Any psychologists about please? What is DD describing?

[LoopingStar]

Hi,
DD16 told me that she has "versions" of herself and shifts from one to another without a pattern. If i google what she's described, it suggests things like schizophrenia or bi polar but that doesn't seem to match, it seems more like (another google about psychology) sub-personalities or multiplicities(?), I don't recognise what she's talking about.

There's:

1. an empty version where she doesn't really feel anything & thinks if something sad happened when she is in this version,such as her bf breaking up with her, she wouldn't care 2)a mean one but "it" thinks mean things about other people, its not just negative self talk, and gives her a different kind of empty feeling, she says she automatically opposes whatever the mean one says
2. a god complex saying she's better than others 4)a methodical version that goes through things calmly And some others she hasn't named.

She finds "them" distressing, especially the "mean" one. I am totally out of my depth and don't understand what she's describing.
Probably need a GP appointment so she can explain to tgem.

It started about 10 months ago when there was upheaval with home "improvements" which still aren't done (but much better than it was) and her younger brother's mental health was bad, so might be related to that?
She said the mean one turned up first, then the methodical one.

Not a psychologist. but it could possibly be Dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder (MPD)?

With the disclaimer that nobody can diagnose anything from a description online, having worked with many thousands of teenagers over the past 20 years, she sounds autistic. Most people have versions of themselves, it’s normal to think and behave differently in different situations, but few people ruminate on it to this extent.

If she wants to understand herself better, you could explore what an assessment might mean for her.

Please do not self diagnose using google. I am a psychologist. At extremes, she could either be a massively attention seeking teen or have a very serious problem. As the first poster said, get her a referral but be prepared for a long wait as psychiatric and mental health services are on their knees and unless she is, for example, suicidal, resources aren’t going to be readily chucked at her

Thanks everyone, wasn't expecting responses so quickly - I was googling to see if it was a known thing rather than to say "oh Dd you are clearly bi polar", i will get her a GP appointment. Thankfully she isn't suicidal.

Have a look at autism. Of many things it could be it could be autistic masking

Look up internal family systems, richard schwartz. Might be a helpful way to use or view the different versions.

To some degree surely we all have some of that within ourselves .
At work I am a completely different person to the one I am at home .
I am also " more me " in front of friends , than I might be if in a group of people I barely know .

It sounds like she is trying to make sense of different feelings and ways of beings. We all have different parts of ourselves and it's nothing to panic about. I think your response to this is key. Try to be calm and reassuring and let her talk about the different versions to help her make sense of them. It sounds to me like she is just talking about feeling numb, being mean to people (which she is struggling to accept about herself- perhaps she sees herself as kind and doesn't like thinking mean thoughts), and a narcissistic defence that we all have - when we feel slighted we defend ourselves against feeling hurt by seeing the other person as unimportant and ourselves as more important - 'I deserve better', 'he wasn't all that any way'. These are all totally normal parts of being human but can intensify when we are under stress, worrying about them or surrounded by people who do not acknowledge our inner world. She sounds introspective and that can be a good thing. Rushing to the psychiatrist will just confirm her fears that there is something wrong with her so i wouldn't suggest that in the first instance.

look up depersonalisation and derealisation. This is the feeling that nothing is real and you don’t belong in your body. It is very common and most people recover. Physical activities like walking in nature, dancing, swimming etc can help a person get better connected to their body.

psychotherapist here. Although younger generations are more psychologically aware they often have a huge tendency these days to clinicalise normal thoughts and feelings so I wouldn’t necessary jump to conclusions or use Google.

just take her to her GP and get her referred to local mental health services.

I was going to say the same. If there is trauma it might just be a way of holding that.

Struggling to understand what home reno’s would make a teen go full Sybil, so guessing the timing may have just been a coincidence and quite likely is something else entirely.

It doesn't sound like autism at all. It sounds like DID like the first poster said. I thought it was usually a response to severe trauma like childhood sexual abuse, though. I'd probably get her a therapist.

Is she on tiktok a lot op?

This could also just be making sense of different feelings and fluctuating hormones. People don’t always have the same consistent mood. I wouldn’t start medicalising just yet - things like DID are really rare. Is there a school counsellor she could try? My dc got referred and seem quite quickly and they could help identify if this is something that needs additional support?

Lots of jumping to diagnosis here. Probably from very unqualified people

Sounds like something she’s heard on social media

It could possibly fit with DID, although symptoms for that start in young childhood. It's caused by early trauma or attachment problems. But some people don't become aware of it till later.

To diagnose or rule out DID, the first step would be to screen for dissociation, e.g. using the Dissociative Experiences Scale.

Oh you DD has watched something on insta or one of her friends is also talking about “versions” of herself and she’s decided that she quite fancies being afflicted by this

It’s impossible to tell from text on a page what is going on. It may just be that she is unusually introspective and has figured out we all have different aspects to our characters; or it may be a sign of something more serious.

If you’re concerned you could look for a private psychiatrist to see on a reasonable timescale.

I agree with this.

Maybe her moods are a bit more evident to her recently because of some anxiety or depression, and she’s ruminating about it. Add in a dose of TikTok and she might be convincing herself that she has a different kind of mental health issue.

Is she on her phone watching TikTok a lot?

If a personality disorder doesn’t sound quite right - it might be worth exploring PMDD.

I have PMDD and sometimes I feel like I’m on a complete high, confidence, social, happy and the best version of me. Then it’s like a switch is flicked and I completely plummet. I get extremely low, start feeling like I’m rejected by everyone, extremely irritable and angry and snap at the pettiest and smallest of things. I feel genuinely almost possessed by a horrible depressed entity, then 7-10 days later my period comes, halfway through my period the switch is flicked back off and I’m completely fine.

Do you have other members of the extended family with either MH conditions or who are ND (this could be dyslexia/dyspraxia/ADHD/ASD etc) because it may be something that runs in the family especially as your other child also has MH struggles. A number of MH conditions either run in families or mean you are more predisposed to them and being ND often runs in families.

Please take her seriously and not assume it's tiktok attention seeking. I had MH issues as a teen with intrusive thoughts and to have it written off as a silly phase, attention seeking or something off the internet would have been devastating.

With the caveat that I am not a psychiatrist - apart from being extremely rare, personalities within DID don’t necessarily know about each other and the person doesn’t necessarily know they have it. You’d expect memory loss, confusion about personal details or events etc