The Mighty Logo

11 Ways to Ground Yourself After ‘Losing Time’ With Dissociative Identity Disorder

The most helpful emails in health
Browse our free newsletters

So you have dissociative identity disorder (DID) and you lost time. Now what? How do you piece together what happened?

The number one clues for us are the phone and Facebook.

1. Check who was sent texts.

2. Read them so you know what’s been said and how it was responded to.

3. See if a name came up in the texts so you know who it was that was talking.

4. Check for phone memos or Google Keep notes.

5. Check social media accounts of all sorts; see if anything has been posted in groups or others’ pages.

6. Check your own pages and wall — see what’s been said.

7. Check the house for clues: notes written, things out of place, foods eaten.

8. Check the body for harm or things written on it in ink.

9. Check for drawings or pictures taken on the phone.

10. Check stations played on digital radio or YouTube.

11. Check search history on the computer and phone.

Once you figure out as best you can who was around and what was said or done, take a deep breath, accept responsibility and move on. Anything said is already said; it’s too late to take back. You can say sorry, but don’t fail to take responsibility — as a system, you are responsible for what each of you do.

If reparations need to be made, then make them and don’t dwell. Figure out a safety plan if needed, thank your other parts for taking on something you couldn’t do yourself, and know it will happen again. It does get easier. It becomes part of the norm. And it’s OK. It isn’t bad or wrong; it just is.

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

Originally published: July 5, 2019
Want more of The Mighty?
You can find even more stories on our Home page. There, you’ll also find thoughts and questions by our community.
Take Me Home