[inferentialpolice]

The criteria for DID is not (as you stated) "these states do NOT have different names/ages/personal characteristics etc", rather, it is that "the disruption in identity involves marked discontinuity in a sense of self and sense of agency, accompanied by related alterations in affect, behavior, consciousness,memory, perception, cognition, and/or sensory-motor functioning." I can see from your elaborations on your subjective senses -- "when I am in the severely depersonalized state, my mind is telling me that that is how I feel ALL of the time, that that is the core of who I am, and I feel quite disabled (although I can force myself to perform necessary social/work tasks by separating my external self from my internal self). When I am in the relatively engaged/connected state with only mild depersonalization, it is hard for me to grasp or really understand how badly I feel on the other end of the spectrum, and I feel fairly capable of participating in the external world." -- how that might fit within the criteria snippet mentioned above, and perhaps more-so over time in therapy as your reflective capacity increases within the therapeutic relationship. It is a known secret in the field that DDNOS (OSDD) patients, when tracked in therapy over time, generally have become attuned to themselves well enough to be able to relate dissociative experiences which can add up to a subtle DID diagnosis. The good news is that the treatment for DID and DDNOS is the same -- specialized psychotherapy, and (if needed for grounding to facilitate psychotherapy uptake) medications used adjunctively -- and that it need not be a chronic condition but rather one where recovery is possible.

 

[inferentialpolice]

Path, I imagine most online forums for DID are heavy in a young demographic, and it has been known in the field that "those diagnosed in their 20's seem to show more open pathologies than those diagnosed in their 30's, many of whom present as depressed, anxious, controlled, and mildly obsessional. Patients diagnosed in their 40's often were very strong individuals of considerable accomplishment, whose pathology was quite well hidden." Source: Kluft, Childhood Antecedents of Multiple Personality. Also, what we mean definitionally by Flamboyancy is openness, and while such dissociatives make up only 7 or 8 percent (with the rest trying to hide or deny their problems and live lives of quiet desperation) their very nature relative to those secretly suffering seems to explain their predominance of presence in online forums.

Diagnostic labels have a bad rep, but when they are arrived at via a therapeutic interviewing process, such as the SCID-D for dissociative disorders, a label (diagnosis) can be quite useful in promoting targeted psychoeducation and self-awareness. You may want to read Dr. Marlene Steinberg's Stranger in the MIrror: Dissociation, the Hidden Epidemic, to gain an understanding on how assessment can inform recovery. (Disclaimer: I assist Dr. Steinberg in her research)

 

[inferentialpolice]

I've noticed a number of people on this site saying they experience "depersonalization spells". I am very curious what people mean when they use the word "spells" in this way, in relation to what was being discussed on this thread.

Many of the symptoms related in postings to dpselfhelp are suggestive of a dissociative disorder beyond mere DP/DR. Such symptoms include fluctuations in a person's dissociative experiences, including a coming and going of DP symptoms, ie, "depersonalization spells". It may be, upon assessment, that such "spells" reflect relatively subtle state switches. It is my belief that if assessment were more perfect, and if the patient could surmount denial enough to more fully relate their true subjective experiences, then those who exhibit DP or DR or dissociative amnesia symptoms would likely be found to meet the criteria for DDNOS or DID.