✧. ┊dissociative identity disorder.┊ .✧ What is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)? - DID is when someone has trauma, and 'shuts off' themselves to distance themselves from the trauma. This often develops in childhood and becomes long-term, and it is an easier way in the child's view to recover from their trauma. How does DID affect someone? - DID will make someone think, "That's too much to handle and that's not me, that's -xyz-." They might also displace their worries and trauma onto something else, for example "I'm not worried about -xyz-, -insert example-is!" - People with DID often experience other unhealthy habits such as: anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm, etc. - DID causes gaps in people's memories but each persona has different memories, different thoughts, and different ways of interacting with others and their environments. It is very subtle, and most people don't even know that the difference happens. The disorder can affect their abilities with the real world. - There are two types of DID: - Possessive - when someone else takes control of your body, and it is an involuntary action. You act more different than you want, and it's more obvious to others (this is what Cleo will have.) - Non-possessive - Your body moves on it's own, and it feels more like watching a movie than being in control, though you are conscience when this happens. - The DID often doesn't surface until later into life, and won't really affect them as a child. - DID is formed usually through family trauma, and having no safe person to talk to, which then leads to them (I think) projecting the trauma onto another persona...??? Sources: 1. https://deconstructingstigma.org/guides/did 2. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9792-dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder 3. @C_CKR04CH looked over my research, and I got some really helpful tips from them, so thank you!
✧. ┊selective mutism.┊ .✧ What is selective mutism (SM)? - Selective mutism occurs when someone is able to speak well at home, but freezes up around other people in a social setting. Ex. Cleo would be able to talk to her sibling well, but not around cats she doesn't know very well. How does SM affect someone? - Selective Mutism is generally known to be an anxiety disorder that causes people to freeze up in public settings, for example: in front of other students, in the library, at school, etc. - SM is not the same as being shy, though being shy happens in everyone, while SM is just someone being socially anxious and unable to talk in front of others. - People with SM tend to avoid eye contact, speak as little as possible, get nervous around others, mumble, or make gestures with their hands/body instead of actually talking. - SM triggers may or may not include: lack of personal space, tall and imposing characters, crowded spaces, or things that they have done but do not like and/or have failed at before. Sources: 1. https://www.selectivemutism.org/ 2. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/selective-mutism
