If you have found your way to this page you are either someone who understands what this means or someone who does not. If you do not understand the contents of this page then please direct yourself here.
Symptoms of a Switch
Feeling like being thrown around inside the body
Feeling like one dissolves into another
Suddenly feeling like having stepped into a foreign body
Forgetting who one is and feeling like an impostor
Feeling like a child still trapped in a traumatic flashback
Not noticing for a while until brought to ones attention that one's behaviour is different
Suddenly losing train of thought and not being able to find it again
One's voice and body language feeling "wrong"
Speaking or acting out of character
Getting symbolic music stuck in one's head
Dissociation (fogginess, spacing out)
Drastic mood shifts
Suddenly losing interest in ones current task
Forgetting conversations as they happen
Eyes unfocusing
Headaches
Suddenly feeling uncomfortable for no reason
Grounding Techniques
Grounding techniques are ways to drag yourself into the present moment and calm both your body and your mind. Some of the techniques below are more geared towards the sensory, while others are more mental.
Feel your heartbeat. Count the beats if you like.
Sit or lie down on the floor.
Starting at your feet, tense your muscles and hold for around 5 seconds. Then release. Try this for each of your muscles.
Touch the objects in your surroundings and compare the textures.
Go for a walk.
Put on some music and dance or sing along to it.
Run your hands under some water, splash yourself in the face with it, or take a cold shower.
Eat something very pungent, sweet, or salty. Any strong flavour will do.
Hold an ice cube and watch it until it melts.
Cuddle with a stuffed animal or pet.
Place a heating pad on your lower back, or anywhere else you please.
Pull a leaf off a plant and rub it between your fingers.
Gently rub a bristled brush against your skin.
Fidget with something, whether it's a designated fidget toy or a bracelet.
Make the area you're in smell pleasant.
Use a scented exfoliating hand or body scrub.
Make Oobleck, a non-Newtonian fluid made of one part water and one part cornstarch.
In an armchair, sit with your back straight, feet planted, and arms on the armrests. Breathe deeply.
Body Awareness
Take 5 breaths through your nose and exhale through pursed lips.
Place your feet flat on the floor. Wiggle and clench the muscles of your feet. Be aware of how it feels.
Stomp your feet firmly a few times. Be aware of how it makes your legs and feet feel.
Ball your hands into fists, then release. Repeat this 10 times.
Press your palms together and hold for 15 seconds. Focus on how this makes your hands and arms feel.
Rub your hands together briskly, like you're trying to warm them up.
Reach towards the sky for 5 seconds.
Take 5 deep breaths.
Put on some music or a podcast and try to focus on the words.
Talk to yourself.
If you have glasses, try taking them on and off.
If you can, open a window and take note of how that changes the space you're in. The smells, sounds and sights are something you can focus on.
Try the 5-4-3-2-1 method:
Name 5 things you can see.
Name 4 things you can touch.
Name 3 things you can hear.
Name 2 things you can smell.
Name 1 thing you can taste.
Count something within your vicinity. For example, how many yellow objects are there in your area right now?
Repeat basic details about your life. It's useful to have this written down in advance. (ex. My name is ____. I am __ years old. I was born in ___. I grew up in ___. etc.)
Do some mental math. What's 12 times 6, for example? See how many of your times tables you can remember, maybe.
List things that start or end with the same letter. How many words can you find that end in 'F'?
Inhale for 4 seconds. Hold that breath for 4 seconds. Exhale for 4 seconds. Hold for 4 seconds. As you inhale, hold, and exhale imagine that you are tracing a square with your breaths.
Make art. It doesn't have to be beautiful, or even very good. Just get everything out onto the canvas.
Imagine a comforting place or scenario. Maybe your favourite character is hanging out with you, or you're having a quiet night in with your friends. Anything that makes you feel safe.
Play I Spy.
Write a haiku. Focusing on fitting the 5-7-5 structure and also making it coherent is good to occupy the mind.
Be silly on purpose. Do your hair up crazy or stomp around like a dinosaur.
Pick something to notice throughout your daily life so that you have something you can focus on. For example, keep an eye out for IKEA furniture.
Keep notes. Keeping physical journals, calendars or to-do lists can make reality feel a little more tangible.
Who Am I?
Below are a series of questions aimed at helping figure out who one is by attempting to identify characteristics about oneself.
What name(s) do I like?
What pronouns do I like?
What am I thinking about?
What am I talking about?
How am I feeling? Did something trigger me to feel this way?
How do I feel about [relevant person in my life]? Do I feel differently than how I usually do?
Do I think about them in a way that is different than I usually do?
Am I talking to/about them?
How do I feel about [topic that regularly comes up in my life]?
How do I feel about [topic that other parts like]?
Are there any particular labels I feel drawn to/identify with?
What kind of colour(s) am I drawn to?
What do I want to do? What would I do if I had the resources to?
Similarly, is there anything I might normally be interested in that I no longer want to do?
When listening to music: What songs do I like?
Am I singing along?
What are the songs about?
How do I feel about the music?
Are there any songs I dislike?
Any particular common genre/theme with the music I find myself liking right now?
When making art: What kind of art am I making?
What medium am I using?
What is my art style?
What does the artwork depict?
When playing games: What game am I playing?
Is it a video game or a board game?
What am I doing in the game?
Do I have a player model, and if so, what does it look like?
Are there any games I don't like at the moment?
When watching things: Am I watching TV? A movie? YouTube?
What is the topic of what I'm watching?
What is the tone of what I'm watching?
How does what I'm watching make me feel?
Is there anything I don't want to/feel like I can't watch?
When playing an instrument: What instrument am I playing?
Am I trying to learn a specific song?
Am I making my own music? Are there lyrics?
If it's a specific song, what is it about?
When writing: Am I writing prose or poetry?
Is it fiction or non-fiction?
What is it about?
What genre is it?
Is it fanfiction?
Is it long or short?
When reading: What am I reading?
Is it something that I read as a child?
Is it fanfiction?
What is it about?
What is the tone?
What genre is it?
Am I Faking?*
Feeling as though one is faking their disorder is a common experience for those with D.I.D. or O.S.D.D., both due to the stigma surrounding the disorder and due to the disorder itself wishing to stay unnoticed. This can lead people with dissociative disorders to feel as though they are fabricating their own experiences.
In the exercise below you will be posed a series of questions as if you were faking.
Do I meet the DSM diagnostic criterea for the disorder? Did I meet it before I knew what the criterea was?
How many years have I been faking?
Is my end goal to gain attention from others? If I were faking, what would my goal be?
Do I "fake it" even when I'm alone?
Could I stop whenever I want?
If I try to make it "go away", does it? For how long?
How much effort have I put into faking? (ex. system journals, buying things for alters, telling close family/friends, private system servers, blogs, body modifications, etc.)
Has pretending to be a system negatively impacted my life? Are there things I wish I could stop that I can't? Have I tried?
Are there alters I don't want to have? Alters I would not have chosen to have? Alters that hurt me? Can I decide to make these alters go away?
Are there alters I would like to have that I don't? Fictives from media I like? Alters that would help? Can I decide to have those alters?
Are there other things in my system that distress me or add stress to my life? Can I make these things go away if I chose to?
Do other systems in the community that I believe to be "real" acknowledge me to be "real" as well?
Are my alters as simple as names for my emotions, or do they have depth? Are my alters fully formed people, or are they basic concepts?
How difficult would it be for someone without D.I.D./O.S.D.D. to pretend to have my system? How difficult would it be for one person to manage all of the different lives and identities of my alters?
Are my symptoms palpable? Do I physically dissociate? Do I lose time? Do I experience amnesia? Are these symptoms something I experience regardless of whether someone else is around to see them?
Has a professional acknowledged my disorder, in part or in full? If not D.I.D./O.S.D.D., did they acknowledge that I have P.T.S.D.? Did they acknowledge that I have a dissociative disorder or dissociative response? Have they acknowledged some of my symptoms, if not all?
Did my trauma really happen? Was it conventionally severe? Would someone else identify it as being traumatic? If not, was it traumatic for me? Did I have a severe response to it? Do I have flashbacks or trauma triggers? Does my childhood trauma affect me to this day?
Could I stop having triggers at any time? Am I triggered by things even if no-one is around?
Would my life be easier if I did not have this disorder? If I could, would I choose not to have it?