team-octopi-blog

[team-octopi-blog]

An untitled gift for my sister by farcevader

[team-octopi-blog]

 a lazy scatterbrained comic about undiagnosed mental illness

[team-octopi-blog]

[team-octopi-blog]

[team-octopi-blog]

Hi, I have a question about amnesia. Does having amnesia means not remembering things without reminders? Or does it mean not remembering things even after other people tell you what you did?

When we’re talking about dissociative amnesia (which is different from amnesia from injury or illness) then the important factor is that the memory loss is “more severe than normal forgetfulness”. Forgetting things and then remembering them when people remind you is pretty normal. 

For example, I have forgetful friends who will say they’ve never seen a movie, but when I tell them we actually saw the movie together and I remind them what the movie is about they say “Oh yeah I forgot all about that!” That’s normal forgetfulness and those friends don’t have DID, they just forgot the movie because it was a forgettable movie. 

In contrast, my girlfriend insists that I watched an entire trilogy of movies that I have no memory of watching. Not only that, she says it was my idea! She reminded me of a couple of plot points in the movies and when I thought about it really hard I had a couple of vague and distant memories of sitting in the living room of our old house, but I still can’t remember the actual content of the movies. 

However, if I were to watch those movies I would probably start to remember at least some of the content of them. Even though I don’t remember seeing them, it’s unlikely that it would be like I was watching them for the first time if I watched them now. I’m actually not entirely sure why this is, but that’s just the way amnesia seems to work for me.

Dissociative amnesia is more than normal forgetfulness, but it is not always a complete blackout of information. Sometimes the information does come back later, especially if you have good communication between parts or are working on this in therapy. Sometimes being reminded by other people can activate the part that was present, and they can then help fill in the blanks. 

[team-octopi-blog]

I don’t really leave the house, and it’s unhealthy, but home is safe. This small apartment protects me from the world, and I know I switch less when I’m here. Switching itself is still a really anxiety ridden experience for me; I don’t like feeling out of control or wondering if I’ll disappear. I know that’s illogical, but in that moment the fear is real. Here underneath my weighted blanket, snuggling with my dog, is where I feel safest.

One day I’ll live a vibrant life full of experiences, but for now I’ll practice some crochet and play the ukulele.

[team-octopi-blog]

[team-octopi-blog]

°˖✧*•  Shop, Patreon, Books, Mailing List *•. ✧˖°`

[team-octopi-blog]

[team-octopi-blog]

Salutations!

I am new to tumblr, and thought it would be nice to say hello. I like to write, look at cozy things, watch Ghibli movies, play video games, and take naps. I’ll probably post things related to those hobbies as well as mental health related topics, especially ones related to trauma and dissociative identity disorder.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you around! 🐙

[team-octopi-blog]

today in FACTS people need to hear

alters/parts are all part of one whole

just because alters/parts are part of one whole doesn’t mean parts cannot have their own identity and preferences and everything!

the “alters are part of one whole” is simply because that’s how it works (theory of structural dissociation): trauma made it impossible to integrate as a child, so stuff split off and now there’s a bunch of you but if trauma hadn’t happened you would’ve been one whole. 

so you still are one whole, just hella fragmented and traumatized. 

every part deserves to be heard and seen and to be themselves, but understanding that after all all alters together are one whole is a very healthy and important step in recovery.

we know it’s hard to accept and it’s ok to struggle with that 

however it’s not okay to go around saying that this is not true because it is

alters/parts are all part of one whole

thank you for coming to my ted talk please let me know if there’s any questions because i’m all for fighting the spreading of blatant misinformation! 

- britney

[team-octopi-blog]

❝She carries the memories of your abuse. If you walked around every day having those memories, you couldn't function.❞

The Stranger in the Mirror: Dissociation – The Hidden Epidemic by Marlene Steinberg, M.D. and Maxine Schnall

[team-octopi-blog]

❝People who have disconnected from their emotions because they're frightened of them often perceive the dissociated part of themselves as destructive and want to get rid of it rather than comfort or respect it. Attempting to get rid of any dissociated part is not going to work, because that part has served a valuable function in the person's life and is holding important memories that need to be accessed and accepted.❞

The Stranger in the Mirror: Dissociation – The Hidden Epidemic by Marlene Steinberg, M.D. and Maxine Schnall

[team-octopi-blog]

*gets addicted to literally anything that distracts me from the fact i exist*

[team-octopi-blog]

How To Disappear Completely - Radiohead

[team-octopi-blog]

[team-octopi-blog]