be sitting, crying or something and my arms move without me and hug me. It has been happening for so long and with such frequency for me, that I know the difference between when I move my body and when they do. It happens all the time and it is a very distinct feeling. They push me, pull me, hug me, move me in various ways. For years and years, I thought I was possessed. Anyone I spoke to about it, did not know what was happening and that is including clinical and spiritual circles. I have searched for decades to understand what is moving me and who the people I speak with are and until I had the most recent full blown amnesia episode which went for about a week and others witnessed the changes of personalities that came through, and me telling them I'd lost days of time, did the question of DID come into play. Even then, it was mistaken as Bipolar for a little while until further investigation. Now, here you are, speaking about this and I am so elated to finally have this validated for me. It is the weirdest feeling to have your body 'moved' for you and you cannot explain it to people because mostly they think you are crazy and in religious settings, you are possessed by demons or something. It has been an incredibly challenging, scary and at times, wonderful journey for me but finally, there are answers, and I cannot express enough how unbelievably freeing this is. So, through your videos and now having the right diagnosis to be able to investigate it further, it seems I am covert and overt and also coconscious and experience bouts of Dissociative Amnesia. It is an extremely complex and sometimes disturbing thing to have, but now that I have a far better understanding of what it is and how the system works, I am so much more able to settle with it. Thankyou Dr. Mike for approaching Dissociative Disorders in this format to help us but I am extremely grateful for you for approaching this side of DID which I have not seen discussed anywhere else. Keep up the good work, you are helping so many of us 💜. One thing I would like to see discussed is something I have experienced. That there are alters that seem to be untouched by the trauma, that actually are able to 'guide' you through some of the more traumatic experiences of traumatised alters, and help you also to understand yourself more. It's like for me, they have such insight into my full system and how it works and even the ones that remain hidden, they seem to know about them and help me to understand that for my protection these ones are not ready to be brought forward or worked with. Like, they are not ready, and I wouldn't cope, but these ones that help me, know that. So, it's like there is an inner consciousness that has made itself known but only fully in the past 5 years or so. One of the personalities that presented itself during my most recent amnesia episode, seemed to be one of those ones. I was told they were smiling and calm and not traumatised at all. Whereas others were confused and scared (during that last one there seemed to be several that presented but I don't remember it at all. I had to hear it from those who witnessed it). Does something like this come up for you with the people that you work with that have DID?
Thank you for this, it's reassuring. We've done this, but stop occasionally because one of us thinks it's not healthy. But it's to relax and ground ourself when we're struggling, especially with interacting with people
This also can be done with eft guidance and with emdr bilateral stimulation with things like hand tools which come with an emdr bar. This is what DNMS does. If you dont know what is. It is a mothod explained by an experienced mental health profesional who made a more postive method to help the client. It reaches out to an inner child or age regressed state when stress arises.
This topic is so interesting thank you for speaking about it. We have definitely experienced positive and negative versions of this and have been so surprised by how real it can feel. As an autistic system though, we understand ourselves to all be autistic because we are all sharing an autistic brain, although we might have different profiles regarding our autistic traits like sensory needs or repetitive behaviors, language skills ,etc, so some of us mask better than others
This is exactly what I experience when one of my alters try to sooth me when I am not feeling well. It is kinda surreal. It was at first. But also comforting. It does feel like real touch. Like a hug and being stroked. I was recommended this by a friend, and seeing this explains so much for us.
Thanx for this, didn't expect this from a clinical perspective. Thought we were delusional, we've done this for a while now, never discussed it with the therapist, now I know that it's possible, I will. Appreciate this.
Good video Dr Mike we have experienced this but did not have the language to explain this and haven’t seen anyone talk about this happening in systems. This is a confirmation for us wow thanks ❤
You are a pioneer, Dr. Mike! To recognize and incorporate this into your therapeutic approach I'm sure makes so many of us feel validated and seen. We have many canine alters in our system, some of them like being petted, some don't. Of course, just like with real dogs, patting them on the head and offering soothing words isn't always enough. So this is usually more of an afterthought to things like eating lots of nourishing food and getting extra exercise. Fortunately, they've never made physical contact with us in a negative way... 😅 at least not while we're awake. We've had plenty of dreams of being chased, bitten and scratched by unhappy animals, as is completely understandable.
Good video! One note to pick out: sensory needs can vary between alters in an autistic system. We know this from personal experience. To illustrate: Within a single autistic system, there can be alters who are extremely averse to touch for sensory reasons, and other alters in the same system _desperate_ to experience and give touch, for different sensory reasons. I'd expect something similar to be true of non-autistic systems too, but I'm speculating there. - Just Another Autistic System
I didn't know this was possible! There have been times that my internal BFF, Jynn, and I have gotten comfort from holding hands or hugging when one of us is out in the body, but we never literally felt a physical sensation. It was just the emotional "warm fuzzy" feeling that we would get from hugging or holding the hand of a loved one in the external world. Also, there was one time that Stu was having a hard time emotionally, and he "felt" his internal twin sister Jenny standing beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder and putting her arm around his other shoulder. But again, he didn't literally feel the physical sensation, or literally see her next to him, it was more of an emotional sensation/visualization. This is so fascinating, I never would have thought it was possible to literally feel another alter in the external world! - Elena
I love your videos, but I just noticed something funny, when starting this one I instinctively switched to another tab until the intro was over. I watch these late at night and the super bright white intro screen can be quite startling!
It's funny, but it's something that our System figured out own its own... We do need a "prop" (usually a doll) to help with the process of giving hugs to our young Alters. We usually hold the doll and rock, and while the young one feels the rocking motion, they also feel enveloped and held close. As adult caregivers, while we know that we're physically holding a doll that represents any of the children in the System, we can also "feel" them in our lap & arms, but it's like they're wrapped up in a thick quilt. So for us it's not "skin to skin" contact, but we can feel the weight of them on us. The kids don't quite understand how it happens, so when they try to get/give a hug from/to one of us who are caregivers, they'll follow the same process but it won't feel the same. Sometimes we can get in pretty quick so that they don't feel more distress than they already do, but sometimes we can't. Why or how we came up with it, I'm not sure myself. I'm newer to the System. What I do know is that it's something that started when the child was very young, and continues to this day. NOW, what I will say is that - as far as I know - it doesn't work with the Adult Alters as much. We do have an Alter that is a fictive mythical creature that is a Protector/Persecutor, and he's been around for most of the body's life. Somedays he really struggles because of what he's witnessed and different things. We found the kids a stuffy that "looks" like that Alter (as best as stuffies can), and they give it hugs, thinking that they're giving the Alter it "represents" a hug, so they feel better because they feel that they're helping. They "feel him calming down." The reality is that Alter goes away to his quiet place, while the kids feel safe & helpful "holding" him. We don't tell them any different, because kids want to console others who are hurting too. However, we will say this: Like Dr. Mike said, don't try this at home folks! This was just something that our System figured out on its own to help manage some of the trauma that we were experiencing back in the day. We didn't know about grounding methods or anything like that. It was just something that one of the early caregivers figured out that worked to calm things down when everything was overwhelming.
We didn't know this was a thing as we're still so new to this.....still looking for a new therapist though....but we're going to wait til after we move in order to get back into the sway of things. But, having heard this from you...definitely makes it better to feel as though we're not going crazy...
Thank you for covering this topic! This was actually one of the first direct inter-alter interactions we ever experienced, years before the system began to properly emerge. During a rather deep conversation I suddenly had the impression of a younger part of myself sitting on my lap in a kind of pseudo-physical way. I could feel them there, not in a sensory nerve firing kind of way, more the impression of their presence and weight. It didn't feel unnerving TBH, kind of comforting. Looking back know, it baffles that we didn't feel a bit freaked out by that or see any significance in that happening.
How interesting. I didnt know this was possible. Thank you for your compassion and kindness 🙏 It's very reassuring. Your video's are helping me regain trust for doctors. May i ask how would i go about seeking treatment at your clinic? Are you private patients only?
hey mike, such a validating video, especially from a clinical body! i hope you don’t mind i pick your brain, my system has experienced something over the last couple of years now which sort of correlates to this topic we first experienced it while high on marijuana but also have since experienced it many a time while sober and usually either triggered or just in a period of high dissociation for no other reason what happens is we’ll be outdoors, at a park or simply in our backyard and we will feel very intently that we’re indoors/in a small room - often feeling as if our back is to a corner it causes us to every minute or so realise we’re not indoors and suddenly become somewhat surprised and uncomfortable by the fact it’s so intensely convincing we’re indoors that it will throw us completely off track if we’re conversing or on task hope this makes sense and there’s some sort of info, its always been confusing!!
Thank you for mentioning autism in this video! I find that my parts have very different needs and (definately-not-)wants regarding to touch. This leads to a lot of internal conflict. Maybe the things you describe in the video are a way for us to explore if that might help some alters calm down without upsetting the (autistic and otherwise) preference of not being touched.
Diagnosed DID late in life (in my 40s) a life long & full of trauma …I’ve been my own rock ..my own psychologist..(I use the regular I/I’ve/me when discussing myselves ..& that confuses everyone but me) the internal dynamics are very different..I know what me I’m referring to …it had become part of my natural cope in life to outwardly talk to & touch..move myself …even before I went through many years of therapy.. becoming aware that this was how I communicate with myself …to make up for the amnesia..& to protect myself from any lack of functioning..to keep going ..not to completely fall apart …like any group of explorers travelling around together…(in the one vehicle) ….still there are some very unwell individuals in the group .. so moving one more step toward healing unwanted internal/external physical harm …taking more care of parts that are screaming out using the method of outward behaviour..that’s is unwanted ..or harms the body … I will give an example…I scratch & pick at myself severely at times ..unknowingly.. but I’m coming to more of an understanding of what triggers this ….but also internally realising I need to acknowledge the cry from within.. (this is no easy task ..as those are the barriers that trauma caused us) touching some parts is less difficult…even natural…the task of communicating with the selves within comes with unique challenges…just like any group of messed up explorers ..some are still loosing their s*”t in the back seat … I’m not proofreading that ☝️hope it made sense
My system experiences touch somewhat often, usually it's grounding or comforting, other times it's intervention, like grabbing an arm or ankle to stop an action carried out (like su1cid3) There are also times when the body is shared; each arm controlled by a different part, and they hold hands.
This does remind if there's any overlap between maladaptive daydreaming (I know it's not officially recognised by any diagnostic forms) and heightened senses internally when experiencing the innerworld and daydreams in general? Our therapist has brought it up once, and if there was a connection there between that and generally dissociation as well.
My therapist taught me about this It’s epic and has helped me to connect with all of my alters in a very real way. My child alter loves holding my hand when she is scared 😊 great video Could you do a video about how alters appear? Like, how they look in a system? Almost seeing them as other people if that makes sense
Honestly, this is the only way some of us can have safe touch (outside its very hard) . Its like...the opposite of flashbacks inside inducing alters harming each other... But all this needed years to happen. I mean the safe touch inside, between us. But on the other hand...sometimes it leads to heavy dissociation and isolation from the outside world... I think everything needs the right amount of space. Inside world and outside world. And we, in our case, need to learn that the outside world is a bit more important than the innerworld. But the iw space is also needed to have a functional ow.. Its complex isn't it?. But for me, I can also see my life and everything as a interesting experience. Maybe it's bc i still think nothing of all happened to me. Only to this body. I am the body, i mean i know that. But i don't feel it. I'm me. Greetz.
One body, one outside world. Being unable to seamlessly move through the outside world means no job with financial stability and productive engagement, no strong relationships, no safe physical home, and more. Being in the safer "now" and present with other people makes physically touching them and the world at least not scary, and can approach enjoyable.
I've been hugged, held, but the surprising one was the first time one of the littles climbed on my lap while riding in a car. It felt as if one of my own children was young again and climbed into my lap and was sitting there. I just went, "ok sure. Why not? This is happening."
Could you do a video on the use of touch within a therapeutic relationship for someone with DID? This is something my therapist incorporates as a part of developing a sense of safety and aiding co-regulation e.g. hand holding for child alters (though it can be helpful for some adult alters too) which is always consensual and documented. Re internal touch it’s validating to hear that others experience it too! I’m autistic but often hyposensitive to touch so I prefer more physical touch/tighter hugs etc instead of the opposite. Some alters are able to be soothed internally with hugs or hand holding, and some are too afraid of touch but can be reassured by having another alter sit with them. Alternatively there can be a lot of internal violence too so it’s pretty chaotic. Thank you for the video!
Today in the phone session my therapist didn’t quite get that concept. I told her that I see in my head that my alter is crying with the whole body on the floor but I have somatic pain experience that is so unbearable.
Hmmmmm... I know who's close when my arms start to ache. The more the closer. It's not the same? But one of our lot does physical sensations as if he was there, to control. And yes, there used to be comforting touches too. And I hope mine can be felt too 💚
@@thectadclinic From what I've read, CPTSD parts are more like emotional identity-less parts and coincide greatly with emotional flashbacks and said flashback triggers - it replays a previous part of us that was experiencing the trauma way back when. CPTSD parts don't have their own unique identities or differing memories, if they did, that's more OSDD or DID. That's just going by the usual theories I've seen at least. -Not a doctor, don't quote me.
@@ellissvannish5788 I agree, there seems to be a difference. I looked into Internal Family Systems therapy and although it is supposed to explain DID from what I understand the founder to say about it, I don't think it does. I think DID is a bit more complicated and defined than 'hidden memories'. Parts therapy is great but DID is way more complicated than that. In my opinion of course.
Dr Mike. Wondering about visualization. Find it is more available to me when sleeping/dreaming though promptly gone upon awakening. So so hard to do it while awake. Feels like certain parts of me very afraid and are so angry and persecutory ???
hi there, i've been searching through your videos, but can't really find a Video about experiances about Parents that live with DID, and how they manage daily life raising kids...
I have a question, concerning autism, that was swirling around amongst ourselves before I saw this video, then you spoke about it and now I need further clarification. Can *I* be autistic but not my alters? For example I am late discovered Autistic and DID, but now sometimes signs and symptoms seem to be present with certain alters and some not. Any thoughts??
You mentioned it’s best done in the therapeutic setting, can you go into things in your experience that are best done in therapy? Talking about trauma for example, I’m wondering if there are others?
Thank you for answering this. Really interesting can how alters can touch in these ways. I see so the touches are more small scale, nothing large-scale like a full hug or touching one's hair etc? And does this mean this only happens during therapy guidance, so people tend not to experience this on their own?
I think it depends very much on the system. My alters have hugged and held hands (and participated in more violent things) with each other before we even understood that we were a system. Now that we are aware, we choose to share touch as a means of supporting and showing affection for each other.
@@the_leaf_muncher yeah, I think it took about 4 years before I experienced alters touching on the outside. But after experiencing it, and accepting it, we use it all the time because why not? I mean, when you see your friends, don't you go up and hug them (or shake hands, high five). Anyway, those sort of things are comforting for alters to do with each other for me. The peace it brings is huge, so I do it... we do it a lot.
I'm VERY new to this and thought I was possessed by a negative spirit. This is embarrassing, but I've felt a sexual type experience happen and my outter physical body 'reacted' with a pleasure response, although it was an internal alter doing the 'touching'. It's like my body felt it as if it was really happening and reacted. It's happened a few times without warning, and it's very scary because I'm not asking for it to happen, and he does it without permission. It feels like an intrusion of my body, if that makes sense. But then sometimes I can feel pain as if I'm being spanked like a naughty child if I've done something that this other alter doesn't approve of. So this is possible? I'm not possessed by a ghost? That's reassuring!
In your clinical practice, have you experienced alters with knowledge of another specific alter? Hypothetically, one has a role of protector to the other(?). I've noticed this potential phenomenon a few times and I was curious if they were both formed at a similar time or if perhaps one resurfaced as another was being created(?). For example, I know a pair who "met in college" and yet they never talk at the same time in a voice call. They can chat together via text and respond to each other occasionally. Once, there was a pair (same pair?) of friends which one of them sometimes responded in Japanese kanji. On a whim, I translated their text and got "I'm not going home." It was completely out of context in the conversation.
@@thectadclinic I thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Yes, I agree, that‘s what happens with me, specially if the alter doesn’t like the therapist.
That’s insane I’ve never had this happen before. Is this still possible if you’re generally unable to visualise things? Otherwise sounds like it could be kinda cute in some cases ?? :o
For me it happened spontaneously, but that doesn't mean that in therapy it cannot be explored and used to help heal or comfort. Now that I know what it is, I find great comfort in it.
1. Have had abuser alter hit me in the face 2. Have 2 alters one dom and one sub that can convert pain to pleasure , have been sexual and sometimes sub has fronted to absorb external physical pain 3. Have had alter who only experiences joy hold the face to get alter who has ptsd to calm 4. Using skills in therapy we have had great success in utilizing both talk and touch to a positive outcome 5. Dr Mike is the best DID therapist in the world, thank you for validating all of us suffering.❤ 6. Have had protector alter fight malicious alter for control of steering wheel who was trying to pull us into oncoming traffic. 7. Have had discovered malicious alter who we call shadow use his darkness to physically cover all of us and hide us in the darkness so we could be safe and not seen, felt our whole body and all the alters like a weighted blanket had been thrown over us. 8. The mind is limitless to protect and survive and DID is not a character flaw it was a superpower when we were not in safe environment
My alters will often project into the space around me and it’s like that phantom limb thing where it perceives them in that space. It makes communication so much easier, and we’ve learned that it can work with touch as well! One time our caretaker washed my hair in the shower while singing to me and it felt so comforting and safe. We also have a specific plushie that our child part projects into so we can hold her and soothe her. These are very useful tools!
In times of great distress I find it comforting to hug a pillow (better if it's a body-sized pillow) and talk to my parts during that moment. The pillow alone provides some comfort but the association with an alter makes it that much more soothing.
We use cushions in sessions, it can really help. Glad you found this!
when we've had distressing nights sometimes we will "feel" someone come in for a hug or to hold our hand. sometimes one hand will stroke the other comfortingly, sometimes hugging a plushie makes it feel like we're hugging an alter. it's nice to know we aren't just making it up.
Yes, the plushie thing is something we experience too. It really helps littles. Safe touch.
@@pardalotesame here
Never expected a clinical take to come out on this subject! Awesome! Touch is a huge part of the internal communication in my system, and something we’ve been doing as part of healing work even at home. It’s nice to hear a clinical perspective that sees this as a positive tool rather than simply a sign of severe levels of dissociation.
Thank you, it is important to know it can be used as healing!
With my system, my child alter loves holding hands- it makes her feel safe. I’m happy this video came out 😊
Once I learned how to do parts work and self-regulation, I developed a much kinder relationship to my headmates. When the littles are co-conscious, I'll often carry them or hold their hand while we walk together. They find it reassuring to finally have an adult who loves them and will protect them, tend to them, and comfort them when they need it.
This was incredibly validating as a system since we experience touch inner world all the time. I would believe that even if you had disagreed since we experience it but still, means a lot that a person without DID understands that as well. Thank you for your work 🙏🏻
I learn from the best teachers…
Same here for our system. I didn’t realize that it was uncommon for systems to not experience it, interesting.
Will never forget the shock of the first time we felt an Alter put the boot in and kick us. Also, therapeutically, this has been essential to learn about gentle touch and hugs from them. It is of great comfort when it happens. The outside world can so often feel so cold and alone, but knowing they can help in those times is inmeasurable. Thank you so much.
Sounds like you’ve done really well!
Dr. Mike, you're such a caring & loving clinician. I wish my therapist was similar. God bless you.
Touch between alters in our system has always been a great comfort rather than something we found off-putting or fear inducing. For a myriad of reasons, ASD being one, I find it really very challenging to accept touch from other people irl, but intersystem touch is almost always experienced as positive.
I can see how it might cause fear in someone the first time they experience it, and part of my comfort around it might have been because of how it was framed for me in the beginning(it was read as something spiritual rather than a mental health disorder and had to be reframed later), but yeah. It's one of the few things I consider a positive with my DID.
This is relatable
This is a really good subject for a video and we appreciate how you handled it.
It’s a really good point the way it can solidify the experience and it’s reality, for sure that was absolutely terrifying for me as someone who’s spend a long time being a host. At first it would give me panic attacks because it was so uncontrollably, inescapably Real in a way that could offset the denial for me as well.
It was really comforting and validating to hear you describe about the internal pushing which is something I would experience a lot growing up and at the time didn’t really understand what was happening.
Now it’s not terrifying at all and it’s so, SO comforting and reassuring when other people in our system does something like holds my hand or hugs me when distressed. It’s gotten to a really therapeutic place now where it helps me to feel grounded and safe and supported even when I’m dealing with a lot of trauma. It’s something that makes me feel so grateful now, both that it’s something we can do as a system and that it’s something other people in my system Want to do to support me.
We’re learning to be able to reach out to people inside not just when someone’s fronting to offer hugs and holding hands and maybe just back to back leaning for support for some people.
I honestly can’t put into words how comforting the fact that we can do this and how tangible it is really is now.
Thank you for making this video, this is so important and helpful for systems to know about and it was really cool to hear about you talking about things we’ve experienced so much.
Hi Dr Lloyd; thought provoking video, especially for me: my alters sort of use one part of our body to touch other parts. So, the left hand holds the right, or both legs are touching each other, or a hand might massage a foot. And it feels like two of us are touching each other. A lot of times it is a left vs right thing; so, we can hold hands like that, which we do a lot.
Interesting!
I appreciate and am so incredibly grateful for this channal. Dr.Mike & CTAD Clinic I’ve brought your videos into my therapy setting and they are invaluable. Thank You so much. Hope everybody over there is doing well. 🇨🇦
You are so welcome!
This is incredibly helpful and validating. I get literally “knocked” out of the front, at times, kinda violently, in the way described in the beginning of this video. It’s always surprising how much these kinds of validations mean to us. Sometimes just knowing you’re right is in itself healing. In this case it’s validating because as fairly athletic person tripping, stumbling, having my knees buckle, etc all felt very inauthentic for my “body” to experience, upon hearing anything triggering. Knowing it’s my alters pushing me out of the front feels very authentic. It’s nice to have that sorted.
But since learning about my diagnosis, and working past years of denial, we started using hugs to comfort each other when any of us are triggered.
The first time we tired using hugging our actual body, to calm down an alter(s) or the whole system. I fought it so hard. I felt like such a crazy person going to intentionally hug myself in the attempt to comfort myself the way it would feel if the hug was coming from a person I was missing. But my alters were literally clamoring like a cacophony in my head to just do it. So I did. And it WORKED! It felt amazing. The alters inside who needed that hug felt it, in the emotional way, when getting a hug from someone you’re specifically missing feels. The whole flood of oxytocin washing through our heart, calming its cadence, etc. we felt the love hormones no differently than if that hug was coming from an actual external source and was actually connecting to another human.
Knowing hugs between our system work in the same way as hugs between a spouse, child, parent, sibling was the moment our healing truly began.
I never thought of these things in terms of “touch” before. But that’s exactly what it is.
Hugs can be truly powerful, when feel safe.
I cannot tell you how amazing it is to hear that others have this experience. Thankyou for sharing 💙
It's definitely pretty wild to experience the first time around, and certainly quite a powerful interaction.
Hi there! We wanted to share our experience as someone diagnosed with autism. First of all, our whole system is autistic. No one is more or less autistic than others in here, but that’s just speaking for our system, not any other autistic system.
We also do like touch.. depending. Tactile stimulation is one of our safest aspects of receiving sensory input. We collect squishmallows and have gotten our system to use them for integration purposes. We held two while watching the video. One represents everyone on a subsystem of one part, and the other represents another part. These two parts are connected to each other, which we learned recently.
We don’t have therapy anymore. Weirdly we were evaluated by a case worker who agreed we can’t handle therapy right now. We can’t imagine doing this exercise with anyone. We actually felt safer trying it alone and knew when to stop because we are working on bodily attunement too.
So, the hand holding one, we got a hold, and felt surprised and even startled. Our body shook and we came out of it right away. The hands clasped together, we saw our two friends holding hands. We have aphantasia so it’s more of a felt sense than seeing it, but we could feel it so intensely. We’ve seen them hold hands before too, so it’s not new.
Thank you so much for this insight on such a specific and fascinating topic! There’s so much more for us to learn about OSDD/DID. And we appreciate that you’re learning about the autism intersection too!
its interesting because this is something that I think we've always done. physical touch is really important to us as a way to show and receive support, and because we often didn't have anyone around us when we were in distress, we relied on each other to provide that support. its really interesting to know that not only is this a relatively common experience, but that it can actually be a healthy way to deal with stress.
This is an amazing video and something that needs to be spoken about more often. I have been conscious of my alters move me around since about the age of 27. I am now 57 and it has taken this long for the diagnosis to be made. I have them hug me as in, I'll be sitting, crying or something and my arms move without me and hug me. It has been happening for so long and with such frequency for me, that I know the difference between when I move my body and when they do. It happens all the time and it is a very distinct feeling. They push me, pull me, hug me, move me in various ways. For years and years, I thought I was possessed.
Anyone I spoke to about it, did not know what was happening and that is including clinical and spiritual circles. I have searched for decades to understand what is moving me and who the people I speak with are and until I had the most recent full blown amnesia episode which went for about a week and others witnessed the changes of personalities that came through, and me telling them I'd lost days of time, did the question of DID come into play.
Even then, it was mistaken as Bipolar for a little while until further investigation. Now, here you are, speaking about this and I am so elated to finally have this validated for me. It is the weirdest feeling to have your body 'moved' for you and you cannot explain it to people because mostly they think you are crazy and in religious settings, you are possessed by demons or something. It has been an incredibly challenging, scary and at times, wonderful journey for me but finally, there are answers, and I cannot express enough how unbelievably freeing this is.
So, through your videos and now having the right diagnosis to be able to investigate it further, it seems I am covert and overt and also coconscious and experience bouts of Dissociative Amnesia. It is an extremely complex and sometimes disturbing thing to have, but now that I have a far better understanding of what it is and how the system works, I am so much more able to settle with it. Thankyou Dr. Mike for approaching Dissociative Disorders in this format to help us but I am extremely grateful for you for approaching this side of DID which I have not seen discussed anywhere else.
Keep up the good work, you are helping so many of us 💜.
One thing I would like to see discussed is something I have experienced. That there are alters that seem to be untouched by the trauma, that actually are able to 'guide' you through some of the more traumatic experiences of traumatised alters, and help you also to understand yourself more. It's like for me, they have such insight into my full system and how it works and even the ones that remain hidden, they seem to know about them and help me to understand that for my protection these ones are not ready to be brought forward or worked with. Like, they are not ready, and I wouldn't cope, but these ones that help me, know that.
So, it's like there is an inner consciousness that has made itself known but only fully in the past 5 years or so. One of the personalities that presented itself during my most recent amnesia episode, seemed to be one of those ones. I was told they were smiling and calm and not traumatised at all. Whereas others were confused and scared (during that last one there seemed to be several that presented but I don't remember it at all. I had to hear it from those who witnessed it).
Does something like this come up for you with the people that you work with that have DID?
Thank you!
The latter part of your message is something I experience (in my own way). I am happy to talk to you about it, but not here on UA-cam.
Thank you for this, it's reassuring. We've done this, but stop occasionally because one of us thinks it's not healthy. But it's to relax and ground ourself when we're struggling, especially with interacting with people
Lots of safety reassurance needed, you are right, there can be well-learned caution.
This also can be done with eft guidance and with emdr bilateral stimulation with things like hand tools which come with an emdr bar. This is what DNMS does. If you dont know what is. It is a mothod explained by an experienced mental health profesional who made a more postive method to help the client. It reaches out to an inner child or age regressed state when stress arises.
This topic is so interesting thank you for speaking about it. We have definitely experienced positive and negative versions of this and have been so surprised by how real it can feel. As an autistic system though, we understand ourselves to all be autistic because we are all sharing an autistic brain, although we might have different profiles regarding our autistic traits like sensory needs or repetitive behaviors, language skills ,etc, so some of us mask better than others
Dr. Mike, u may have saved my sanity! I've learned so much from ur videos. Thank u.
This is exactly what I experience when one of my alters try to sooth me when I am not feeling well. It is kinda surreal. It was at first. But also comforting. It does feel like real touch. Like a hug and being stroked. I was recommended this by a friend, and seeing this explains so much for us.
Thanx for this, didn't expect this from a clinical perspective.
Thought we were delusional, we've done this for a while now, never discussed it with the therapist, now I know that it's possible, I will.
Appreciate this.
Good video Dr Mike we have experienced this but did not have the language to explain this and haven’t seen anyone talk about this happening in systems. This is a confirmation for us wow thanks ❤
Glad it was helpful!
You are a pioneer, Dr. Mike! To recognize and incorporate this into your therapeutic approach I'm sure makes so many of us feel validated and seen.
We have many canine alters in our system, some of them like being petted, some don't. Of course, just like with real dogs, patting them on the head and offering soothing words isn't always enough. So this is usually more of an afterthought to things like eating lots of nourishing food and getting extra exercise.
Fortunately, they've never made physical contact with us in a negative way... 😅 at least not while we're awake. We've had plenty of dreams of being chased, bitten and scratched by unhappy animals, as is completely understandable.
Thank you so much!
Good video!
One note to pick out: sensory needs can vary between alters in an autistic system. We know this from personal experience.
To illustrate: Within a single autistic system, there can be alters who are extremely averse to touch for sensory reasons, and other alters in the same system _desperate_ to experience and give touch, for different sensory reasons.
I'd expect something similar to be true of non-autistic systems too, but I'm speculating there.
- Just Another Autistic System
I didn't know this was possible! There have been times that my internal BFF, Jynn, and I have gotten comfort from holding hands or hugging when one of us is out in the body, but we never literally felt a physical sensation. It was just the emotional "warm fuzzy" feeling that we would get from hugging or holding the hand of a loved one in the external world. Also, there was one time that Stu was having a hard time emotionally, and he "felt" his internal twin sister Jenny standing beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder and putting her arm around his other shoulder. But again, he didn't literally feel the physical sensation, or literally see her next to him, it was more of an emotional sensation/visualization. This is so fascinating, I never would have thought it was possible to literally feel another alter in the external world! - Elena
Thanks for this! I have many questions on the topic of "religious experience" in relation to dissociation and alters.
I love your videos, but I just noticed something funny, when starting this one I instinctively switched to another tab until the intro was over. I watch these late at night and the super bright white intro screen can be quite startling!
It might be worth turning down the brightness setting on your phone/ipad prior to watching?
It's funny, but it's something that our System figured out own its own... We do need a "prop" (usually a doll) to help with the process of giving hugs to our young Alters. We usually hold the doll and rock, and while the young one feels the rocking motion, they also feel enveloped and held close. As adult caregivers, while we know that we're physically holding a doll that represents any of the children in the System, we can also "feel" them in our lap & arms, but it's like they're wrapped up in a thick quilt. So for us it's not "skin to skin" contact, but we can feel the weight of them on us. The kids don't quite understand how it happens, so when they try to get/give a hug from/to one of us who are caregivers, they'll follow the same process but it won't feel the same. Sometimes we can get in pretty quick so that they don't feel more distress than they already do, but sometimes we can't.
Why or how we came up with it, I'm not sure myself. I'm newer to the System. What I do know is that it's something that started when the child was very young, and continues to this day. NOW, what I will say is that - as far as I know - it doesn't work with the Adult Alters as much. We do have an Alter that is a fictive mythical creature that is a Protector/Persecutor, and he's been around for most of the body's life. Somedays he really struggles because of what he's witnessed and different things. We found the kids a stuffy that "looks" like that Alter (as best as stuffies can), and they give it hugs, thinking that they're giving the Alter it "represents" a hug, so they feel better because they feel that they're helping. They "feel him calming down." The reality is that Alter goes away to his quiet place, while the kids feel safe & helpful "holding" him.
We don't tell them any different, because kids want to console others who are hurting too.
However, we will say this: Like Dr. Mike said, don't try this at home folks! This was just something that our System figured out on its own to help manage some of the trauma that we were experiencing back in the day. We didn't know about grounding methods or anything like that. It was just something that one of the early caregivers figured out that worked to calm things down when everything was overwhelming.
We didn't know this was a thing as we're still so new to this.....still looking for a new therapist though....but we're going to wait til after we move in order to get back into the sway of things. But, having heard this from you...definitely makes it better to feel as though we're not going crazy...
it's very weird, thankyou for explaining this - it's been going on for me for about 4 years.
Thank you for covering this topic! This was actually one of the first direct inter-alter interactions we ever experienced, years before the system began to properly emerge. During a rather deep conversation I suddenly had the impression of a younger part of myself sitting on my lap in a kind of pseudo-physical way. I could feel them there, not in a sensory nerve firing kind of way, more the impression of their presence and weight. It didn't feel unnerving TBH, kind of comforting.
Looking back know, it baffles that we didn't feel a bit freaked out by that or see any significance in that happening.
How interesting. I didnt know this was possible.
Thank you for your compassion and kindness 🙏 It's very reassuring. Your video's are helping me regain trust for doctors.
May i ask how would i go about seeking treatment at your clinic? Are you private patients only?
hey mike, such a validating video, especially from a clinical body! i hope you don’t mind i pick your brain, my system has experienced something over the last couple of years now which sort of correlates to this topic
we first experienced it while high on marijuana but also have since experienced it many a time while sober and usually either triggered or just in a period of high dissociation for no other reason
what happens is we’ll be outdoors, at a park or simply in our backyard and we will feel very intently that we’re indoors/in a small room - often feeling as if our back is to a corner
it causes us to every minute or so realise we’re not indoors and suddenly become somewhat surprised and uncomfortable by the fact
it’s so intensely convincing we’re indoors that it will throw us completely off track if we’re conversing or on task
hope this makes sense and there’s some sort of info, its always been confusing!!
Your self described long winded yes landed as helpful here. Thank you.
This video was very helpful! We really appreciate all of your work. Thank you so much!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for mentioning autism in this video! I find that my parts have very different needs and (definately-not-)wants regarding to touch. This leads to a lot of internal conflict. Maybe the things you describe in the video are a way for us to explore if that might help some alters calm down without upsetting the (autistic and otherwise) preference of not being touched.
You are very welcome, it is important to factor autism in where relevant.
Diagnosed DID late in life (in my 40s) a life long & full of trauma …I’ve been my own rock ..my own psychologist..(I use the regular I/I’ve/me when discussing myselves ..& that confuses everyone but me) the internal dynamics are very different..I know what me I’m referring to …it had become part of my natural cope in life to outwardly talk to & touch..move myself …even before I went through many years of therapy.. becoming aware that this was how I communicate with myself …to make up for the amnesia..& to protect myself from any lack of functioning..to keep going ..not to completely fall apart …like any group of explorers travelling around together…(in the one vehicle) ….still there are some very unwell individuals in the group .. so moving one more step toward healing unwanted internal/external physical harm …taking more care of parts that are screaming out using the method of outward behaviour..that’s is unwanted ..or harms the body …
I will give an example…I scratch & pick at myself severely at times ..unknowingly.. but I’m coming to more of an understanding of what triggers this ….but also internally realising I need to acknowledge the cry from within.. (this is no easy task ..as those are the barriers that trauma caused us)
touching some parts is less difficult…even natural…the task of communicating with the selves within comes with unique challenges…just like any group of messed up explorers ..some are still loosing their s*”t in the back seat …
I’m not proofreading that ☝️hope it made sense
I'm not diagnosed yet but I have a DID therapist! Glad to know there are more of us!
This video has answered a huge question thank you 🙏🏻
So glad!
My system experiences touch somewhat often, usually it's grounding or comforting, other times it's intervention, like grabbing an arm or ankle to stop an action carried out (like su1cid3)
There are also times when the body is shared; each arm controlled by a different part, and they hold hands.
I experience similar to that as well. I am no expert of course, but I think it is the physical manifestation of co consciousness.
This does remind if there's any overlap between maladaptive daydreaming (I know it's not officially recognised by any diagnostic forms) and heightened senses internally when experiencing the innerworld and daydreams in general? Our therapist has brought it up once, and if there was a connection there between that and generally dissociation as well.
My therapist taught me about this
It’s epic and has helped me to connect with all of my alters in a very real way. My child alter loves holding my hand when she is scared 😊 great video
Could you do a video about how alters appear? Like, how they look in a system? Almost seeing them as other people if that makes sense
People ‘see’ them in different ways, some not at all.
Honestly, this is the only way some of us can have safe touch (outside its very hard) . Its like...the opposite of flashbacks inside inducing alters harming each other...
But all this needed years to happen. I mean the safe touch inside, between us. But on the other hand...sometimes it leads to heavy dissociation and isolation from the outside world... I think everything needs the right amount of space. Inside world and outside world. And we, in our case, need to learn that the outside world is a bit more important than the innerworld. But the iw space is also needed to have a functional ow.. Its complex isn't it?. But for me, I can also see my life and everything as a interesting experience. Maybe it's bc i still think nothing of all happened to me. Only to this body. I am the body, i mean i know that. But i don't feel it. I'm me. Greetz.
One body, one outside world. Being unable to seamlessly move through the outside world means no job with financial stability and productive engagement, no strong relationships, no safe physical home, and more. Being in the safer "now" and present with other people makes physically touching them and the world at least not scary, and can approach enjoyable.
Wonderful work! Glad to see you doing well! ❤
Thank you! 😊
I've been hugged, held, but the surprising one was the first time one of the littles climbed on my lap while riding in a car. It felt as if one of my own children was young again and climbed into my lap and was sitting there. I just went, "ok sure. Why not? This is happening."
Could you do a video on the use of touch within a therapeutic relationship for someone with DID? This is something my therapist incorporates as a part of developing a sense of safety and aiding co-regulation e.g. hand holding for child alters (though it can be helpful for some adult alters too) which is always consensual and documented.
Re internal touch it’s validating to hear that others experience it too! I’m autistic but often hyposensitive to touch so I prefer more physical touch/tighter hugs etc instead of the opposite. Some alters are able to be soothed internally with hugs or hand holding, and some are too afraid of touch but can be reassured by having another alter sit with them. Alternatively there can be a lot of internal violence too so it’s pretty chaotic. Thank you for the video!
Today in the phone session my therapist didn’t quite get that concept. I told her that I see in my head that my alter is crying with the whole body on the floor but I have somatic pain experience that is so unbearable.
Hmmmmm... I know who's close when my arms start to ache. The more the closer. It's not the same?
But one of our lot does physical sensations as if he was there, to control.
And yes, there used to be comforting touches too. And I hope mine can be felt too 💚
Tysm as always!
No problem!!
How do parts getting triggered in C-PTSD (and maybe PTSD) differ from alters coming forward in OSDD/partial DID?
For parts to be triggered, wouldn’t there need to be OSDD or DID present?
@@thectadclinic From what I've read, CPTSD parts are more like emotional identity-less parts and coincide greatly with emotional flashbacks and said flashback triggers - it replays a previous part of us that was experiencing the trauma way back when. CPTSD parts don't have their own unique identities or differing memories, if they did, that's more OSDD or DID. That's just going by the usual theories I've seen at least. -Not a doctor, don't quote me.
@@ellissvannish5788 that’s how we understand it!
@@ellissvannish5788 I agree, there seems to be a difference. I looked into Internal Family Systems therapy and although it is supposed to explain DID from what I understand the founder to say about it, I don't think it does. I think DID is a bit more complicated and defined than 'hidden memories'. Parts therapy is great but DID is way more complicated than that. In my opinion of course.
Dr Mike. Wondering about visualization. Find it is more available to me when sleeping/dreaming though promptly gone upon awakening. So so hard to do it while awake. Feels like certain parts of me very afraid and are so angry and persecutory ???
I guess it can work like that. Turning around the anger into care is difficult. Never impossible, but sometimes just hard.
hi there, i've been searching through your videos, but can't really find a Video about experiances about Parents that live with DID, and how they manage daily life raising kids...
Great suggestion!
My derealisation was very real to me because it’s somatic. It happens nearly often in the last 3 months.
I have a question, concerning autism, that was swirling around amongst ourselves before I saw this video, then you spoke about it and now I need further clarification. Can *I* be autistic but not my alters? For example I am late discovered Autistic and DID, but now sometimes signs and symptoms seem to be present with certain alters and some not. Any thoughts??
You mentioned it’s best done in the therapeutic setting, can you go into things in your experience that are best done in therapy? Talking about trauma for example, I’m wondering if there are others?
It’s on pretty much all of the therapy skills videos, have a look through!
Thank you for answering this. Really interesting can how alters can touch in these ways.
I see so the touches are more small scale, nothing large-scale like a full hug or touching one's hair etc? And does this mean this only happens during therapy guidance, so people tend not to experience this on their own?
The type will vary enormously, and can be very distressing so therapy (ideally) sets the pace and type, to be practiced between sessions.
@@thectadclinic I see thank you. That is very helpful.
My alters stroke each other's hair and hug, like all the time, to express our love and compassion
I think it depends very much on the system. My alters have hugged and held hands (and participated in more violent things) with each other before we even understood that we were a system. Now that we are aware, we choose to share touch as a means of supporting and showing affection for each other.
@@the_leaf_muncher yeah, I think it took about 4 years before I experienced alters touching on the outside. But after experiencing it, and accepting it, we use it all the time because why not? I mean, when you see your friends, don't you go up and hug them (or shake hands, high five). Anyway, those sort of things are comforting for alters to do with each other for me. The peace it brings is huge, so I do it... we do it a lot.
I'm VERY new to this and thought I was possessed by a negative spirit. This is embarrassing, but I've felt a sexual type experience happen and my outter physical body 'reacted' with a pleasure response, although it was an internal alter doing the 'touching'. It's like my body felt it as if it was really happening and reacted. It's happened a few times without warning, and it's very scary because I'm not asking for it to happen, and he does it without permission. It feels like an intrusion of my body, if that makes sense. But then sometimes I can feel pain as if I'm being spanked like a naughty child if I've done something that this other alter doesn't approve of.
So this is possible? I'm not possessed by a ghost? That's reassuring!
In your clinical practice, have you experienced alters with knowledge of another specific alter? Hypothetically, one has a role of protector to the other(?).
I've noticed this potential phenomenon a few times and I was curious if they were both formed at a similar time or if perhaps one resurfaced as another was being created(?). For example, I know a pair who "met in college" and yet they never talk at the same time in a voice call. They can chat together via text and respond to each other occasionally.
Once, there was a pair (same pair?) of friends which one of them sometimes responded in Japanese kanji. On a whim, I translated their text and got "I'm not going home." It was completely out of context in the conversation.
Yes, that's seen quite frequently
I‘m not pushed but I‘m being tied up inside by an alter and also literally losing my voice.
We did a video previously about alters stopping actions or communications, sounds like this is happening for you.
@@thectadclinic I thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Yes, I agree, that‘s what happens with me, specially if the alter doesn’t like the therapist.
That’s insane I’ve never had this happen before. Is this still possible if you’re generally unable to visualise things?
Otherwise sounds like it could be kinda cute in some cases ?? :o
For me it happened spontaneously, but that doesn't mean that in therapy it cannot be explored and used to help heal or comfort. Now that I know what it is, I find great comfort in it.
Touch too much
$$hh, I don't think it is possible....
1. Have had abuser alter hit me in the face
2. Have 2 alters one dom and one sub that can convert pain to pleasure , have been sexual and sometimes sub has fronted to absorb external physical pain
3. Have had alter who only experiences joy hold the face to get alter who has ptsd to calm
4. Using skills in therapy we have had great success in utilizing both talk and touch to a positive outcome
5. Dr Mike is the best DID therapist in the world, thank you for validating all of us suffering.❤
6. Have had protector alter fight malicious alter for control of steering wheel who was trying to pull us into oncoming traffic.
7. Have had discovered malicious alter who we call shadow use his darkness to physically cover all of us and hide us in the darkness so we could be safe and not seen, felt our whole body and all the alters like a weighted blanket had been thrown over us.
8. The mind is limitless to protect and survive and DID is not a character flaw it was a superpower when we were not in safe environment
I love the term 'superpower' for DID. I think that describes it's capabilities well.