[DID] Switching, Co-consciousness, Passive Influence, and Masking

Good day all!

Today I'll be writing about Switching & Co-consciousness, Passive Influence, and Masking in Dissociative Identity Disorder [DID]. Hopefully this will enlighten you more about the inner workings of this complex traumagenic disorder that stems from sustained, inescapable childhood trauma. I will be using the word "alter" to refer to "parts" of a DID system.

Switching & Co-consciousness

Switching is the process where alter(s) enter the front and assume executive control of the body. I like to use the car analogy to describe switching and co-consciousness. The alter in control of the body assumes the driver seat (Fronter). The alter that is co-conscious with the fronter is at the front passenger seat observing what happens in the real world, without control of the body. A bit of a flawed analogy, but there can be multiple alters at the co-consciousness level and differs from system to system. The alters at the backseat of the car would not be aware of what is going on in the real world. Some alters may be completely "blacked out" while some may be doing things in the inner world. Not all systems have an inner world and that is okay.

Switches can be consensual, forced, or triggered.

An example of a consensual switch is Alter A communicating to Alter B that they need help with fixing a lightbulb. Alter B is good at lightbulbs. A mutual agreement is made and the switch would be consensual. It can happen quickly or it can happen on a scheduled agreement.

An example of a forced switch is, for example, Alter A suddenly retreats into headspace and somebody has to take control of the body to prevent harm or embarrassment. Alter B is forced to the front to assume controls. Every system works differently in this regard and it's important to learn more about the system you are supporting.

Triggers can be positive or negative.

An example of a positive trigger is when the fronter meets a friend who is holding a large stuffie/stuffed toy. A child alter gets triggered to the front and runs up to cuddle the stuffie. A positive trigger isn't necessarily okay. It is not okay to deliberately positively trigger an alter out for personal gain (e.g. if you simply like/fancy the child alter and want to play with them, or if you're doing it to avoid a difficult topic brought up by the fronting alter). You would be non-consensually robbing the fronting alter of their consciousness and/or fronting time and a switch back may not be immediately guaranteed depending on that system. Especially with child alters, it could also be dangerous as all child alters are essentially children!

(One Paragraph Trigger Warning: Description of abuse/triggers)
A negative trigger, for example, is Alter B being a trauma holder for physical abuse with hammers and the act of using it. Alter A (a non-trauma holder) witnesses someone using a hammer on something. This could potentially trigger Alter B to front spontaneously and be in a fight/flight state and/or come fronting in a traumatised state as if they are re-living the event.

Co-fronting has been reported among the DID communities and in that case I would use the airline aeroplane analogy where there are two pilots. One is in-charge of handling some controls while the other alter handling the rest. 

Co-consciousness often leads to an effect called "passive influence" and this brings me to my next point.

Passive Influence

When an alter is 'close to the front', usually on the co-consciousness level, they might influence the mood / ability / bodily sensations (5 senses) / emotions / thoughts / sometimes, words / preferences / urges / speech patterns / etc. of the fronting alter. As mentioned above, you can have multiple alters on the co-consciousness level and that can lead to a complex synergy of effects - positive, neutral, or negative.

In DID systems, passive influence is more common than a full switch.

If we take Alter A for example, who is typically socially anxious. Alter B is near the front and exerting passive influence. Alter B is good with public speaking and supports Alter A. Alter A then is able to do the speech they really needed to do at a school presentation.

However, after Alter B fades away/back (no longer near the front), Alter A is back to their typically socially anxious state. The public speaking ability belongs to Alter B.

Masking

DID is a disorder that is engineered by the brain to hide trauma. To do that, it has to hide itself from both the public and the system, because if it doesn't, that would defeat its original purpose of hiding trauma, especially from the system and/or the host (e.g. if someone else discovers the incongruent behaviour, actions, or words from the system between switches, they might bring it up to the host and that risks the host knowing that 'something is not quite right with them', ultimately going against the objective of hiding the disorder from the host or system).

To achieve that, non-host alters that front may attempt to pretend they are the host in a variety of ways; learning the host's behaviours, likes, dislikes, speech patterns, etc. to appear as normal as possible to the outside world. However the attempt to replicate the host may or may not be very successful because all alters are in fact separate identities with their own personality traits.

This is one of the many reasons why DID is often misdiagnosed as something else such as mood swings, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder (BPD), etc. It is of my opinion that more public awareness and education be brought to Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Written by S.J.W.
Dip. Counselling Skills

Sources:

Dell, Paul. (2006). A New Model of Dissociative Identity Disorder. The Psychiatric clinics of North America. 29. 1-26, vii. 10.1016/j.psc.2005.10.013. 

Loewenstein, R. J. (2018). Dissociation debates: Everything you know is wrong. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 20(3), 229–242. https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2018.20.3/rloewenstein 

Putnam FW. Dissociation in Children and Adolescents: A Developmental Model. New York: Guilford. 1997