Is Dissociative Identity Disorder Divergent or Disordered?

I believe having DID falls under the neurodivergent umbrella, but at the same time it is a mental illness that can cause a great deal of distress. So, is Dissociative Identity Disorder divergent or disordered? 

Resistance to Conformity: Balancing Authenticity with Community

I’d like you to please welcome a new writer on the Yopp platform, Eleni Stephanides! She’s here to talk about the complexities of conformity: the damage it can do, and the benefits it can yield when used well.  CN: discussion of the emotional impact of neurodivergence in a neurotypical society, brief mention of theoretical death by plane crash “We could say that Old Survivor was too weird or too difficult to proceed easily toward the …Read More

Video: Introducing Dissociative Identity Disorder on Youtube

Back in September, I received a facebook message from a high school friend of mine. We hadn’t spoken in a number of years so it was a pleasant surprise to see a message from him in my inbox. He told me that his wife was a teacher and she was running an activity about neurodivergence for her students, who were between the ages of 13-16. He said she was collecting videos from individuals who experienced …Read More

Poetry & Trauma: It Is Hard to Write with a Broken Heart

This week my debut poetry book, “Pet: the Journey from Abuse to Recovery” comes out. The poetry sequence takes you through my experiences in an abusive relationship, my attempts to heal, my retrospective reflections on the relationship, and the larger-scale insights that came with long-term healing. To introduce it, I wanted to share with you this piece about what it took to write that book in the first place.  CN: extensive and detailed discussion of …Read More

I Think My Friend is Being Abused. What Now?

This post was originally published as “What Do You Want out of a Relationship? An Alternate Method to Reaching Abuse Victims” on January 25th, 2020.  CN: extensive discussion of the experience of being in an abusive relationship, discussion of physical abuse and the painful process of recovery after abuse, brief discussion of Dissociative Identity Disorder, mention of sexual abuse. Being able to recognize that you are being abused, while the abuse is still happening, is …Read More

What Does Dissociation Feel Like?

CN: extensive and detailed descriptions of what disordered dissociation can feel like; extensive discussion of Dissociative Identity Disorder, amnesia, and mental health management in general; specific examples of abuse; general discussion of trauma and chronic pain.  Added note of caution: Some people who struggle with dissociation find that reading detailed descriptions of dissociation can bring on those symptoms for them. Read at your own pace and take care of yourself.  For as long as I …Read More

Early Signs That I Had Dissociative Identity Disorder

CN: extensive discussion of the symptoms and experince of dissociative identity disorder, such as dissociation, trauma flash backs, amnesia, anxiety, and extreme emotional fluctuations.  Dissociative Identity Disorder is a really unique and amazing mental illness, or as we like to call it, a survival mechanism. In most of the media portrayals of DID, the separate identities are dramatically and obviously different, switches are highly visible, and the host is constantly disoriented by their blackouts and …Read More