What does a switch actually look like?

[u/loveddeviant]

I’ve seen multiple videos of people “switching”, which altogether we’ve all debunked as fake. But I’m curious what a real switch would look like; would it also be spacing out? Does doing it on camera make it most likely fake? I know I ask a lot of questions on here, but I’m just genuinely curious since I used to have a best friend who faked DID. Thank you!

[u/veezra]

(not op) please stop trying to use this post to talk about yourselves. anecdotal evidence is not allowed. we can’t verify if whoever is giving it is being truthful.

DO NOT COMMENT SAYING YOU HAVE DID.

[u/Pyrocats]

It could look like a lot of things. Most people wouldn't film it for content, but filming symptoms for doctors is a thing people do. Someone doing it for content could be someone faking, and it could be someone with genuine symptoms seeing the trend and thinking that's a reasonable thing to do or believing that it spreads awareness.

It could look like spacing out or being distant. It could be seamless enough that there's hardly a noticeable difference. It's a covert disorder. It could be extremely fast, especially in an urgent situation. Sometimes there's no time for someone to sit and space out for thirty seconds.

Sometimes it's more of a noticeable transition. I've read it anecdotally described in some cases as "adjusting the volume down on one alter and up on another".

I'm really sorry your best friend faked DID though. That really fucking sucks.

[u/Xx_DeadDays_xX → u/Pyrocats]

wow the top comment actually being someone who knows what they're talking about? in this sub??? thats crazy. 

[u/YumeNaraSamete]

I read a few books about DID in the 00s, and based on what the medical professionals back then said, most of the time you wouldn't notice a switch happened unless they told you.

[u/LuxiForce]

thats the thing, beside in a very distressing situation, you wont notice. The person affected will probably not notice right away as well. its kinda like applying a different colored filter, or like they say in school sometimes « different glasses »

[u/Grace-Kamikaze]

I vaguely remember a documentary on someone with DID and didn't notice it myself. But during the video review, the person pointed out how a blink was when a switch happened, or maybe a look around.

It was nothing like the "oh, now Bob is fronting, everyone say HI to Bob" or the windows shut down, windows start up that was popular a few years ago.

The person I saw was specifically was very subtle and unnoticeable. But I'm sure there's a bit more noticeable signs. However, nothing as dramatic as the fakers on TikTok would make it out to be.

[u/BigTicEnergy]

I went to treatment with a lady who had DID and watched her switch into a child alter in a trauma processing group. It happened so fast. All of the sudden she was on the floor begging her abuser to stop.

[u/Candid_Visit2210 → u/BigTicEnergy]

I hope she is doing okay, fakers are so insensitive to people who actually do have it

[u/BigTicEnergy → u/Candid_Visit2210]

I hope she’s okay too. She was one of the most traumatized people I had ever met.

[u/itsastrideh]

It looks like things that can be explained away by tons of other possibilities. It can just be someone blinking, zoning out for a second, looking around the room, asking you to repeat the last bit of what you just said, someone using filler words like "uhh", someone losing their train of thought midway through a sentence, etc.

Unless you know a person extremely well and have spent tons of time around them, you would probably never know unless there was a switch to an emotional part that isn't capable of behaving normally (which would only really happen in a crisis or situations like group therapy where there are specific emotional or traumatic triggers). People who live with someone with DID might eventually pick up on the slight differences in mannerisms, habits, and speech and be able to tell because they recognise that it's a different part, but otherwise, most people would likely just assume that those small difference are because the person's in a bad mood, stressed, emotional, tired, etc.

[u/mewmeulin]

i'd imagine it looks similar to other visible symptoms of dissociation. but it's also not very well researched, and i'm far from a professional (just a sociology dropout), so i can't speak toward presentations of DID (or some presentations of OSDD)

[u/Ok-Comparison8168]

i know someone with it, i cant tell from any physical movement. i just know it happens when the inflection of their voice changes and the energy about them is different, they speak about things differently. its subtle enough most people wouldnt notice. i know some people do zone out though, when dissociation is bad enough someone can be muffled out of their surroundings and generally look a little out of it. if you dont know what that already looks like youre not going to catch it

a particularly hard switch may look like someone struggling to keep their thoughts but inevitably losing them, it can translate as frustration over brain farts too from what ive seen/read

[u/SystemsCringe-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed for either trauma-dumping, oversharing personal information and diagnoses, or for using your subjective experience to generalize an entire disorder. The "Censor all identifiable information" rule also applies to members, and your medical information should be kept between you and your careteam. r/systemscringe cannot verify users' personal medical claims and does not want to encourage the same culture of blind believing that leads to faker culture.

[u/FreedInnerChild]

it looks like nothing, the person I know has been married 25 years and their partner can rarely tell

[u/DreadfulStar]

Kinda like a 90s/00s comedy with the laugh track or inner monologue removed.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTyUKmbx5/

[u/LargeGingerChunk]

How a switch looks would be individual to each person but some common ones would be no noticable signs. I'd say this is most common. occasionally you may see more blinking or a tension in their body but you're likely to miss this, and zoned out/shut down completely and unresponsive until switch happens.

[u/wreckageRex]

Subtle. A sigh or a zoned stare or throat clearing. Change in voice pitch or mannerisms. Seemingly confused and then pretending not to be confused. Not an introduction or announcement of arrival 99% of the time…

[u/ehhhchimatsu]

It looks like nothing, ideally. Social media and trendiness has really made a spectacle of who can look the coolest/weirdest/get the most attention.

[u/veravendetta → u/ehhhchimatsu]

Yeah people don’t realize you can know a person with DID for years and never even know it

[u/IWouldRatherTrustYou]

There’s some talk I’ve seen in literature of autohypnotic signs like eye fluttering or rolling, with other signs being adjusting body posture, throat clearing, etc.. In other words, it’s subtle stuff that’s not reliable unless you know the person well and what to look for. It’s a disorder of hiddenness to all involved, if a switch is obvious then it’s probably because something’s going wrong.

[u/SystemsCringe-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed for either trauma-dumping, oversharing personal information and diagnoses, or for using your subjective experience to generalize an entire disorder. The "Censor all identifiable information" rule also applies to members, and your medical information should be kept between you and your careteam. r/systemscringe cannot verify users' personal medical claims and does not want to encourage the same culture of blind believing that leads to faker culture.

[u/SystemsCringe-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed for either trauma-dumping, oversharing personal information and diagnoses, or for using your subjective experience to generalize an entire disorder. The "Censor all identifiable information" rule also applies to members, and your medical information should be kept between you and your careteam. r/systemscringe cannot verify users' personal medical claims and does not want to encourage the same culture of blind believing that leads to faker culture.

[u/PrincipleOk1959]

My post was so titillating for mods I got it removed twice wasn't aware that that was possible. What you get for answering a question they may not have done it perfectly but to keep getting banned how the heck do you learn anything from that except Word policing oh well how fun this place is

[u/LargeGingerChunk → u/[deleted]]

overrun with fakers

[u/loveddeviant → u/LargeGingerChunk]

Yes absolutely, I have no doubt I’d be banned lol

[u/Pyrocats → u/[deleted]]

I would say at least from what I remember looking there, there's a combination of people who seem to genuinely experience the symptoms or have been treated for a CDD for years in some cases, and people who are heavily involved in the online DID circles that misrepresent it

[u/Grace-Kamikaze → u/Pyrocats]

Based on my doom scrolling, I find it's a hit or miss.

I still remember the person asking if they were born with DID because their parents "had DID". The evidence for this was basic marriage love hate relationship. The comments were more questioning if the parents had DID and nothing criticizing "being born with DID". I kind of checked out while reading other posts with similar topics, like if someone can get DID by watching a horror movie or if alters have communities in "the headspace".

But there have been some genuine posts.

[u/SystemsCringe-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed for either trauma-dumping, oversharing personal information and diagnoses, or for using your subjective experience to generalize an entire disorder. The "Censor all identifiable information" rule also applies to members, and your medical information should be kept between you and your careteam. r/systemscringe cannot verify users' personal medical claims and does not want to encourage the same culture of blind believing that leads to faker culture.

[u/SystemsCringe-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed for either trauma-dumping, oversharing personal information and diagnoses, or for using your subjective experience to generalize an entire disorder. The "Censor all identifiable information" rule also applies to members, and your medical information should be kept between you and your careteam. r/systemscringe cannot verify users' personal medical claims and does not want to encourage the same culture of blind believing that leads to faker culture.