[ACrystalGem]

First off, I'd like to say thanks to everyone on this forum for just being there. Isolation has been the theme of my life, and I feel less isolated just knowing this place exists. So thanks.

Right, a question: do your Alters ever dream? Not daydream, but fully asleep dream or nightmares? Sorry if this seems like a basic question, but I'm struck with how little information there is on DID and what the alters can do. My youngest alter, Lizzie, seems very much stuck in 1972 (when I was three), and since that's also when my (Outside Jacq) memories start, all those memories are of abuse. So you can imagine, none of her dreams are very pleasant. I'm not angry with her, but it's been really hard on me lately.

I'm asking this, because I want to communicate better with her - and all the alters really, but she and one other alter seem really difficult for me to do so. How do you communicate with your alters? Do you have a mixture of styles? Any ideas would be appreciated.

P.S - it's not a typo, Youse is the Scottish version of Y'all. I like using a phrase that's closer to home than the U.S

mine don't dream, though some of them are convinced that they are not part of the system.

my insider christine, for example is convinced she is a 30 year old night club owner from liverpool and no matter what is said to her, she strongly believes she runs a nightclub.

another one, vivian, is convinced that she was around in world war 1 (I suppose she could have dreamed it, but I don't know). a lot of the things she says actually happened in world war 1, excluding the fact that she was their in reality

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by ACrystalGem

First off, I'd like to say thanks to everyone on this forum for just being there. Isolation has been the theme of my life, and I feel less isolated just knowing this place exists. So thanks.

Right, a question: do your Alters ever dream? Not daydream, but fully asleep dream or nightmares? Sorry if this seems like a basic question, but I'm struck with how little information there is on DID and what the alters can do. My youngest alter, Lizzie, seems very much stuck in 1972 (when I was three), and since that's also when my (Outside Jacq) memories start, all those memories are of abuse. So you can imagine, none of her dreams are very pleasant. I'm not angry with her, but it's been really hard on me lately.

I'm asking this, because I want to communicate better with her - and all the alters really, but she and one other alter seem really difficult for me to do so. How do you communicate with your alters? Do you have a mixture of styles? Any ideas would be appreciated.

P.S - it's not a typo, Youse is the Scottish version of Y'all. I like using a phrase that's closer to home than the U.S

As far as I know none of my alters dreamed.

In order for my alters to be in control I had to be in a dissociative state of mind mentally and physically. this happened due to my being triggered by something. when the alters took control they were doing their sense of agency...

example... in order for rainy to be in control at night certain things had to happen...

I would have had to be awake and have to have been triggered by a thunder rain storm.

then I would enter the mental and physical state of mind called dissociation (discussed in my thread Integration )

Then my alter Rainy would be in control because thunder storms were the triggers for her.

then rainy would get out of bed, make sure we were dry/ warm and eating something.

when the rain storming stopped the trigger is gone so my body would switch back to its non dissociative state mentally and physically.

when I or my alters were not in control of the body it wasnt like sleeping and dreaming. it was just one moment I or my alters were laying in bed and the next moment it was hours and days later with no idea what went on during that bracket of lost time.

during this time when my body was switched into being mentally and physically dissociated I experienced no dreaming (REM and other dreaming phases) because the body was functioning as the alters doing what ever their sense of agency was. when I was in control of the body the alters didnt dream because again I was consciously aware doing my thing.

thats the closest I can get to explaining it with out a lot of textbook words and such.

to find out more about what alters can and cant do you will need to understand things like how the brain works, how your alters were created, what your alters sense of agency is and lots more, if you have a treatment provider they can help you with learning all about you and your alters, dissociation, the brain and much more.

[MtnTime2896]

I can never really see it, but one of my alters has a lot of nightmares to the point where he takes control and shakes so much it rattles the bed (this is what my roommate tells me). I have another alter who dreams as well. My roommate (who also has DID) has alters who have nightmares. In this house, it's pretty common.

Are you saying that you can see her dreams?

I believe full parts can have dreams due to their complexity in mind. My parts dream, I can lay there wide awake in mind hearing the body snore and a disconnected dream showing in the background. Being bored I can somewhat influence it like a director directs, but it’s a chore and it goes on it’s own.

When I’m dreaming, I’m so immersed that I’m oblivious.

You also got to understand too though that we are co-con and is like being in a big room where you can talk to everyone...but have no idea what they thinking or are.

It’s just plain weird or...

Yes, many of us have our own dreams. A lot of us have our own “themes” that we dream about. For instance, one of us always dreams about being chased by a certain person. One always dreams about car accidents. One has nightmares about a certain incident that happened to him. Etc. Some of us can watch each others dreams.

[Betty_Banana]

Since very young childhood I had dreams that I was other people.I would wake up from them and think why did I I dream I was a little boy,or why did I dream I was a little girl with black hair,etc.I always thought it was very strange.The dreams always seemed and felt so real and some were lucid dreams.

To make a long story short now that I'm integrated I know that I was dreaming about my alters and the dreams were actually their memories and things that really happened to me(them) in childhood.I never would have believed that when I was still DID though.I had amnesia for the abuse I was seeing at night and although I knew it was another "me" in the dreams I had no connection to what was happening and thought they were just wacky nightmares.

My therapist and I did some dreamwork during sessions and he found it helpful to learn things about me and what I had went through.I know some people may disagree with dreamwork or that type of therapy but as they say,"there's more than one way to skin a cat" and it was helpful in different ways,just as art therapy,CBT,ACT,DBT,etc were helpful in their own rights too.

I don't know if that's kinda what you're talking about or not.But yes,my alters had their own dreams but actually they were my dreams and they were me but I was someone else in the dreams(one of them).

I'm not sure whether I made that easy to understand or not.LOL

Not having been diagnosed with DID, my family (my father, mother, sisters, brothers, sister in law and niece) insist I am in need of - myself. Respectfully, I disagree but would like to explore if maybe I am wrong.

I dream often. I have reoccurring dreams that I have had my entire life. My dreams take place in similar settings and I am usually the hero or —. My family sometimes makes appearances, but usually are not there with me. Sometimes when I talk about my dreams, I fabricate parts that I don’t remember to try to make sense of them. I don’t talk about my dreams a lot. I don’t have nite mares, but sometimes life feels like a nightmare. No one wants me the way I am.

I have worked endlessly to fight those ‘nite mares’ with better thoughts because I think better thinking is contagious. I use imagery and have been working with a professionals to advance my meditation and mindfulness skills. I am not sure I ever dream to be anyone else, or dream in an altered state. I think it’s too complicated to really say.

[Amyjay]

I don't know if my alters have dreams that are specifically belonging to them. I haven't really thought about it. I know that some types of dreams or nightmares will trigger different alters to wake up... but I don't know if "they" dreamed it or if the "brain" dreamed it and they responded to it.

I suppose some alters trigger certain dreams (like if a trauma alter is one who goes to sleep because trauma stuff is triggered then we will likely have trauma dreams) but I just don't know if dreams "belong" to an alter or not. Even if their experience is having them because they are one who awoke from it. I just don't know.