Everything you wanted to know about Dissociation, part two - viewer questions answered

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-02

[00:00:09]Hi, and welcome to this part two video on questions and answers from people watching the YouTube channel for the CTAG clinic from our 27,000 subscribers.

[00:00:18]So, within this video we're going to be looking at more of the 27 questions that are going to be asked. So, please do look at part one to have a look at the the general tone and the sense of how this is going to go and a bit of explanation. For this video we're going to jump straight into the questions and we're going to begin with a question from, I hope I can pronounce this correctly, Linda Gallian. And her question is this.

[00:00:42]Can you talk about the fact that not all people having DID come from torture-like childhood conditions? Yes, I can absolutely answer that one very simply and I'd say that very few people with DID come from really, really horrendous and awful kind of backgrounds. So, many have been raised in environments which is, I would say, not conducive to good nurturing and safe childhoods, but that could be from all sorts of different things. What we do look for is evidence of complex trauma within any experience leading into DID. because trauma is not an event, it's the experience of an event, there isn't like a checklist of things that a person must have gone through in order to have acquired a condition like DID. The brain simply has to have experienced itself within a traumatic state over a long period of time, over regular intervals where there is potentially a predictive quality. So, a family background or an upbringing where day to day, week to week, month to month there are enough things going on that leads that child to feel that they are traumatized in some way, shape, or form. I think it's wrong when people say you can't have DID because you didn't get abused because that simply is assuming that the event is what causes the condition. It's not. It's the experience of the event, and that is a subjective thing. So, a person might experience one event as not being traumatic. A person might Another person might experience it as being traumatic.

[00:02:20]It's the subjective experience of events is what leads a person to become traumatized rather than the nature of the event itself. So, I think it's a great question, Linda. So, thank you very much for asking this because it is something that a lot of people get very troubled by, and actually it's a very, very simple answer. I hope I've done justice to your question with that one.

[00:02:40]Okay, so let's move on to the next question.

[00:02:43]And this is from Mustached Malarkey in Canada, and the question is this: How to manage denial in OSDD when obvious switching isn't happening?

[00:02:54]And this is a I think this is a really useful question because you wouldn't expect there to be obvious switching within OSDD to start with. So, people that have been diagnosed with OSDD, i.e., other specified dissociative disorder, don't necessarily switch at all apart from in maybe some unusual, let's say, extreme circumstances when there might be a a small aspect of overt switching.

[00:03:19]Largely, OSDD is everything is happening behind the scenes in the main, in general terms. What you would expect is to have a sense that there is something going on on the inside in order to have got the diagnosis of OSDD, the person being interviewed must have been able to relate internal experience to a degree feeling that there are separate identities or self states going on on the inside that can communicate, that can influence, that can cause a a shift or a change in either behavioral or sort of say, let's say vocal functioning through some shape or form. I get it that a person might think because there's no obvious switching going on, I must not have OSDD. But again, we wouldn't expect there to be obvious switching going on. If a person is obviously switching, i.e. in a overt sense, in an objectively observable way to a person on the outside, it's unlikely you would have got the diagnosis of OSDD. It's more likely you would have got the diagnosis of DID in very general terms. Again, I hope that answers the question fairly simply because it is it's a very important question, but it's actually simply answered.

[00:04:32]And our third question today is from Kato NB and the question is this. Having access to mental health professionals is a privilege in in too many in way too many countries. So, the question is, what can a DID/OSDD system do to heal trauma memories without professional help? And I think this is a very very difficult question because in a way, the healing of traumatic memories without any professional help, if it were possible, let's say if the brain was just going to ordinarily find a way to to find a peace or a healing to the nature of the trauma, it would do so independently of any professional help. I.e. some people do recover from their trauma quite naturally simply through the process of everyday life.

[00:05:20]But, you know, there are those people who for that doesn't happen, it then moves into disorder territory. So, if we think about it that in the certain amount of time following traumatic events, some people are healed naturally, that's the ordinary everyday process for most people. Those that don't heal move on to gain what we would call the PTSD or complex PTSD type disorder. So, for dissociative people, it's very hard for them to heal from the trauma because every time they walk towards that trauma internally, the dissociation will kick in and block them from it. There are resources that actually promote recovery, and a recent research article from Andy Fung that I I talked about within the C Tack Clinic channel here showed that actually having good quality social support and access to supportive and caring and decent people in the world promotes recovery from trauma and dissociation in of itself. I would say that would be my go-to thing is to not be isolated cuz even though you might not be able to go inside and heal those trauma memories, having connections in the outside world, having purpose, having a sense of being cared for and being nurtured and that there are good people looking out for you is going to have a healing effect.

[00:06:37]The brain is going to start feeling safer if the person and the system are surrounded by safe and good people, and therefore and in sort of like an indirect healing will start to happen.

[00:06:49]Outside of that, people who tend to be traumatized tend to avoid, tend to find themselves isolated from the things that could promote that healing, and that maintains the problem. So, I would say yes, as a as a simple thing, let's go with the research. The research says that having a good life, having a productive life, having a supportive life engaged in the world, feeling safe, doing safe things, being with safe people is most likely to be the uh the fastest or best route to some degree of traumatic healing.

[00:07:22]Outside of that, it's symptom management, and that's about the first thing to do is to understand that the dissociation is a logical protective system, and the more that you try and dismiss it or push it away or reject any aspect of the dissociation, the longer it's going to take to get healing or the worse the symptoms might be. To understand that the dissociation is trying to help in your favor, even though it might not seem so, even though it might seem like it's really messing up everything in life, we know clinically that it's not, it's trying to do its best to protect and to gain an understanding of that, to develop an appreciation, to have patience and empathy towards the dissociated state that the person might end up being is likely to reduce symptoms over time.

[00:08:08]It's not going to promote complete healing, but it can reduce symptoms over time. I hope that's answered that question. It's a little bit more roundabout because it's quite an involved question, and obviously this isn't the the environment within which to go through in entirely how to do that sort of stuff, uh because I think that that is the thing that is recommended for therapy and you know, more more so than any other occasion.

[00:08:31]Our next question is from Gabby Gabby, another person from Canada, which is fantastic. It's lovely that this has got such an international reach, and Gabby's question is this.

[00:08:40]What is the best way to deal and understand self-harming or self-destructive alters, especially when that amnesia is present?

[00:08:48]And this happens quite a bit. Some people uh okay, and then there's something happens and they move into a dissociative state and they come back and they find that the body's been harmed in some way, shape or form. It can be incredibly distressing, and it can actually be very difficult to try and uh convince health care providers out there in the world that it wasn't a deliberate act, it was kind of done from within rather than as a conscious choice to do so. That generates a lot of judgment and criticism and makes people feel really embarrassed about seeking care. So, first and foremost, I'd say if you found yourself in that situation, please do seek medical care as necessary, considering whatever the nature of the harm might be, and even if that isn't adequately psychologically looking after you, it is really important to look after the body and make sure that the body is safe at all times. So, I'd always recommend going towards medical treatment where necessary and getting that any harm that's been taken to to be looked after as well as possible.

[00:09:47]To answer the question though, it's about understanding that it's probably not an act of actually trying to harm.

[00:09:54]It's probably going to be a defensive action and to to try and understand and see where that may have come from. While it might feel like punishment and it can seem like that, I is a you try to talk to something, you try to look at something, you watch something you maybe shouldn't have watched and you end up with harm done to the body as a punishment. It is the internal state's most often way of trying to prevent you from taking a step towards something that they believe is a threat. Now, there are many many different ways of approaching this and actually from the clinical perspective, what we would do is develop a formulation as to why that thing happened at that particular time and to try and reach out to the self state or the part the alter that is engaging in that harming behavior and try and alleviate some of the concerns it has about being under threat.

[00:10:47]Formulation is always the key. It's to try and approach it from a logical perspective, analyze the sequence, the chronology of what you were doing. It's basically the ABC. It's the antecedent, it's the behavior and it's the consequence. And this is a standard practice for clinical psychologist to work through whenever we see a shift in behavior like this. We look at what was happening beforehand, what was the actual behavior that took place, what's the consequence of that behavior. Now again, I'd always recommend that being done within therapy, but a lot of people don't have access to therapy to try and pattern this out, to journal the nature of what was done and see whether a pattern can be had and see whether there is a way to reassure the internal system, the internal parts engaging in this self-destructive behavior that they do not need to do it, that they've somehow been tricked into doing something on the basis of past experience or past trauma. It's a very, very complex thing that I can't really get into in a short answer here. Just to say that this does happen. It's incredibly distressing. And the way that we would approach this is to develop that sort of logical sequence, try and understand, try and be empathetic towards the part, even though you might feel like wanting to reject that part and push that part as far away as possible because they seem dangerous.

[00:12:07]That's actually the opposite of the way that we would approach this clinically.

[00:12:11]And even though amnesia is going to be present for the actual behavior itself, it's going back and doing that analysis of the before and the after to try and work out what the the sequencing is.

[00:12:22]It's always going to be about that sequencing. The likelihood is there'll be a pattern there. Once you've established that pattern, that makes it predictable. That gives it the opportunity for you to do something about it. So, I hope that's done as best as possible answering that question. So, really tough one.

[00:12:37]We have two more questions that I'm going to be covering today. And the next one is from Tiny Timber, and the question is this. Can someone flicker between covert and overt in different settings?

[00:12:50]And this is a great question. Thank you for doing this because this is an easy answer. It's a yes answer. Absolutely.

[00:12:57]Different settings are going to bring about different types of switching. I'm assuming this is a DID type system question where depending on what's happening, there could be a obvious switch into a completely different part who takes over the body and does something, or it could be a very small manifestation of a switch. That's the overt. That's the covert. And we would almost expect this to happen in different settings. There could be different types of switching taking place. As with the previous question, I think it's about the sequence. It's about the logical patterns that might form to see whether or not there might be a way of predicting which part of what type of switching happens according to what sort of scenario is taking place. We always try and work out what the pattern is because that really does give us a deep insight into what's going on. But to answer the question simply, yes, many people with DID experience both covert and overt switching, and it does get a bit sort of chaotic depending on what the person is doing or what's happening around them. So, thank you for that question. It was a nice simple answer.

[00:14:00]The next question is from a subscriber called Identity is Unknown, which is a really excellent tag to have, and this is our final question for today. And the question goes like this. How do you communicate with your therapist and close family about your parts or system when you have a protector part that steps in and effectively prevents you from even mentioning your parts and your system?

[00:14:22]So, I'd say if every time you are trying to communicate to people that you have DID or OSDD that you have parts, you have this system going on internally, and somehow you're being blocked from doing that, it isn't about trying to force the issue. The message is clear. I don't want you to tell people about this. I need to remain hidden. That sounds like pretty much that internal part is scared that being described or being shared out in the world, being revealed or exposed in some way is a threat to them. The key is always going to be to find which part is doing that, which part is doing the blocking, to go towards them, to sit down with them, and to offer some reassurance that by being able to share information about the internal system is not actually a threat, that the people that you're trying to talk to are essentially safe people that are going to do no harm. And that's a very difficult thing for a lot of people to be be to process and guarantee for themselves. The way I would do this is go towards that internal part and say to them, I do need to be able to share this with my family, with my partner, with whoever it might be, my therapist, because they're the ones that are going to actually help me and provide some support. Look at this research that's done. Good social support leads to reduction in symptoms.

[00:15:41]I need that good social support. I need to tell people I'm dissociative. I know you don't want me to do that. So, is there something that you would agree on me being able to share that I then can share? So, instead of feeling like that part is watching you trying to dump everything on your therapist or your family member, as in too much, is to agree on a small amount of information that would be acceptable for them, to offer that as a test, see if that can be shared without any horrible negative consequence like punishment or judgement or not being believed.

[00:16:19]As proof to that internal part that it is safe to share some information with some people. So, it's a step-by-step approach. Always agree in advance with that part what is acceptable to share, and have patience and have understanding that they're scared. That's why they don't want you to do it. Your job is to help them not be scared by demonstrating with evidence and proof there is nothing to be scared about. It's a fabulous question. And again, almost any of these questions that I've answered today, hopefully as best as I can do, uh available for expanding into videos in their own right. And please, as with the first video, please do put in the comments which of these you think you'd like to see a further expansion on, because even though some of them are quite simple questions and the answers are simple at some level, there's always more depth within the nature of dissociation to be able to work with within this stuff. So, I really love doing this. I really love answering questions like this.

[00:17:20]It's a real challenge for me to to do this, and I'm not preparing these answers massively in advance. I'm reading these questions, and I'm giving my instinctive response as best as I can do. So, I read all the questions, I check out all the questions, I make sure I can answer them, but then I'm kind of on a bit of a journey of discovery in front of the camera here doing this stuff. So, yeah, I hope you like it. If you do, there'll be a part three with some more questions. We have plenty more to come. Tons of great questions from the from the subscribers. So, thank you all for providing me with these great questions. Thank you for watching this video. Thank you for liking and subscribing and sharing the content out there. And in between now and the next video, as always, please do take great care.