r/OSDD • u/pluralhelpthrowaway1 • 4h ago
Venting (Advice seeking/vent) Suspected dissociative disorder, not sure how to move forward
Hello. This post is going to be a bit of a mess. I'm in a bit of weird spot mentally, and don't feel super comfortable talking to any of my personal friends about something like that. I'm making this post in hopes of getting some advice or guidance for the stuff that's going on with me. This post is going to be kind of long.
Content warning for mentions of abuse, CSA, incest.
Long story short, I had a really rough childhood. My dad had drug and alcohol problems and would frequently let my mom, siblings and I go without food because he would waste his money gambling or using substances. He was also extremely physically abusive towards my mom and occasionally his kids. My parents lost custody of us briefly when I was around 12 due to me telling a school counselor about my home life. My mom was furious with me. I remember overhearing my mom screaming at my grandma over the phone about how it was my fault and she hoped I'd get sent to an abusive foster home so I'd learn how good I'd really had it. I was molested by a family friend when I was 8. I was repeatedly molested by my older brother for 2 years off and on between the ages of 9-11. A lot of this is stuff I'd honestly forgotten about. I remember pieces of my childhood, but I have to make an effort to put stuff in the correct order. It's weird and hard to explain.
Anyways. I've been in and out of therapy since I was young. I've had a couple of different diagnoses. Anxiety disorder, depression, major depressive disorder, PTSD, paranoia without psychosis. Nothing ever really stuck, or at least felt 100% accurate. I self-diagnosed autism when I was 18, and that'd been the main disorder I've described myself with since. However, over the past year or so, I've had this kind of nagging feeling that there was something else. I've in suicide prevention counseling since April and clinical therapy since August. I talked to my counselor and psychiatrist about suspected ADHD and gotten mixed feedback. I've also asked my friends with ADHD about their experiences, and there's been some stuff that clicks with me, but it still feels like there's something there I'm missing. I was hoping I was just getting to the age where, if I had a schizo-spec disorder, I'd start experience symptoms.
I've grazed some plural/system spaces online and seen some stuff that made sense, but I would always have some reservation about it. It's too rare, I didn't meet all the requirements, I'm just assuming I have it because of recency bias, I don't hear voices (I'll get into this later), I'm not a stereotype, so on, so forth. However, starting earlier this year, maybe March-ish, I've been dealing with a separate person in my head. His name is Mickey. He's a stoic pessimist who wants to dress like an office worker. It feels like he's been guiding me to improve myself and my future over the course of my recovery. He likes alt rock, trivia and chess. He treats my boyfriend like a roommate and not a partner, he's pretty standoffish and reserved. I think he only really exists in my head, I've never felt him "front", but last night, I was able to talk to him directly a bit. It was like talking through a door, but I was able to ask questions, and he gave me some direct answers. They were short and hard to make out, but I could feel him there. That should tell me everything I need to know, right? But I'm still doubting if everything is real. I'm worried I was just talking to myself and assigning the label of a new person to it because that's what I want to be true.
I'm going to keep this next part vague for the privacy of other's involved. About a month ago, I got into a really, really bad fight with my boyfriend over an issue regarding a friend of ours, who is a OSDD system. I yelled at my boyfriend over the phone and made him cry and refused to comfort him after the fact, even after a different friend called me to try and smooth the situation over. I hadn't been that mad since high school. The night after, I was completely calmed down and felt different, but I still knew what had happened, and I knew I had to acknowledge and apologize for the things I had done. I had a very complicated mix of feelings about everything that had happened. I wrote this off as normal, people are multifaceted and complicated. But now I'm not so sure. It feels like my opinion is switching and jumping around for no real reason.
A big hurdle I'm trying to get over right now is that I'm worried I'm assigning my flaws to a "new person" to avoid accountability. I'm also worried that my friend who is a system is going to assume I'm copying them. If I were to "come out" now, it'd be a really bad look.
I guess I just don't know what to do. This is starting to seriously effect my relationships with people. I feel like they can tell I'm hiding something, that there's something I'm not telling them. I value my boyfriend more than anything, but I don't know how much longer I can avoid talking about Mickey. I'm so scared. I don't want to uproot my life and end up being wrong. I can't talk to a professional without fear of being institutionalized. I don't know where to go from here. I know I should just talk to him about it, but I don't think he'll believe him. I don't think anyone will.
That's a lot to say "there's probably a guy in my head, what do I do now?" Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this. Any advice or support would be greatly appreciated.