Communication between parts (alters) is a concept I have struggled to explain to TK at times.

The simplest way to understand is that they talk to me. It could be a simple comment, a conversation, or at times a paranoid part pointing out someone following us. When I first learned of my DID, I struggled to find someone online explaining how hearing their parts sounded. It caused me severe self-doubt as I expected to be able to clearly distinguish parts as distinct separate voices, which unfortunately does not happen. At times, everyone can mesh together. Now I am more confident in distinguishing them as I am more accepting of my DID. Whereas before I was trying to disprove what was happening so I regularly dismissed parts as my own thoughts. However, it was difficult because I had no control over these and the responses at times were very different to me.

The second way I communicate with parts is through feelings. I mostly don’t experience my own emotions. Instead I am influenced by how others feel. I describe it as having more than one stomach. If a part is feeling anxious I can feel it radiating it from their stomach, and I can feel their anxiety. Sometimes I have to stop and try find who is feeling what. A part feeling fear can cause me to be afraid but I don’t understand why I am feeling this way.

The third way communication occurs is within parts. I am not involved and they figure out things together. I may then receive an update from them on what the result of the conversation is, or not.

The forth way I communicate is the most difficult to explain. There is no exchange of words, emotions or anything I can figure out. I almost sense the part and then I just know something from them.

The last way I can think of right now is through imagery. I am shown a picture or video of something happening. The strange thing is the perspective of the video. It is never the same. This always troubled me as I could not understand why my viewpoint should change in a memory. However, from a conversation with another individual who has DID they described the exact same experience.

Communication can also be combination of the above.

I need to remind myself that I have lived with this communication my whole life, which would make sense why I question if I am making up my experiences. It is normal for me to have multiple lines of thought going on. I often describe my communication experience as a load of peoples thoughts squished inside my head. It would be interesting to experience how someone without DID I experiences their headspace. I suppose for now the closest I’ll get is the Inside Out movies…