Beauty after Bruises

Beauty after Ashes offers information, financial aid and the ability to support the community struggling with complex PTSD, dissociative disorders and DID. DID stands for Dissociative Identity Disorder. It was previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder. If people know about it, they generally think of things like “Sybil” or “The Three Faces of Eve.” Those depictions of DID are not quite like what it looks like in real life. A number of people living with DID have had successful careers, are wonderful parents and partners. They bring an incredible amount of resiliency because they have survived the unsurvivable. 

Generally, this is a disorder that occurs because of early, pervasive neglect and abuse. The mind so beautifully protects itself by splitting off trauma into parts and alters. Trauma being what a person goes through that is simply beyond their ability to handle. 

People with DID often go through over a dozen therapists before they are finally diagnosed correctly. But there are many more people living with DID than was first known. At this time about 1 to 2% of the general population is thought to be living with DID. But the rates go up dramatically in inpatient settings, and often also have other co-morbid diagnoses including substance. That makes sense since many use substances to manage trauma and psychological struggles. 

Going back to complex PTSD, C-PTSD, often there is a component of dissociation such as depersonalization and derealization. 

This video gives offers some more information about DID: