#actuallycdd

"What may make something traumatic to me, may not to you. As a clinician, I gauge trauma by whether the client’s body is having a trauma response, not whether the precipitating incident was 'objectively' traumatic. If a trauma response is present, then trauma is present. Again, we must understand that trauma is subjective so that we can answer that second question: 'How do I know if mine counts?' Simply put, if it felt traumatic to you, it counts."

Source: What Is Trauma and Does My Experience Count?

the idea that all parts need names to be considered "fully elaborate parts" is a dated one, and one that I frequently see individuals much earlier on in their recovery perpetuating.

if your parts have their own names, that's great. if you named your parts and your parts are comfortable with that, that's also great. plenty of people, however, do not have parts with names, or only some of their parts have names. this does not have to do with whether or not that part is "elaborated enough" to be a part -- a name does not make up an entire identity, it is only one facet of an identity.

'Parts' is an incredibly divisive term among people with dissociative identity disorder (DID) and similar experiences. Some people love it, some people hate it, and some people have more complicated feelings on it.

Let me make this simple: the terms you use are up to you. Ideally, they should be ones that make your system feel safe. So, if someone calls you a 'part' and that makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, please tell them. A good friend or therapist will respect that.

Calling alters 'parts' is NOT necessary for everyone's recovery. For some people, it can be extremely grounding and helpful! For others, being called 'parts' can actually make them more dissociated and fragmented. It's an entirely subjective matter. Here's what one of the leading experts on DID, Dr. Loewenstein, says (source):

"Clinically, the term 'parts' can be a useful, colloquial, descriptive term for clinicians and patients, although some DID patients respond to this term negatively (e.g., 'Hey, we're important! She says we're just parts!'). The most recent ISSTD Guidelines for DID Treatment (Chu et al., 2011) counsels that, if possible, it is preferable for clinicians to use the DID patient's own term for self-states."