Can you cure did

Can Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Be Cured?

While there is no absolute cure for dissociative identity disorder (DID), therapy can reduce your symptoms and improve your quality of life.

DID is a rare condition where you have two or more distinct personality states. The symptoms are often lifelong, but treatments can help you cope.

Treatment and recovery from DID look different for everyone. As part of treatment, your mental health professional may recommend treatments to help you cope with related issues, like post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety.

Consider speaking with a mental health professional about the best treatment for you.

While you can’t fully cure the condition, DID treatment can improve your overall quality of life. This might involve therapy, medications, and hospital visits if needed.

Recovery from DID is focused primarily on stabilization and reducing disruptive symptoms.

The symptoms of DID include having two or more distinct personality states and episodes of amnesia (memory gaps). People with DID may experience severe dissociation to cope with past trauma.

According to 2018 research, studies that have examined treatment outcomes in people with DID report:

decreases in depression
lowered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms
reduced dissociative experiences
reports of “feeling good”
improved relationships
better engagement with work and school activities
reduced substance use
a decrease in suicide attempts
less self-destructive behavior
reduced levels of physical pain

Treatment can help alleviate symptoms, but some people report no changes in dissociation and other overwhelming symptoms even after treatment. Research from 2019 suggests that many people do not fully recover from the challenges of severe dissociation present in DID.

If you feel your current treatments are not having the desired effect, consider speaking with a mental health professional about other treatments or self-care that might help.

There are various methods of treatment for DID.

Research indicates that many treatment models focus on three phases:

stabilization and safety
discussing, working through, and integrating traumatic memories
working on your relationship with yourself and the world

The authors note that the three phases of treatment are based on some common therapeutic modalities used for the treatment of DID, which are:

trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT)
dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT)
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy

Research from 2020 also identified cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and some types of group therapy as useful modalities. It also emphasized the importance of finding the right therapist.

Medications do not help treat dissociation; however, many people with DID may find medications helpful for co-occurring mental health disorders that commonly occur with DID, such as anxiety and depression.

If you have dissociative identity disorder, you may wonder what you can do outside of therapy to help with symptoms. According to 2020 research, several strategies can help reduce symptoms:

Practice grounding techniques

Grounding is a practice that comes from connecting your body to the earth.

Grounding is a type of mindfulness technique that can provide calm and help you reconnect with yourself and your environment. This can help relieve anxiety and panic.

Some ways to practice grounding include:

The 5-4-3-2-1 technique: Name 5 things you see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you smell, and 1 thing you can taste.
Yoga practice or stretching: Yoga practice or stretching on a mat can help you feel more emotionally calm and ground you.
Music therapy: Being able to flow with music and move your body can provide relief from overwhelming emotions for some people.

Use distress tolerance skills

Distress tolerance skills are a common part of DBT. They can help when you are in crisis or overwhelmed.

One example of a distress tolerance skill is the A.C.C.E.P.T.S. acronym:

Activities: Find an activity or hobby you enjoy that requires concentration and focus.
Contributing: Engage in something that takes you outside of yourself, such as volunteering or participating in a random act of kindness toward someone else.
Comparisons: Think of a time when you may have been in a worse situation or felt more pain than you do now.
Emotions: Try to create an emotion opposite to what you’re experiencing. For example, if you’re feeling sad, you may try to watch a comedy movie. If you’re anxious, you may try deep breathing to help yourself feel calm.
Pushing away: Try pushing away negative thoughts until it feels like you can manage them better. It may help to think of a metaphor for pushing your thoughts away, such as sweeping them under the rug or storing them somewhere safe so you can deal with them later.

Thoughts: When your emotions take control, try to do something to focus on your thoughts. You may try counting backward from 100, reading a book you enjoy, or reciting or reading poetry.
Sensations: When you are experiencing overwhelming emotions, you may try to do something that allows you to focus on your five senses that takes you away from that emotion. Some examples may be eating sour candy or holding a piece of ice.

Another example of a distress tolerance skill is the concept of radical acceptance. Radical acceptance helps you keep the pain you’re experiencing from turning into suffering by letting go of bitterness and destructive behaviors.

When you practice radical acceptance, you learn to accept the present moment without trying to change it.

There is no cure for DID, but there are ways to cope that can help you improve your quality of life. Many people must learn how to manage the symptoms of DID for the rest of their lives.

Learning appropriate coping strategies and processing past trauma with a therapist may help treat DID. Working with a mental health professional to help identify the signs of DID and strategies to manage it can help you find relief.

You can practice grounding techniques, learn more about the disorder, and use distress tolerance skills to alleviate the impacts of symptoms. For more about DID, consider visiting First Person Plural Dissociative Identity Disorders Association for resources.

There's No Cure for Dissociative Identity Disorder

There is no cure for dissociative identity disorder (DID). It is a complex disorder that can be treated, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can be cured. There are several methods of treatment, from medications to therapy. It can take years, but successful treatment for DID is possible. Does that mean there is a cure for DID?

Why Is There No Cure for DID?

Dissociative Identity Disorder Is Not a Chemical Imbalance

Some mental illnesses, like major depression, can be the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. Medications can be used to correct the chemical imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain, allowing some people to recover, and essentially be cured, of depression. Though that isn't the case for everyone, a cure is possible.

Dissociative identity disorder, on the other hand, isn't a chemical imbalance. Medications, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and antianxiety medications are commonly prescribed to people with DID. Yet, these medications are used to treat secondary DID symptoms and comorbid conditions, not the DID itself. Dissociative identity disorder cannot be corrected by any medication.

Therapy Options for DID Are Not a Cure

There are several treatment options for DID within the scope of therapy, including trauma therapy, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). The recommended minimal time in therapy is five to seven years, but many people with DID find themselves in therapy for the remainder of their lives.

While therapy can help people cope with symptoms, manage day-to-day life, and process past trauma, it is not a cure for DID. No matter which methods of treatment a person decides to use, no method is a cure.

Decades ago, psychologists believed the integration of alters was a cure for DID. Years later, many realized that forced integration was actually making people worse. It wasn't a cure; it was a poorly executed treatment method. Although practices have changed and integration is still an option, it is not a cure.

There's No Cure for My Dissociative Identity Disorder and It's Okay

I had a recent interaction with my therapist in which he stated that there was a cure for my dissociative identity disorder. It wasn't the first time I had heard about a cure for DID, but it was the first time a therapist had told me, personally, that I could be cured.

I realize there are still people out there who think the integration of alters is a cure for DID, but it's not. You can process all of your trauma, and integrate all of your parts, but that doesn't make you cured. Even in recovery, there will always be risk. Your brain will be wired to respond with dissociation. You will still be at increased risk for creating alters if more trauma occurs.

Don't think that integration is the magic cure. Don't follow a treatment just because someone thinks it is the best choice. Be realistic. Do what is best for you. There are many roads that can be taken, but none of them will lead you to a cure.

I know my DID cannot be cured, and I'm okay with that. I'm learning how to be a functional multiple. I'll always have DID, but with therapy and time, it will be easier to manage.

APA Reference
Matulewicz, C. (2018, March 30). There's No Cure for Dissociative Identity Disorder, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2023, February 24 from https://www. healthyplace.com/blogs/dissociativeliving/2018/03/dissociative-identity-disorder-cannot-be-cured

What is the impostor syndrome and how to cure it - March 20, 2020

70% of successful people think that they do not work well. In fact, only smart specialists have impostor syndrome

Photo: Artem Ustyuzhanin / E1.RU

And if you have already encountered, this column of the personnel officer Olga Novgorodova is for you. About where the syndrome comes from and what's good about it.

Psychologists say that about 70% of successful people suffer from impostor syndrome. If you understand that this is about you, you should know that getting rid of the impostor syndrome will not work.

For the first time, I felt uncomfortable when the word “director” appeared in my work book. HR director. I have never been one! I was a leader, manager, and. oh, but not the director! And everything, as pereklinilo. I, a professional HR, behaved like a pregnant schoolgirl: I doubted, worried, consulted with anyone, was afraid to make decisions. And how wise my boss was, who immediately understood everything and said: “You are not a director. You are my assistant. My right hand. My deputy for work with people. And you're the best alternate I've ever seen. Go and work." And how it was removed by hand. Not for long, but it helped.

If in your childhood your parents didn't pay attention to your achievements, they compared you to Aunt Irina's daughter, who is an athlete, a Komsomol member, and even a beauty, and at the same time you were a very intelligent and hardworking child with ambitious plans for life.
If you are used to being critical and objective about yourself.
If you look at the world broadly, you are interested in achievements and discoveries in your field.
If you are reflective and sometimes exhausted to death, voila. The syndrome is right there.

In English it sounds like "fraudster syndrome". It seems to us that we are deceiving others, not actually being a specialist. That all successes and achievements are a coincidence, a happy accident. Lucky. Lucky. Accident.

The first rule that you just have to believe. You may not understand, you may not get evidence, but believing is a must: if you doubt yourself, then you are an excellent professional. When you cannot realize and evaluate your mistakes, evaluate the consequences of wrong decisions, you are stupid. Just believe me: the impostor syndrome happens only in smart and successful people.

Moving on. Try to understand why it seems that way. Maybe because a colleague asked a question and you can't answer it? Or realized that in the process of routine work he forgot about acquiring skills? Or just never did it and now you are afraid of failure? Or are you an ordinary ordinary lawyer, but you compare yourself with the movie Harvey Specter? Once the cause is found, the solution will be found. Study, read, consult, find a solution, understand that Dr. House is a fictional character, and not someone with whom you need to compare yourself.

It is here that lies the greatest wealth and a huge advantage of "imposters": to get rid of the syndrome, you are in perpetual motion, reflection, study, and advanced training. And this is precisely the incentive to develop, to become better.

It helps a lot to communicate with a critical professional: boss, colleague, mentor, teacher, good friend. The key word is "critical". This is by no means a mother, for whom you are always D'Artagnan on a white horse. This is not a spouse who should support and praise. It is something objective and solid. You can only rely on what resists, think about it.

Oh yes, and you should definitely mind your own business. Only by your business, which you were taught and in which you made a name for yourself. Doctors treat. Lawyers and officials - to make laws. Astronauts - fly. Journalists write. Surgeons - cut without waiting for peritonitis.

Blessed are the people with impostor syndrome. Let there be more of you - in offices, hospitals, construction sites and in the State Duma. Only you, reflective, doubting, can move forward yourself and move your industry.

March 17, 2020, 16:58
HR officer Olga Novgorodova: “It’s only your fault that after forty you can’t find a job”
December 24, 2019, 08:00 9000 HR column about office drinking and corporate culture
November 08, 2018, 10:25
“A lawyer came to get a job with his mother”: Ural HR officer about strange interviews

Olga Novgorodova

HR director

The opinion of the author may not coincide with the opinion of the editors

What is the impostor syndrome and how to cure it - March 31, 2020

70% of successful people think that they do not work well. In fact, only smart specialists have impostor syndrome

Photo: Artem Ustyuzhanin / E1.RU

Switching to remote work is a good reason to think about how you work and what you can change. But do not overdo it in self-criticism and introspection, otherwise you risk experiencing the impostor syndrome when you decide that your success is not deserved and you will feel out of place. And if you have already encountered, this column of the personnel officer Olga Novgorodova is for you. About where the syndrome comes from and what's good about it.

Psychologists say that about 70% of successful people suffer from impostor syndrome. If you understand that this is about you, you should know that getting rid of the impostor syndrome will not work.

If in your childhood your parents didn't pay attention to your achievements, they compared you to Aunt Irina's daughter, who is an athlete, a Komsomol member, and even a beauty, and at the same time you were a very intelligent and hardworking child with ambitious plans for life.
If you are used to being critical and objective about yourself.
If you look at the world broadly, you are interested in achievements and discoveries in your field.
If you are reflective and sometimes exhausted to death, voila. The syndrome is right there.

Blessed are the people with impostor syndrome. Let there be more of you - in offices, hospitals, construction sites and in the State Duma.

Learn more