Trauma – PTSD

Question:

Sorry, silly me, but I know I read a posting, but haven’t found it again re: someone that said they had dissociated as early as 2 yrs old and wondered if anyone else had…

If you think this should be spoilered, it should. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I believe you that it started as early as 2 yrs old. Looks my own first serious tr*uma occurred at that time.  Plus, I just don’t think the average person remembers lying/standing in their crib.  

The T’s among us should be able to answer this question, I’d think. Mosaics? RC? Peter? Although it puzzles me that my m*ther said they had to give back the crib too early…so how old would that be???

Hi, Jan. I’m not certain I am following this thread properly but… I do not know when I started dissociating either, certainly by 7 years old. The things that I’d have rather hadn’t have happened to me happened when I was between a newborn and 3 years old. And I remember a whole lot of stuff when I was two. Mostly being abandoned but other stuff too. By the time I was 7 or 8 there were certain kids I didn’t know recognizing me by a name I did not own. But exactly when I started dissociating is not known by me. You also mentionned your next dissociation period was at 7.  Me too!  7/8.  I’m suspecting now that if it happens early, it repeats as you grow.

That’s what I’ve been told. When did you realize you were spl*t?  I’m seeing now that I didn’t know exactly until in my mid-teens. Just felt "odd" and that the way I was, was different than other’s around me.  Once the system realized this the DID/MPD was seriously protected and I guess what you’d call a gatekeeper/info person developed to help hide it.

I didn’t figure out that everybody wasn’t dissociative until my mid-twenties. I just thought it was a personal thing that nobody, NOBODY, talked about. I physically hid things that didn’t belong to "me", I physically hid when I wasn’t "me". When I wasn’t "me" and somebody came along (RL person) "I" would be thrown, dizzily, into the foreground. I also hid all of this behind a carefully cultivated fascade of eccentricity common to many students of ecclectic pursuits. It was quite a shock to me to find out my friends, colleagues, and family did not dissociate. Hope it gets to the right person. Thanks, Jan:)

Interesting discussion, Jan. Sorry I missed the original post. -Luthe- — For more information about this service, send e-mail to:

Response:

i dissoed at about 6 mos when my m*m couldn’t stand my crying and covered my face with a pillow.  thought i would die, couldn’t breath, no light, ect guess i cried alot cuz of my d*d. — Posted via Talkway – http://www.talkway.com Exchange ideas on practically anything ™.

Response:

i dissoed at about 6 mos when my m*m couldn’t stand my crying and covered my face with a pillow.  thought i would die, couldn’t breath, no light, ect guess i cried alot cuz of my d*d. — Posted via Talkway – http://www.talkway.com Exchange ideas on practically anything ™. Hi, TRP, I am interested in finding out how you knew that this happened when

you were so little. I have a similar feeling that something like that happened to me, and I don’t know whether to trust it or not. How can I tell if it really happened to me? How did you figure it out? What I have is a body memory thing that feels like what you describe. When I read your post I got really sc*red and had to go away from it for a while. Can you help me? Jane

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Sorry, silly me, but I know I read a posting, but haven’t found it again re: someone that said they had dissociated as early as 2 yrs old and wondered if anyone else had… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I believe you that it started as early as 2 yrs old. Looks my own first serious tr*uma occurred at that time.  Plus, I just don’t think the average person remembers lying/standing in their crib.  Although it puzzles me that my m*ther said they had to give back the crib too early…so how old would that be??? You also mentionned your next dissociation period was at 7.  Me too!  7/8.  I’m suspecting now that if it happens early, it repeats as you grow. When did you realize you were spl*t?  I’m seeing now that I didn’t know exactly until in my mid-teens. Just felt "odd" and that the way I was, was different than other’s around me.  Once the system realized this the DID/MPD was seriously protected and I guess what you’d call a gatekeeper/info person developed to help hide it. Hope it gets to the right person. Thanks, Jan:) Hi, Jan,

  I don’t remember the original post that you are talking about. Could have been when my server was being wonky.  My t and I suspect that my splitting began when I was less than two. I don’t know how to prove it, exactly, but we have a small one who seems preverbal, and I have mems of standing jumping in my crib, with the feet of my sleepers flapping, yelling in happiness, and then getting pound*d for it and ending up frozen with fear, lying in the crib watching the door between the bars. Too terrifi*d to cry any more and hiccuping in the aftermath of the tears. This is vivid in my mind, and fits with some other things that I am remembering, and things that were told to me that happened a lot earlier than that.  My kids were in cribs until they were about two. I don’t think there are any rules about when to stop using a crib. It depends on how big the child is getting, and if it is more dangero*s for one who climbs out onto his head! Had one like that! Sometimes another baby comes along and the crib is needed, so the one in the crib goes into the "big" bed.  I find it interesting that you knew as a teen that you were split. I knew when I began school at 6, that there was something different going on with the others, but it wasn’t until this year that I was prodded by my t into knowing about the innards, as I call them. Slow learner or what! When I think back, I can see evidence all along from the time I was quite small, but even when I worked with my old t, who didn’t call me DID, I didn’t recognize myself in the things i read. It was the only dx over all the years, that I didn’t consider!  Now I know it is what I am.  When I am not denying the whole thing, that is.  Jane

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Sorry, silly me, but I know I read a posting, but haven’t found it again re: someone that said they had dissociated as early as 2 yrs old and wondered if anyone else had… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I believe you that it started as early as 2 yrs old. Looks my own first serious tr*uma occurred at that time.  

The books tell me that it can happen from infancy. at 7.  Me too!  7/8.  I’m suspecting now that if it happens early, it repeats as you grow.

You start it and it becomes a very good tool.

Response:

I d*ss*c**ted very early myself.  I can’t yet talk about how early. Take care, Jan.  Jackie – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Sorry, silly me, but I know I read a posting, but haven’t found it again re: someone that said they had dissociated as early as 2 yrs old and wondered if anyone else had… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I believe you that it started as early as 2 yrs old. Looks my own first serious tr*uma occurred at that time.  Plus, I just don’t think the average person remembers lying/standing in their crib.  Although it puzzles me that my m*ther said they had to give back the crib too early…so how old would that be??? You also mentionned your next dissociation period was at 7.  Me too!  7/8.  I’m suspecting now that if it happens early, it repeats as you grow. When did you realize you were spl*t?  I’m seeing now that I didn’t know exactly until in my mid-teens. Just felt "odd" and that the way I was, was different than other’s around me.  Once the system realized this the DID/MPD was seriously protected and I guess what you’d call a gatekeeper/info person developed to help hide it. Hope it gets to the right person. Thanks, Jan:)

Response:

Sorry, silly me, but I know I read a posting, but haven’t found it again re: someone that said they had dissociated as early as 2 yrs old and wondered if anyone else had…

As far as I can tell I was split by at least 2 years old, although it’s really hard to label a child that young as multiple because kids generally have a different sense of ’self’ than adults do and having a ‘flexible’ sense of identity is pretty normal (regardless of abuse at that age). I know that there were other people I talked to and heard and saw quite clearly and all the time by the time I was three. I’ve always had the impression that they were always with me so I figure it had to have started at a very young age. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I believe you that it started as early as 2 yrs old. Looks my own first serious tr*uma occurred at that time.  Plus, I just don’t think the average person remembers lying/standing in their crib.  Although it puzzles me that my m*ther said they had to give back the crib too early…so how old would that be???

Hmm, I have a very clear memory of an abusive act that happened with I was still in diapers. My baby book says I stopped wearing diapers during the day when I was about two and a half. It isn’t uncommon for kids to be in a crib until they are two or so (the rule of thumb seems to be when the kid figures out how to get out when the railing is up it’s time to get them lower to the floor!:) but they make cribs that are designed to be used up to the age of five. You also mentionned your next dissociation period was at 7.  Me too!  7/8.  I’m suspecting now that if it happens early, it repeats as you grow.

I don’t remember distinct ‘periods’ of dissociation as a child, more like I just always had these other people around me and I lost time and got into trouble for it. I basically dissociated on a daily basis for as long as I can remember. When did you realize you were spl*t?  I’m seeing now that I didn’t know exactly until in my mid-teens. Just felt "odd" and that the way I was, was different than other’s around me.  Once the system realized this the DID/MPD was seriously protected and I guess what you’d call a gatekeeper/info person developed to help hide it. Hope it gets to the right person. Thanks, Jan:)

I think I noticed that something was different when I was about seven and started trying to hide it. I knew I was different before that but didn’t know how to explain this difference. Of course I didn’t figure out to call it multiplicity until I got into t’py. Rainbow Colors (Jill) —      The colors blend, the edges soften. Swirling and mixing                    we are becoming white light.

Response:

As far as I can tell I was split by at least 2 years old, although it’s really hard to label a child that young as multiple because kids generally have a different sense of ’self’ than adults do and having a ‘flexible’ sense of identity is pretty normal (regardless of abuse at that age). I know that there were other people I talked to and heard and saw quite clearly and all the time by the time I was three.

How does a therp distinguish DID from imaginary playmates?

Response:

As far as I can tell I was split by at least 2 years old, although it’s really hard to label a child that young as multiple because kids generally have a different sense of ’self’ than adults do and having a ‘flexible’ sense of identity is pretty normal (regardless of abuse at that age). I know that there were other people I talked to and heard and saw quite clearly and all the time by the time I was three. How does a therp distinguish DID from imaginary playmates?

Given that I assume you are talking about a child who is developmentally at the age where it is normal to have imaginary playmates, I don’t. Working with kids with DID is _very_ different from working with adults because the insiders are much more developmentally normal. For example, let’s say I’m working with a seven year old who talks about his two inside friends. I would focus on other issues and not on his inside friends. As a general rule kids present with DID in a very different way than adults anyway so there isn’t as much overlap in that area. Things that are worked on are the PTSD, the anxiety, the self injury, the injury to others, the phobias, etc. Remember, at the very least the kids are much closer to the time of the trauma (if they aren’t still actively being traumatized:( ) and so there are very different issues that are in the forefront. Childhood DID (that I am familiar with from the few clients I’ve worked with) is much more like DDNOS in an adult in most ways. Kids have a different sense of time for example than do adults so the idea of time loss isn’t as obvious. Sometimes it isn’t even present. Often kids report out of body experiences where they actually see the others doing things. They don’t technically lose time in this situation because they were witnesses to the action, but they weren’t the one doing it. Rainbow Colors (Jill) —      The colors blend, the edges soften. Swirling and mixing                    we are becoming white light.

Response:

Related Posts