someone: hey do u need help?

Some will have 5 alters

Some will have 100 or more

Some can directly communicate with their alters

Some can’t communicate with each other at all

Some will have fictives

Some will have factives

Every system is different

I’ve been seeing posts like these on Instagram for other misunderstood mental illnesses, so I thought I’d have a go at making one myself. 

I think that one of the most frustrating misconceptions about DID is that it is just about having alters or “multiple personalities” as some laypeople see it. 

Alters are just one part of Dissociative Identity Disorder. 

The information above is paraphrased and simplified from the book Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation by by Kathy Steele, Onno van der Hart, and Suzette Boon. 

The majority of the information above also applies to people with OSDD, since they have many of the same symptoms and experiences as people with DID.