#physical symptoms of trauma

[hauntedselves]

Sorry if you've been asked this before, but can Alters (in DID) present as having separate disorders? For context, we have alters that show complete criteria for certain PDs nobody else shows symptoms of. I know symptom holders are a thing, but I really doubt we deal with that much.

this is a complicated subject, and the short answer is "sort of".

there's plenty of documentation of alters having physiological differences - alters that are vision impaired while the body isn't, and in tests their eyesight is legitimately different, to cite a well-known example (check out this 1991 journal article replicating an older study). the ISST-D DID treatment guidelines notes physiological differences between alters including "differences in visual acuity, medication responses, allergies, plasma glucose levels in diabetic patients, heart rate, blood pressure readings, galvanic skin response, muscle tension, laterality, immune function, electroencephalography and evoked potential patterns, functional magnetic resonance imaging activation, and brain activation and regional blood flow using single photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography among others". there's also a post here that neatly summarises this.

as for mental disorders, that's a bit tricky. most mental disorders have a biological basis. neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders (like autism) are hardwired into the brain, so it's not possible for only one alter to have a neuro disorder, though they may show symptoms that could be interpreted that way (probably more trauma linked though) (though trauma does affect your brain's structure... anyway, i digress). (in fact, van der Hart et al. note “autistic and [disabled] parts” as a type of part, that “can be regarded as more or less elaborated ANPs or EPs whose characteristics are defined by the action system(s) which mediate their functioning and which involve particular psychological defenses.”)

it's possible (and actually very common) that an alter will develop an eating disorder or self-harm while others don't. @this-is-not-dissociative has some posts on this: on PTSD, mental disorders, and a more in-depth explanation.

as for personality disorders, there's some argument as to whether PDs are hardwired or not. so it would depend on that. it's more likely that your alters are displaying trauma reactions than having full-fledged PDs. [though since most PD cases are trauma-caused, it's kind of a moot point anyway...]. (remember that trauma reactions are very varied - for example grandiosity in NPD is often a trauma reaction, but so is feeling inferior in AvPD!)

Summary: maybe! if there's no biological basis, it's most likely a trauma reaction. if there is a biological basis, it's more likely that they have that disorder - with the caveat that if it's something body-wide, like diabetes for instance, obviously all alters will have it, but they may react & present differently to symptoms, treatment, etc.

[agirlwithmagicpals]

My personal alternative headcanons for Sebastian solace

[coldercreation]

PSA: 

If you have related to how I have described Nathan’s struggles with his mental health and some experiences with life; emotional, physical and social etc (ignore the story/his fam background for this; I mean if you have been able to relate to his feelings/anxiety/negative physical sensations etc.)

Might be worth it to get your blood checked. 

Especially B12, Vitamin D, Iron levels and Ferritin (ferritin should be 100+).

Building on top of the character, character background, and my research into trauma / mental health etc, I have always used a lot of my personal experience when describing emotions, feelings, and how mental health issues can feel like or present. It’s my attempt to make the writing feel realistic, had I experienced the things in the story or not. Aka even if the story was high fantasy and thus not realistic, I’d source my own feelings to make it ‘real’.

So. Regardless of what's causing it in the story: If you have ever related to how Nathan FEELS or describes his experience with the world and his brain… (Anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue, feeling like an outsider/in a fishbowl, easily overwhelmed or over tired; social withdrawal, social anxiety, heart palpitations, chest pains, breathlessness, dissociation, irritability, issues with cognitive function; memory, overthinking, insomnia, brain fog, panic attacks, slow recovery from physical activity, etc etc et fucking c) 

Turns out bish has been chronically deficient of many things for a very long time due to stomach issues that stopped nutrients from absorbing. Antidepressants have never successfully worked for me, and it’s now looking like that’s because my mental health stuff could've largely been a physical symptom, instead of just purely mental health?? 

I have been on a pile of supplements for a bit now and uhh… It’s like night and day? Even with the other health stuff I've been getting treated for, it's been... So much better?? Like. Life changing amount of difference?? And I’m only just starting out fixing these deficiencies, which could take a long time. But...

Holy shit, “Better” might actually be a real thing after all?? There was a reason I've been so "stuck"???

Kind of mad… And sad. Because if this is true and I keep feeling like I have been recently, it means I’ve lost a lot of time to this. I try to focus on how good I’ve been feeling though, and stay curious for this journey of what literally feels like a second chance at life.

Just… Wanted to post this in case it could help someone else. This is a highly personal experience, mental health issues absolutely exist on their own too and there's possibly often overlap as well. But stuff like this can make existing mental health conditions worse too, so either way it’s worth checking. 

Yeah. So.

Happy new year?

From someone who might be pulling a whole Phoenix moment???? xx

[stars-and-branches]

Why is the answer to "why am I doing that" always ptsd. Villain origin story

[moony-ghoul]

hey team any advice for someone coming to terms with being disabled haha👀 kinda freaking out about the whole “holy shit this is the rest of my life and no matter how hard i try i’ll never be normal”

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

I did something completely out of my comfort zone and I lived!

[lightblueminecraftorchid]

Me in high school: yeah I’m pretty lucky; I have ADHD but not rly anything else haha. Guess I’m the outlier!

Me, now, staring down the barrel of a PTSD diagnosis on top of the fibromyalgia, probable dysmenorrhea, autism, adjustment disorder, heart rate issues still unexplained, and ADHD: oh I am not the outlier I thought I was.

[crimeronan]

"and then ended up cosmically separated; luz lost her fucking mind for years trying to get back to him" - got stuck with a similiar idea I won't ever make a fic out, but it starts with him saying "That can still be arranged" after that overly dramatic entrance, only to then immediately use the staff to stop the human that is rushing at him (Luz tearing up and sprinting for a hug), becuase she is an enemy BUT ALSO because his armour is scalding hot and he subconsciously wants to protect her.

MMMMMMMM. this is a slightly different premise from the dream but i've been thinking about writing hunter memory loss fic for ages.... there's this art of belos removing & burning hunter's memories of flapjack and luz and the emerald entrails that. Sticks With Me.

the thing that really gets me abt that kind of fic is when the body and the subconscious remembers but the consciousness doesn't.... hunter like i don't know you and you're telling me we're family and i know you're lying bc i Don't Know You but i want So Bad to trust you and part of me is So Sure i can trust you... what gives

there's something So Deeply Compelling about the concept of luz """betraying eda""" and """joining the emperor's coven""" because hunter will only trust her if she's another soldier....

and belos being like 🤨 i KNOW what you're trying to do, luz. & luz being like no no i really am sooooo super loyal i've come around to the whole human supremacy thing for realsieeees granpa 😁😁😁🤞🤞🤞 PLEASE let me be friends with hunter 👉👈 the Right way this time 💕🕯️🙏

[herbaklava]

I’ve been catching myself grinding my teeth a lot lately and now I’m watching a video on the connection between jaw tension, teeth grinding, and the trauma of stored survival stress.

[crumbleclub]

there's certain things i want to put in storylines but i keep doing this

[baladric]

is it NORMAL to lowkey dissociate upon getting out of very informative therapy sessions, like we talked about autistic burnout/sensory overwhelm again and she asked me if it could be informing my chronic pain flares and/or vice versa, and yet again im like,, Äch Nae, The Symptoms

[our-inspire-verse]

I think that being autistic got me fucked up

[stardustedknuckles]

I think the most evil thing about panic attacks is that the portion of them not devoted to terrorizing you is dedicated to telling you it's not actually a panic attack, that something is actually fundamentally wrong. You're not allowed to recognize it for what it is. There is no learning from the experience to make it easier in the future. You think you're dying every time. It's fucked up and embarrassing.

[multiplicity-positivity]

Sorry this isn't exactly positivity but I had a question. We had a split show up pretty suddenly last night and he's been fronting with me for about 24 hours now. He's a fictive that we didn't expect to show up, but he's not nearly as... Intense I guess, as his source counterpart? So there's not much friction between us and I don't mind him being around, he's not hostile or anything,

But the entire time he's been here, our chronic pain has felt worse, we've had an awful migraine that fades between "that really hurts but I can kinda tolerate it" to "I need complete darkness and silence and if I even blink too hard I get stabs of pain", we were basically unable to wake up after going to sleep, basically crashed for 14 hours straight and any time we'd wake up for a few minutes we would have really awful pain flares and barely be able to keep our eyes open before we passed out again, and our body tempature has been spiking on and off to the point that we go to bed shivering and wake up drenched in sweat.

This isn't exactly unheard of for us, we do have several physical disabilities that could have led to this just being a really awful flare up, but the timing seems really odd to me, and we normally get more warning that we're going to have a bad flare, we don't just jump straight from a 6 to a 10, if that makes sense? So I'm wondering if splitting could have something to do with it (we also usually notice better when a split is coming up but this time it was more like he showed up and *then* we got all the symptoms all at once?) or if a spedcific headmate could somehow be triggering a massive body response like this? Sorry if this is kind of all over the place it's hard to focus right now

Hi! I’m so sorry we’re just now getting to this a week after you sent it - we hope you’re doing okay!

It sounds to us like pain, stress, fever, or some other sort of negative physical symptom could have caused this split. This fictive may also be a symptom holder, meaning their role in your system would be to feel particular symptoms as a means of protecting other alters.

The most important thing we can say to you is please see a doctor. If your pain is becoming unbearable and you’re having worse migraines and a fluctuating fever, there may be something physical going on that you aren’t yet aware of. Even if your pain is slightly better now, but still comes around when this headmate fronts, it could be an indication that something deeper or worse is going on.

Sometimes unmet mental needs or poor mental health can manifest in physical ways (IBS and CFS arising as trauma responses, for example). If you’ve seen a doctor and they aren’t able to help you pinpoint a physical cause, it may be necessary for you to seek mental health treatment (meds, therapy, or a combination of the two). You shouldn’t have to struggle or deal with this on your own, and seeking help from a trainer professional may provide some insight as to what’s going on!

Last but not least, have you tried asking this fictive if they have any ideas as to what could be going on? Did they arrive with source memories or exotrauma which could be exacerbating preexisting symptoms? Do they have any insight to this situation that they could share with you? It may be worth it to ask!

This is probably the extent of the advice we’re able to offer you. We genuinely hope you and your system are able to receive the help and care you need and start feeling better soon! Best of luck with everything!

🌸 Margo and 🖋 Cecil

[spoonietimelordy]

Kid me: "if I focus really really hard i can become an other person who is stronger/funnier/colder than me and then i won't get harmed again".

Me right now thinking back about it: 👀

I genuinely though that it's what people meant when they said that you could become anyone you wanted if you believed in yourself. Yeah hum, i blame the allistic communication style on that specific misunderstanding.

[the-trans-dragon]

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