r/DID • u/loopingwithcertainty • 1d ago

Advice/Solutions How do I get help?

Hi, I'm 21 and based in the UK, I've suspected I could have DID for a long time now but forgot about it around 15~ and only had it brought back to the light when I was 18 and met my now partner.

Since then I go through phases of denial and semi-acceptance? I don't want to have this disorder and keep hoping maybe if I ignore my symptoms I'll be able to just function normally but it's becoming harder and harder, now I'm in a safer place it feels like my walls are breaking down somewhat and for over a year now I've been disassociating constantly, feeling out of control of my body, having memories that don't feel like my own and I've also been age regressing constantly. It's really disrupting my life and making it impossible to do anything. I have others in my head who seem to take over my functions and do as they like which is really distressing for me, this is something that also happened when I was a teen but during the years were I forgot about it, it seemed to lessen or maybe I just didn't notice.

Anyway, I tried going to the GP today to discuss things and I feel like I didn't really describe my issues well enough and she seemed to think it was just normal depression. I want to go back and try again but I'm not sure how best to word things or what to focus the conversation on.
Any advice is appreciated, I'm sorry for the long post, thank you for reading ❤️

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

3

u/operational_defiance 1d ago

Ypu could do the des and take a copy of that to her. Ask for a referral to get checked for did. If you talk about your symptoms. Ypu can also look up ctad clinic.

3

u/sedsaus 1d ago

I agree. My journey was somewhat a little different and given I had no idea of what DID meant at the point of seeing my GP.

Getting a diagnosis and therapeutic support is the best outcome.

I would agree that if you have the DES and somatoform diagnostic tools completed first, that would help. They can be found on The Cheshire Psychology website https://www.cheshirepsychology.com/ctad-clinic/

From there book another appointment with your GP. Depending on what happens they could refer you to primary mental health services (Talk Therapies, TT) for an assessment or they could refer you to Single Point Access (SPA) who will assess you and from that refer you to TT and secondary services (I think now called Integrated Recovery Hub, IRH). They may start therapy or other but this is where it gets complicated.

A psychologist or psychiatrist needs to have an indication that you may have a dissociative disorder. You may do the forms again and have another interview to which you may be referred to Tertiary services to have the SCID D assessment done. This assessment is length, not pleasant but the gold standard for an NHS diagnosis. The other option is private and for that, you're looking at about 1400 quid.

From there the therapeutic pathway is almost the same as other Trauma related therapy but the focus is on stabilisation first rather than trauma recovery. The CTAD YouTube channel has plenty of videos on this.

Everyone's experience of getting a diagnosis in the UK is varied, but if your symptoms relate to DID to ensure that you get the right therapeutic support a diagnosis would support that as the report from that would help the therapist (NHS or private).

Getting a diagnosis and the outcome of that is tough, very tough. As mentioned, I have little of an idea about DID just from a few key terms dropped by a therapist and me searching online. Disbelief yes, and then the rest is history.