DIS-ASSOCIATE

With the coming of the new internet age, information is readily available be it on any topic, the question is what you choose to learn.

Just like most individuals, I have been hooked on YouTube for a long time, trying to learn new concepts and see what’s happening in the world with a click. A YouTube channel caught my eye which aimed to educate everyone about a condition called dissociative identity disorder and the way she educated and shared her life around this disorder made me captivated to watch all she had to offer. For those of you who aren’t aware of DID, scientifically, it is a disorder characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality states. Dissociative identity disorder is usually a reaction to trauma as a way to help a person avoid bad memories. Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality identities. Each may have a unique name, personal history, and characteristics.

Hey, there it’s Iris,

This article can sound scientific till now but it has a different angle all together. It is learning about life and how we have scientifically proven capabilities to cope with what life throws at us even when it feels
unbearable.

Without running around the concepts and technical aspects of DID, simply, it is like a coping mechanism of your brain that separates you from a bad memory or trauma because it is needed to be forgotten so that you continue to exist, survive, and move on. Eventually, your mind starts working in a way where, unlike an average individual who has a cohesive memory with multiple personalities, you have multiple and unique identities and memories of every personality that you develop over your lifetime. So the personalities do not remember each other’s memories at all and that’s what DID is all about in the most uncomplicated way.

You must be wondering that what can we ever learn from a rare disorder like this but here I would like to emphasize on a statement stated earlier, ‘ it’s all about what we choose to learn.‘

What we can learn is something all of us tend to forget at breaking times in our lives and a disorder like this is just a reminder that nothing in life can’t be dealt with pride and composure knowing one can surely move on and survive it through.
I mean think about it, if you are reading this post today then you have survived one of the greatest calamities of all time. You should be proud of yourself and know that you are strong enough to face whatever life has to deliver at any point in life.

This disorder is indeed rare however, it occurs in a human , reminding us that we can separate ourselves from an experience or a bothering experience.

It helps us understand that life goes on like a river flowing regardless of hard and heavy pebbles which come its way.

For a moment, try to imagine a river and how its current and rigor keeps on increasing with every rock clash. Isn’t it so beautiful?

We all have this power inside but someplace the memories remind us of the experiences repeatedly which is why our case is different from someone with DID. They don’t remember but we do.

We can’t stop the memories, instead know how to deal with them by a simple exercise of talking.
Something as simple as talking is a therapy, which is a solution for them and us alike.

Talking provides a perspective of how to look at situations, as we tend to realize while we speak and it also enables a person to detach or learn from that memory to move on.
For the critics and suspects of DID, even Freud’s ideas advocate this phenomenon. I don’t deny that he has been criticized for some of his work and a lot of his contributions are silly and irrational, but that doesn’t change the fact that some of his giving has been thought-provoking and useful too, just like his theory on unconscious reasons and dynamics and multiple personalities systems which subtly explains dissociative identity disorder.

There was a man who lost his house and family to fire at home while he was sitting on his office desk unaware of the way his life is going to change.

Devastated and shattered into pieces, he broke and burst into tears knowing what has happened, and the burden of not being able to protect his family was immense. He knew that he would not be able to survive through this burden and decided to end his life. Just when he was about to commit this sin, he saw a half-torn paper of a drawing that his child made for school competition ‘captioned my daddy is my hero. He is strong and he is powerful.’

At that moment, he stopped discovering that he is strong just like his little princess thought of him.

Yes, it took a lot of him and quite a few therapy sessions to accept the truth and get a different perspective on what happened. He finally knew that he had nothing to do with the fire and there was no way he could have stopped it from happening.

Now ten years later, he advocates mental health and mindfulness and anchors ted talks to make people aware that, it is indeed possible to move on from moments you never think can ever get off your existence. This Jacob is a different identity from the Jacob 10 years ago because he grew and cope with the loss with elegance.

You know being like Jacob can feel like a tough road but there is one thing you must know,

When living with that burden feels like fate, remind yourself.. You can be always be free

all it takes is to disassociate.