January 2024

My handwriting

About three months into starting therapy, my therapist asked me a seemingly innocuous question: Does your handwriting ever change? This was something I had never thought about before. I replied by saying that while my handwriting was inconsistent, it was normal. She then asked me another question: Does your handwriting seem to change with mood? This question caught me so off guard that it plunged me into an acute dissociative state, rendering me confused and nearly unresponsive for the next several minutes.

academia DID handwriting symptoms

7 minutes

May 2023

How DID affects my work

When I began therapy for DID in January 2022, I had no idea how much my life had already spiraled out of control. Over the course of several years, I had gone from being a high-achieving student at the top of my class to being effectively unable to work because I was so triggered by the world around me. However, because of my severe internal compartmentalization, I was unaware of my dysfunction—I had no idea anything abnormal was happening, and, for the most part, thought I was still the successful student I previously was.

academia cycle DID handwriting narrative polyfragmented symptoms

6 minutes