The Mountain of Healing
When people first discover they have dissociative identity disorder (DID), they begin an extraordinary journey that can take years. While it is true that the mountains multiples must climb are formidable, it is not impossible to reach the other side.
But what does the other side of the mountain of healing look like? Can you heal from dissociative identity disorder? This piece will examine both questions and more.
The Road Less Taken
Many people spend their entire existence trying to find who they are and what they want to do with their lives. Those who choose to travel down the road less taken have guts and, while afraid, still wander down their path in search of answers.
Multiples have a special problem; they are not a whole cohesive self but a group of splintered parts of themselves that were formed to protect them. While this adaptation worked wonders when they were children, now in adulthood it is causing chaos and dysfunction.
Choosing the path to healing is the first step in achieving it. That may sound like a no-brainer, however, for people who are caught up in the drama and trauma of the beginning or intermediate stages of healing, it sounds unfamiliar.
Too often, people who have DID find themselves lost in their own worlds of hurt and dismay. Often, multiples go through a stage where they feel the world owes them and they shouldn’t have to do anything to get well. After all, who caused their condition?
It is true that you didn’t choose to be a multiple and that your abusers perpetrated crimes against your body and mind, it is up to you to decide to get well. Yes, getting well is a choice and only you can decide to walk down the road less taken.
The Mountain of Healing
No one can ever say that healing is easy. Healing is akin to climbing a huge mountain avoiding and falling into large chasms along the way. It takes much time and energy to traverse the mountain of healing but having a devoted therapist and good support alongside you eases the stress.
The chasms I mentioned are holes you can fall into if not careful. Sometimes no matter how aware and awake you are to their existence; you will inevitably fall into one. These openings are denial, confusion, depression, anxiety, burnout, and any other trip-up you can think of, and they appear differently to different people.
Avoiding these traps is the least painful of your options and you accomplish this by listening to your therapist, looking to others who have traversed the traps before, and a lot of self-knowledge gained through introspection.
Some traps, such as denial, will come, but building on a firm foundation of self-knowledge gained through therapy and self-reflection can help you remain grounded and move forward.
Some Tips on Climbing the Mountain
The best advice I can give is to keep climbing no matter what happens or how you may feel. After all, if you don’t move forward you will stay where you do not want to be. By picking up one foot after the other and forcing yourself to reach for higher ground, you will make progress even though it may not look like it at first.
Try to recognize every breakthrough you make as if you won the lottery. Every piece of insight you gain on your travels is worth your weight in gold. Write down what you have learned so you can examine it now and look at it later to see how far you have climbed.
Taking time to rest is vital if you are going to continue to climb. No one can fight like hell day and night endlessly, not even the strongest warrior. Take a vacation from yourself from time to time so that you can regroup for future battles.
You’ll get a nosebleed if you attempt to climb too high too fast. Give yourself time to acclimate to a new discovery before running ahead looking for new ones. Sit and contemplate what you have remembered and learned from those memories.
Ending our Time Together
This piece has concentrated on the difficult task of climbing the mountain to healing. The whole purpose of this blog is to give my readers hints and ideas on how to heal from dissociative identity disorder. I hope posts like this help you.
Climbing the mountain of healing from DID or any mental health disorder takes time, but once you reach the top you’ll be able to look back and see all the pits and triumphs and celebrate your victory.
There is no permanent cure for dissociative identity disorder, but you can achieve a balance where you are no longer living in chaos and fear.
I’m proof of that.
If you have a topic you would like to see me write about, please, email me or put your ideas into the comment box below.
“Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you are depressed you are living in the past if you are anxious you are living in the future, if you are at peace, you are living in the present.” —Lao Tzu