April 2025
What pathology is the diagnosis of DID attempting to capture?
Dissociative identity disorder is best understood as a disorder of pathological compartmentalization in which early childhood trauma leads to a structural failure to integrate memory, perception, and emotion. Although the diagnosis became defined through culturally compelling narratives of “multiple identities”, this framing reflects a metaphorical interpretation rather than the underlying mechanism. Over time, that metaphor shaped both clinical expectations and self-concept, reinforcing a model that emphasizes identity over structure. This post traces how that narrative took hold, how it obscures the actual pathology, and why shifting to a structural understanding of dissociation offers a clearer and more accurate view of the pathology the diagnosis of DID is attempting to capture.
compartmentalization conceptualization culture DID identity mechanism plurality
11 minutes
The two types of dissociation: detachment and compartmentalization
Dissociation is often treated as a single, unified concept, but it actually encompasses two distinct psychological mechanisms: detachment and compartmentalization. This post outlines the critical differences between them, showing how each operates, manifests, and becomes pathological in different ways. While detachment involves a disconnection from reality or emotion (as in depersonalization), compartmentalization involves the rigid separation of memory, perception, and self-experience—and lies at the core of dissociative identity disorder (DID). I argue that DID is best understood as a disorder of pathological compartmentalization, not as the presence of “multiple identities”. This distinction is essential for making sense of dissociative experiences without relying on oversimplified or culturally dominant narratives.
compartmentalization conceptualization detachment DID mechanism
9 minutes
February 2025
Can you have DID without “alters”?
The identity-based model is one way to conceptualize dissociation, but it is not the only way. The assumption that DID inherently involves “alters” is a product of the DSM-5 framework, media portrayals, and community narratives—not an intrinsic feature of the disorder. DID is more accurately understood as a disorder of compartmentalization rather than identity fragmentation. Personifying dissociative states as “alters” is a cultural interpretation—one possible framing, but not an essential feature of DID.
Bromberg compartmentalization conceptualization culture DID identity plurality
4 minutes
Amnesia in DID is really just disavowal
Dissociative amnesia is often seen as an unavoidable loss of memory, but it is better understood as an active act of disavowal—a psychological rejection of unbearable experiences rather than passive forgetting. By understanding and deconstructing the mechanism behind my amnesia, I was able to significantly reduce it. Healing has not been about retrieving lost memories but about dismantling the barriers that kept them inaccessible in the first place.
amnesia conceptualization DID mechanism narrative plurality symptoms
7 minutes
January 2025
The way we understand dissociative experiences is shaped by the interplay between percepts (raw experiences) and concepts (interpretive frameworks). DID is not the experience itself but a concept that organizes dissociative percepts within a cultural framework. Once adopted, concepts like DID shape how individuals perceive and recall their experiences, reinforcing a feedback loop. Drawing on ideas from William James and Ian Hacking, I explore how the diagnostic label of DID not only describes experiences but actively shapes them. Recognizing this allows for a more flexible, open-ended approach to dissociation beyond a singular framework.
conceptualization culture DID Hacking James philosophy
5 minutes
October 2024
One of the ways I like to think about my dissociative experiences is through the concepts of internal reality and external reality. I think of external reality as being the objective aspects of one’s external environment, including physical surroundings, social interactions, and events. On the other hand, I think of internal reality as being one’s subjective internal experience, which includes one’s thoughts, memories, and emotions. One’s center of focus is usually balanced between their internal and external realities—they are aware of and are able to interact with their external reality while simultaneously being able to perceive and connect with their internal reality.
conceptualization DID narrative reality symptoms
4 minutes
June 2024
DID is (mostly) a culture-bound disorder
DID is a culture-bound disorder, meaning cultural narratives heavily shape how it is understood and experienced. While the underlying dissociative phenomena may be real, the “multiple people in one body” model is not inherent but a learned framework shaped by cultural expectations. How one conceptualizes their dissociation influences how it manifests, reinforcing a feedback loop. Given these strong cultural influences, the diagnostic criteria for DID should be reworked to remove bias and better reflect the underlying dissociative experiences.
conceptualization culture DID Hacking identity looping kinds
5 minutes
December 2023
The sensationalized conceptualization of DID
Dissociative identity disorder is often conceptualized through the dominant cultural narrative of “multiple people living in the same body”. However, this framework is not the only way to understand the disorder, nor does it reflect everyone’s lived experience. In this post, I critique the sensationalized portrayal of DID and explore how this narrative has been shaped by therapeutic techniques, social influences, and media representation. I share my personal perspective as someone with DID who experiences dissociation as a compartmentalization of internal experience rather than as multiple identities. By distinguishing between the disorder itself and the cultural framework often used to describe it, I argue for a more nuanced, individualized understanding of DID—one that allows for diverse experiences rather than reinforcing a singular, dramatized portrayal.
autism conceptualization culture DID identity language narrative plurality
15 minutes
September 2023
One’s early childhood experiences can majorly influence how they perceive the word. Because I experienced repeated trauma in my early years, my brain wired with the knowledge that the world around me was not safe and my experiences were not in my control. In order to cope with this, I learned to escape my external reality by curating my own internal reality—I created a world that only I could control, which was only limited by my own imagination.
conceptualization DID narrative symptoms
5 minutes
August 2023
Learning about my system with data
Life is moving very rapidly right now. I wrote the previous post (Waking up to the present) six weeks ago, shortly after I had split a new cluster of parts. Then, three weeks ago, I split a whole new cluster of parts. Both six weeks ago and three weeks ago I had very distinct changes in my behavioral patterns and how I operate. I have two very distinct “jumps” in my continuity of memory both three and six weeks ago.
conceptualization cycle data DID polyfragmented symptoms
5 minutes
April 2023
Have you thought about how you conceptualize your internal experience, or the language you use to describe it? I personally hadn’t given either much thought until I learned I had DID. Since then, I’ve had a long journey of learning to understand how I operate, which has required me to think deeply about how to convey my experiences to others who likely do not operate in the same way that I do.
conceptualization DID language
6 minutes