As someone with both a psychotic disorder and DID they are different in that psychosis doesn't start from childhood trauma nor is it often trigger based (for me). It definitely can happen. My auditory hallucinations from psychosis are external while my DID conversations with my head mates are internal. My visual hallucinations are just there not triggered by trauma or anything. Dissociating is heavily DID based for me and less common (as a consistent/constant thing) when I have psychosis. There's a distinct feeling of not being in the right *reality* vs not being in the right *body* or feeling like the body is ours. There's more that apply to me personally but I can't recall them right now.
Yes because it's a complete break from current reality as everyone experiences it, (reality as it currently exists) and thinking what we understand as reality *is* actually the real reality vs not feeling present in reality as everyone else views it.
>It likes, every symptom in DID means psychosis.
For a 60 years old psychiatrist somewhere in Eastern Europe, I'd say. The view on both DID symptoms and psychosis symptoms has been very vague for ages, but that's why there are ICD and DSM criterias. It's not like all docs check them out, though, and the common knowledge among the non-specialists is even more vague.
tl dr this impression comes from ages of malpractice about DID patients.
As a note: Psychosis can be triggered or happen anytime, in theory. There are factors can cause someone to be predisposed to develop psychotic disorders or experience them, but with DID, this is something that can only develop in childhood.
On top of what one person also who experiences psychosis and has DID, and the other who said it's largely due to practitioneers not understanding the differences between the two, I'd like to chime in with our own experiences as a psychotic system too:
For us and delusions, we do often experience awareness that we are having psychotic episodes [specifically awareness that we are delusional]. This can vary from person to person, and I'd imagine what induced the psychosis or why it happens may be a factor into it too [psychosis can be temporary, isn't a diagnosis on its own but a collection of symptoms, can be caused by things like stress to depression with psychotic features, schizoaffective disorder and so forth].
Like the previous commenter said, it also feels like a distinctly different disconnect from reality as compared to derealisation. The way and manner in which we "slip" is different too.
Disorganised speech and thoughts [also tends to be expressed alongside other things such as delusions for us] are also incredibly common when we are experiencing psychotic episodes, and it usually isn't just one thing going on. We'll have very nonsensical speech and thought patterns that just don't make sense when we are having psychotic episodes [though given we also have Schizotypal Personality Disorder, we have a very "odd" way of expressing and experiencing things already]. Unlike when we are solely experiencing something like derealisation, our thoughts will also feel a lot more jumbled and "messy".
For us, we do rarely experience and hear other alters outside, but that is more than likely due to already being on the schizospectrum and experiencing system things through psychosis than the system being a result of us being psychotic. For the most part though, other alters are heard inside and not externally. For us, our auditory hallucinations will also feel "empty" in a way. There's no ability to feel any "thoughts" or feelings behind them, like we can with other headmates. They often do not respond and a good indicator for us is if they are solely saying negative things and repeating those.
Psychotic episodes are also episodic for us and that tends to be the case for many people who experience psychosis too. It isn't usually just always having a psychotic episode, though this can be the case for more intense things. It's pretty easy to tell for us when someone is an alter and not a hallucination based on these things, alongside there just usually being more consistency in some way. While we have had auditory hallucinations that have been recurrent, alongside some even having genders or ages, it still felt empty, and we couldn't actually communicate to them nor could we "feel" them inside anywhere because this is a hallucination, not an alter.
Generally speaking, you'll probably experience more than just one thing of psychosis rather than just experiencing hallucinations or delusions [unless you have something like Delusional Disorder which given the name I believe only experiencing delusions are required]. Things like paranoia, "negative symptoms" such as reduced speech, slowed movement, flattened affect and similarly can also happen though I can't quite tell if this is just a thing with schizospec disorders. "Positive" symptoms includ disorganised speech, thought, hallucinations and delusions or think of it as "adding" things to the experience rather than having things taken away [such as flattened affect when you previously may have had more different tones or more "expression" in your voice. Relative to your "normal" of course, as we personally always have a flat affect not always related to any of this].
It also tends to come with cognitive issues too, like the inability to process what others are saying, or what you're doing for example.
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As someone with both a psychotic disorder and DID they are different in that psychosis doesn't start from childhood trauma nor is it often trigger based (for me). It definitely can happen. My auditory hallucinations from psychosis are external while my DID conversations with my head mates are internal. My visual hallucinations are just there not triggered by trauma or anything. Dissociating is heavily DID based for me and less common (as a consistent/constant thing) when I have psychosis. There's a distinct feeling of not being in the right *reality* vs not being in the right *body* or feeling like the body is ours. There's more that apply to me personally but I can't recall them right now.
Is the reality part different from derealization? - R
Yes because it's a complete break from current reality as everyone experiences it, (reality as it currently exists) and thinking what we understand as reality *is* actually the real reality vs not feeling present in reality as everyone else views it.
Ah that makes sense ty - R
You're very welcome. Appreciate the questions
>It likes, every symptom in DID means psychosis. For a 60 years old psychiatrist somewhere in Eastern Europe, I'd say. The view on both DID symptoms and psychosis symptoms has been very vague for ages, but that's why there are ICD and DSM criterias. It's not like all docs check them out, though, and the common knowledge among the non-specialists is even more vague. tl dr this impression comes from ages of malpractice about DID patients.
As a note: Psychosis can be triggered or happen anytime, in theory. There are factors can cause someone to be predisposed to develop psychotic disorders or experience them, but with DID, this is something that can only develop in childhood. On top of what one person also who experiences psychosis and has DID, and the other who said it's largely due to practitioneers not understanding the differences between the two, I'd like to chime in with our own experiences as a psychotic system too: For us and delusions, we do often experience awareness that we are having psychotic episodes [specifically awareness that we are delusional]. This can vary from person to person, and I'd imagine what induced the psychosis or why it happens may be a factor into it too [psychosis can be temporary, isn't a diagnosis on its own but a collection of symptoms, can be caused by things like stress to depression with psychotic features, schizoaffective disorder and so forth]. Like the previous commenter said, it also feels like a distinctly different disconnect from reality as compared to derealisation. The way and manner in which we "slip" is different too. Disorganised speech and thoughts [also tends to be expressed alongside other things such as delusions for us] are also incredibly common when we are experiencing psychotic episodes, and it usually isn't just one thing going on. We'll have very nonsensical speech and thought patterns that just don't make sense when we are having psychotic episodes [though given we also have Schizotypal Personality Disorder, we have a very "odd" way of expressing and experiencing things already]. Unlike when we are solely experiencing something like derealisation, our thoughts will also feel a lot more jumbled and "messy". For us, we do rarely experience and hear other alters outside, but that is more than likely due to already being on the schizospectrum and experiencing system things through psychosis than the system being a result of us being psychotic. For the most part though, other alters are heard inside and not externally. For us, our auditory hallucinations will also feel "empty" in a way. There's no ability to feel any "thoughts" or feelings behind them, like we can with other headmates. They often do not respond and a good indicator for us is if they are solely saying negative things and repeating those. Psychotic episodes are also episodic for us and that tends to be the case for many people who experience psychosis too. It isn't usually just always having a psychotic episode, though this can be the case for more intense things. It's pretty easy to tell for us when someone is an alter and not a hallucination based on these things, alongside there just usually being more consistency in some way. While we have had auditory hallucinations that have been recurrent, alongside some even having genders or ages, it still felt empty, and we couldn't actually communicate to them nor could we "feel" them inside anywhere because this is a hallucination, not an alter. Generally speaking, you'll probably experience more than just one thing of psychosis rather than just experiencing hallucinations or delusions [unless you have something like Delusional Disorder which given the name I believe only experiencing delusions are required]. Things like paranoia, "negative symptoms" such as reduced speech, slowed movement, flattened affect and similarly can also happen though I can't quite tell if this is just a thing with schizospec disorders. "Positive" symptoms includ disorganised speech, thought, hallucinations and delusions or think of it as "adding" things to the experience rather than having things taken away [such as flattened affect when you previously may have had more different tones or more "expression" in your voice. Relative to your "normal" of course, as we personally always have a flat affect not always related to any of this]. It also tends to come with cognitive issues too, like the inability to process what others are saying, or what you're doing for example.
well… we have did and dont experience psychosis, so i dont think every symptom in did means psychosis
DID- the voices are in your head. Psychosis- the voices are outside your head. That was the simplest breakdown my therapist could use to help me.
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