I was diagnosed with DID in 1998. How do you communicate with your alters? I feel crazy thinking about it.?
Answer:
The only thing necessary for communication to take place is a willingness to openly listen to what other parts have to communicate without judging their perceptions and strategies. As I tell my clients, just ask and be open to hearing the answers and realize that what you learn from your parts may be painful. Know also that they will only share as much as they feel you are ready to hear and to the degree that they trust you not to minimize their experiences. These parts of yourself have been protecting you for many years and it always helps to thank them and acknowledge the important role they have in your life.
Posting a question in a journal and leaving it open for any parts to respond to is always a good way to start out. Open-ended questions will obtain the most information, but you can also ask that parts sign the entries so you begin to know what information comes from where. The only drawback to using a journal is that very young parts may not have writing skills and may not be able to communicate directly.
The voice you heard in your head that warned you "don't go there" was protecting you and hearing voices inside your head is the most common form of communication between alter parts of yourself. Speak inside to the voice and it will likely respond in kind to you.
If you are in therapy, talk with your therapist about taping your sessions if you experience time loss during the sessions. It is often a great way of making the therapy sessions "public" and accessible to all alters. If you are not in therapy, I strongly recommend that you seek a qualified therapist with some experience in treating DID or at least with experience in trauma and dissociation. The therapist can help guide you in your journey of discovering the parts of yourself and also in helping you develop coping methods beyond dissociation which your alters may need to see before trusting you to handle what they have to share.
Again, if you are willing and open to knowing your alters, they will reveal themselves to you-the only thing that keeps them from it is denial of their existence or reluctance to knowing them.
Evidently, you are communicating with at least one alter. You had a thought, and the little voice inside answered. That's one way it works. For others, writing helps. For instance, write a topic on a piece of paper, take a pen in each hand, and let your hands take turns writing whatever comes to mind. Same idea with drawing - for some people drawing is easier.
A lot of people with DID use the image of a conference table and ask the other parts of them to come and participate at the table.
All the many parts of you are there for a reason, and the bottom line is that they are all there to help - to remember, or to forget, to calm you or keep you alert, etc.
To the best of your ability, be curious and welcome the many parts of you.
You could also try to have a tape recorder or video tape that they can use. I've also seen a website that a lady used and she had alters that went on there and everyone respected that.
http://www.christiansurvivors.com/forums...
One way would be journal/s, putting notes on the refrigerator, front door, etc., asking them to respond in their journal. Another way is through hypnotherapy, or autosuggestion; (self hypnosis) see page 3 at http://www.ezy-build.net. (.net.nz/~shaneris) Use taped instructions and deepeners, and have a second cassette recorder set up and operating, so it will be recording anything said by your alters, in case of inability, or unwillingness to write. A qualified psychiatrist, or psychologist, employing hypnosis, and experienced in this area, would be much preferable, so try the locators on pages 1, and 2. Psychotherapy can help reintegrate those sub personalities into a functioning one, with the "Adult", or "probability estimator" in overall charge (see 1-800-therapist on page 2). Check out the profile of "Opester" here at Yahoo!; Answers. She came up with a very good answer to a previous question, but did not openly advise hypnotherapy. Review her recent answers. There are groups for this subject at Google, and possibly Yahoo, and Myspace. See http://www.dissociation.com and http://emotionalhealth.ivillage.com/... and www.healthline.com and www.questia.com Use the WebFerret search engine, Wikipedia, and Google websites, and Amazon.com, but try Opester's answer first. I expect that reintegration, including "owning" the bad memories, would involve considerable pain, so I would gird my psychic loins, speaking figuratively, but push on regardless, and travel long distances, to get the best help possible, were I in the position to do that. The other people in those groups may be able to offer suggestions. (Wish I had known Opester was answering: would have modified mine!).
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