Specific triggers activate specific sections of my brain. Different sections of my brain are where my different parts live. How I react relies on which part of my brain gets activated and which part lives there.

My boyfriend and my system were out at a Walmart a year ago. As we were leaving, we saw a man who reminded us of one of our abusers. We made it to the car. The body started crying, then numbed out. Soon after a little fronted and bit my boyfriend’s arm. The host came back. Our boyfriend told us what we did. This was one of the moments that led us to look into DID. We thought before it was just dissociation, but it obviously wasn’t.

OMG, this JUST happened to me. One perceived abandonment potential. The little is "We're gonna die!" The other is "F**k that, Im outta here!" The other is "I will never have a safe life...I suck" etc. All of their emotions swimming around at once. Then i had to call a time-out and fugure out what was really going on. So exhausting.

I’m gradually learning to pause my instincts to automatically switch, and take time to evaluate the threat. Even though I’m not always successful I’ve made good progress.

Oh Mike, this is so helpful! It explains why trigger reactions might feel/ look chaotic... I've wondered why they come across as so unhelpful - I've been treating them like one big, odd response when the reality is that there are multiple responses going on.

My response to perceived "threats or triggers" is to hide. To isolate myself from everyone and everything....maybe that is the flight response, I don't know. But being alone, isolated, and emotionally turned off to the world around me, is the only way we can all feel safe. Then I punish myself with negative thoughts and actions...The fact of the matter is, those of us with DID, are damaged beyond repair, and the fight to "learn and understand and accept DID" is extremely hard and difficult...especially when my/our parts are in constant conflict with the reality of the world. I am only speaking for myself, and my DID only. It is so hard getting over "feeling like a freak" in society....The best place for me is to isolate, cut myself off from everything and everybody and keep my mouth, my thoughts, my fears my insecurities and my self-hate to myself. Learning and understanding the level of abuse in my life, being cut off from family because I spoke up about the severe abuse I endured and being called a liar, trying to navigate 8 personalities, is a monumental task, and I have no one to talk to...DID=loneliness.

Great video! Having different and sometimes opposite reactions internally can be a confusing experience. In the future, would you be willing to do a video about EMDR and DID (as in special considerations when doing EMDR)? Thanks so much, your channel is incredibly helpful!

This was very well spoken on Mike. DID is so complex and so complicated that not having a deep understand of it or understanding the brain itself, can be quite confusing. But once you really put the work into it and find a very caring dr or therapist. It can be like starting over into a whole new life, but as a whole human. The first thing i noticed, is loving myself and everything that is a support on my end. Thank you so much for sharing Mike.

My girlfriend has 7 alters. One loves me romantically, 2 others view me as a best friend, 3 have no real feelings either way, and one dislikes me immensely. Why is there such a dramatic difference between the alters on how they feel about me? Could you please explain why this would be? It's very confusing.

Mixed feeling, is my normal state. Took work to know this. Great info 🙏. 👁️👁️

How do we keep missing these uploads! This one in particular was very insightful, I always love getting to look at the nuts and bolts of things.

Thank you for this. I understand the term fawn now, it's not confusing anymore. I did that my whole life....i fawned so much, i have DID. I did the other responses too, but they got me nowhere.

Great video, as usual 😊

This makes a lot of sense. And explains why sometimes the same trigger can pull out different alters.

Thank you very much. This explains much of what I've experienced with her. The freeze response led me to both protect/intervene and avoid triggering it at all costs. I avoided anything I perceived as potentially triggering. This meant I couldn't address or move towards emotional intimacy.

This is very helpful, thank you. This is a great explanation of how different parts react in different ways. Sometimes my mind is in over 10 places at once from a single trigger- like one part was fine, another got sick, another got sad- so I can sorta relate to this DID experience. But i just dont know if i got DID or something else on the dissociation spectrum

Great video, thanks! It's a great help to know it's not a chaotic response but a logical one (of course, what else!). Having that knowledge has already helped me stay calmer in tricky situations...

Wonderful information as always! 💙

Thank you for another video!

Thank you for another great video! I have a question though.