The Roulette System
Hello. I am diagnosed with DID, aka Dissociative Identity Disorder. This means that because of intense childhood trauma, my brain split different people in my mind to help me cope with it. Sometimes these other people "take over", which is called fronting. There is an amnesia wall that goes up between switches, causing different people (called alters) to have different memories from each other. We are more open about our disorder in order to spread awareness and knowledge about it, because of it being so misunderstood. It's also my way of accepting myself, by talking about it with people who don't know me in person. Coping with this has been hell, and this helps me a bit with that.
This is a basic "do-s and don't-s" for my system.
DOTalk to us like we're anyone else you'd meet
Interact with other members of the system
Treat everyone like people
Ask who you're talking to
Remind us of things we forget
Ask questions
If a switch occurs when you're around, allow time for the person to ground themself
Make jokes with us
Give room for PTSD moments
DON'TAsk for specific traumas
Ignore boundaries
Purposefully try to trigger fronts
Ask who is the "real" personality
Assume an alter is violent and will hurt you
Be angry or impatient
Out us to people we don't disclose this to
Tell us to get over the abuse or minimalize it