DID and Emotional Memory

Reader’s Question

I have been diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and am wondering what if any overlap exists between “emotional memory” and DID. It seems to me that the overwhelming situations which cause the psyche to split in the first place find their roots in areas of hugely disconcerting “emotional memory.” Then, as the person continues to switch into these different personalities, he or she is stuck operating with that traumatic memory base, even if it is not something which can be immediately called to mind. Is that a reasonable interpretation? I get stuck trying to understand how my different alters relate to each other, especially as I am co-conscious and the alters are beginning to bleed together as awareness is increasing.

Also, how would you differentiate between DID and moodiness? I find myself settled into an acceptance of my DID diagnosis, but apparently not all of my alters feel this way because I continue to object to the diagnosis from time to time. Right now, my best reason to believe I’ve been correctly diagnosed is because one of my alters is hugely anxious — and she’ll be anxious all day long for no reason at all once she shows up. The shifts in and out of her are extremely unsettling sometimes. The other reason I believe that the DID diagnosis is correct is because I recognized there was a huge character change in me for about 4 years of my life (about 13 years ago now) and my husband had always told me he’d seen this, and I just now was able to see why he had said that.

Our Consulting Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

Our brain has a unique collection of Emotional Memories (see article on this website). Some of these memories are grouped together such as high school, childhood, specific people, etc. In DID I would imagine that certain personalities selectively use specific groups of emotional memory, perhaps creating a child-like alter, an adolescent alter, etc. It is also possible that during the course of the day, triggers in our environment pull emotional memories (seeing a high school classmate for example) that prompt mood changes — maybe to such an extent that a complete personality surfaces.

In clinical practice, specific aspects of our personality surface related to emotional memory. A very mature, responsible adult may suddenly become teasing, giddy, and immature when visiting with their best high school friend for example. This type of experience is not related to DID but does show the dramatic impact of Emotional Memory on our behavior and mood.

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