Tips on writing for a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder symptoms?

[blakestackman]

I am working on a chapter that has proven to be challenging. The character is suffering symptoms similar to that of D.I.D.

I've found that because the story is written in 3rd person, it is making this particular moment where the character is having an episode very tricky. Any tips - suggestions?

[Sailor]

I don't know much about D.I.D. but here's what I do know:

-Most people get it after a traumatic experience at a young age
-Some people can have multiple identities
-Sometimes only a certain identities know about the other
-The identities are mostly completely different people ex: One of the identities can play the bass but the other can't.

Try to find out how many identities the character has.

Is it the character that is speaking in 3rd person? If so, that means that your character is aware of the other identities. Meaning friends/family of that character may also know about too.
If the case is that the other identities know about each other, the experience may be different.
For instance- The identities could fight with each other or have a full on conversation.

Maybe your character could have a trigger to their disorder kind of like PTSD.
So then it may be easier to switch into different identities.

That's all I have. Hope it helps, if not could you give me more info. about your character and the setting?

[TheOddFungi]

I suggest watching videos of people with D.I.D. The first that comes to mind is the "A System". This system is on Youtube and they helped me learn a lot about D.I.D.. I believe they have videos of them rapid switching as well as discussing what is going on during that. They also have tiktok, which is where I found them, and I'm sure you can find more through them if you so wish.

If you're asking how to write the actual dialogue, I suggest perhaps giving each alter a different font, that way it is easier for you and the reader to know who is speaking/thinking. Though that could get a bit tricky if they have several alters.

I'm not sure if this helps answer your question, but perhaps at least gives you inspiration for more interaction with your characters and alters.

The A System And Spouse

[Daisy]

i suggest reading about it in DSM5, if there's any free pdf you can download in the internet but other books are fine. there's probably documentaries about it on youtube too.

i hope the link works well for you

DID is under dissociative disorders (which is on page 291) and DID is on the next page (292)

[TheGentleArtist]

There is a comic creator who makes a series about D.I.D and gives some pretty good info on them as well.

Deebees Inner Diary | Tapas

[fleurravenbooks]

• its caused by trauma
• they will be confused after switch
• sometimes but not always one alter will be aware of other
• since it is caused by trauma ,original one/ real one doesn't exist, since when trauma happened their mind spilt ( think of it as broken plate, whole thing is plate, not just one piece)
• have things that will trigger them , since they can't switch on their own will
• if trauma happened when character was lets say 12, and mc is now 21, alter will be 12, since they don't age but stay at trauma age
• new personality was made to protect person from trauma, so probably "original" (as i said there is no original) won't remember that trauma (im not sure can they, but most of them won't)
  If i got something wrong, i deeply apologize

[NickRowler]

It is very difficult to as for real life advice on Dissociative identity disorder because it is highly debated in the medical field if it is even real. And there has been situations where people fake it to manipulate others or get out of jail time. EDIT: there are also situations where therapists mislead patients into thinking they have DID, either by encouraging recover memories that end up being false or misinterpreting roleplaying as alternate personalities.

I think if you are interested in writing this kind of story, be aware you may be writing about something that is more fantasy than fact.

When it comes to writing, you could work with code switching or breaking the personality switches up by chapters. You could also set up a trigger, like Lunch from Dragonball who switches everytime she sneezes.

[R.n.P]

I'd advice you to search youtube for psychiatric/psychology vids on this topic, i don't think the lame person would know what this is or how people would act if they had this disorder