Its really hard to have MPD or Multiple Personality Disorder. Although, right now its referred to as Dissociative Identity Disorder. When I was seven, after a traumatic event (my younger brother died in front of me), I was diagnosed with 8 ACTIVE PERSONLATIES. It wasn't really that bad that I had 8 but the fact that they were "ACTIVE" made it a bit dangerous. I had certain episodes where my personality would actively switch randomly among the 8. Although, the psychiatrists noticed that some of my personalities only surfaced if they were triggered. Like when "Personality 1" failed at a test, "Personality 4" would actively take over. And my speech patterns, manuerisms and even my memory would change.

I know there are people like me but there are times that I feel alone. And I haven't met anyone personally yet who seriously had/have MPD.

I dunno. I just want to meet someone.

This is one of the days I wished cloning existed.

Another multiple here. You aren't alone. And yeah, it can get complicated. The best advice I can give is to learn about your other parts, communicate with them as much as you can (even if it means keeping a journal on the outside and writing to each other), and remember that you still share a body and thus share a life, so working together is vital in order for all of you to survive. I know that kind of seems like common sense when you say it, but it doesn't always feel that way and you can easily get caught up in the moment and forget, especially if you disagree a lot.

I don't really consider it a disorder for me anymore because technically speaking it has to cause significant dysfunction in more than one area of life to count as a disorder, and since those in my system that caused problems with functioning have been dealt with, I guess it's not a disorder anymore? *shrug* I'm fine with that. I don't like all of them personally, but I do like the majority of them and even the ones that I don't like can be really helpful sometimes, so I would rather have them than not have them.

Yeah, I don't even know what counts as 'active' anymore... I guess if 'active' means they have total control of the body sometimes, I have about 6 active parts now, though I have 10 or so that I would say have been regularly active at some point in time. We are perfectly functional 90% of the time, and as we got closer, we kinda started co-hosting a lot (more than one in control at a time) and some of us can even blend a bit (more than one in control at a time and you have a hard time differentiating you from the other one, you might not even notice that you don't quite feel like you if the blend is subtle enough and the parts similar enough). So I'm not really sure anymore where to draw the line...

>>2 No kidding, right? Things would be so much easier if we could be roommates instead of headmates. :P But everyone has their complications in life. Our complications are just less common. It's getting past the trauma bit and the parts that refuse to cooperate that really makes this a disorder. Once those things are out of the way, it's not so bad. You get used to it.

Oh, and just so you know, the switches aren't random. Switches (unless you have done some work and can switch intentionally, in which case you are forming your own trigger) are always triggered by something, either in the environment or internally. Saying they are 'random' really just means that no one knows what triggered them and you can't seem to find a pattern. And that's actually not uncommon for a multiple. Triggers can get really complicated.

I really hope I don't come off as disrespectful here, but if you don't mind, could you tell me what it's like to have this/live with this? I have an OC who happens to have 2 souls in their body so it's kinda like they have MPD. It would be great if I could learn a little bit about from the perspective of someone who has it so I could represent it the best that I can in my character.

Well, seeing as the situation is pretty personal, it's a little hard to say 'what it's like'. It varies a lot based on what parts you have, how much they agree or disagree, how forceful/individualistic they tend to be, what the triggers are, how functional the individual parts are, how active the parts are (whether they actually show up on the outside or not), and all of these things can vary drastically based on the person. It's really not the same experience for everyone.

The best I can do is try to help you imagine yourself in this person's place. How well you can do that will depend on how well you know the parts involved. Since it is a character you are creating (that's what OC means, right?), this should be easy. And even if it is two souls, being in the same body means they share a life and an identity and are thus now different parts of the same person, no matter how it happened. That's probably the hardest thing to accept, under any circumstances. Now, how well do the parts know each other? Do they like each other? Do they tend to get along even if they don't? Imagine living with someone that you feel that way about - either like or don't, get along with or don't. Now, how well and often do they communicate? If not well, then imagine the complications that would come with living intimately and making frequent plans with someone under those conditions. Now how often do they agree? If they don't have similar opinions, then imagine what it is like to share finances, a wardrobe, a bedroom, a bathroom, everything with this person. Also remember that communication affects the ability to effectively compromise. Now imagine that the things you share don't stop at rooms, finances, and belongings. You also share time - when one is awake the other is asleep or otherwise nonfunctioning. You both have things you want, need, and like and if you think there is not enough time in a day when there's only one of you, imagine what it's like to have to share that time. Now not only that, but you also share an identity. What this other person does while you are inactive leads to consequences you have to deal with and not only do you have to take responsibility for any decisions that this other person made, but you often can't even tell anyone how or why 'you' made those decisions. Complicated, right? If you don't get along, you can't escape one another and arguments, if not handled well, can result in exhaustion for both of you, even if there is no intended hostility or hard feelings.

Some things that have been relevant personally in my system that I'm not sure whether or not would be considered are these: No matter how much you like a part or how much time you get to spend when both of you are awake or how well you can both maintain external control at the same time (yes, this is possible and weird), you still can't play video games together, or any games based on speed or strategy. Drinking games played together are lame, and most games in general take too much intentional switching (and thus energy and effort) to be worthwhile. In fact, there are few activities that can be done together at all. One of my favorite activities that did work was a long-term Go game that I played with one of my other parts that I didn't particularly like but is smarter than I like to admit. I would check the board in passing when I knew that she had been out recently and see if she made a move at that time. The record of moves that we kept next to the board really helped. I lost. Romance is complicated. If you do share an opinion about an external partner, you are sharing that partner. If you don't, then it's an open relationship or a fight. If you fall for someone else inside the system, well, on top of the sheer awkwardness of the situation itself, refer to the complications above. On a lighter note, you are rarely without anyone to talk to. Of course talking to someone external will always be different, in the way that talking to a friend that you don't see every day is different than talking to someone that you share everything with and knows everything about you and probably knows everything you could want to talk about before you say it (depending, of course, on how good communication is). But if you have no one and truly feel lonely, it is an option. Luckily I've never quite been that desperate, and talk to my parts out of desire and not desperation. But it has been thought about. Also, if you get along and work together to accomplish things, triggers can work in your favor, and something you can't do, or just have a harder time doing than another part, can be done by someone better suited for the job. One reason that I don't want to integrate and become a singleton, aside from the fact that I do genuinely like most of my parts, even if we don't always agree, is because I hear that a lot of random skills are lost during integration. If you can't cook and the part you are fusing with can, then the end result might be able to cook, or maybe you will have to learn from scratch. Science hasn't told us why this happens or how to predict what will be kept and what lost. So yeah, having a wider variety of talents is handy if you can work together enough to utilize it.

So, yeah. The details vary, but I think all the sharing and compromising and working together whether you like it or not are common things that all multiples can recognize and relate to to some degree. And in my experience, it's the hardest part about multiplicity. As a creative writer myself, I would be happy to help answer more specific questions with more information about the characters involved, but let's not do that here. Feel free to email me at tunes.dollars@gmail.com. And if you decide to make a character who actually DOES have DID, then PLEASE contact me. I can provide a variety of common patterns that turn up in different systems, help form an idea of what kind of system a certain lifestlye might potentially provide, and frankly, the media has few-to-no accurate representations of multiples in general, so helping to create one and try to debunk some common myths sounds like a good idea to me. ^_^

MPD,huh?
Sadly enough,I also suffer from DID/MPD,though I have the ability to communicate with one of the "people" in my head,and sometimes they talk to me. I can also switch personalities sometimes,but that doesn't happen often,they usually come out when they want to? I don't really know exactly. It has been bothering me a lot since they have mood swings and each one has some odd beliefs and such,they have their own favorite colors and even names!! I really hate it when they take over me or start talking in my head,it drives me crazy!
The one I can talk to knows everyone,she comes out sometimes but she is so freaking bitchy! There are guys,girls,old ones and young ones,they vary. A lot. I don't even know how many of them there is and I am too terrified to know. I have never told anyone about this,but I know because I am studying psychology,so I can pretty much help myself a little,but still,I am not capable of getting any medicine by myself. I just want you to know that I feel you,don't worry. It is tough; but hopefully we will survive.

well @Akira, unless one of them comes out and decides to run into traffic or shoot themselves i'm pretty sure you're gonna make it.
How have you managed to live with all those personalities and not been recommended to a psychiatrist or a doctor? its surprising that nobody has noticed your switches, + if you can talk to them, those around you must be really ignorant in order to not notice somebody displaying slight schizophrenic traits....

>>8 Actually, DID is pretty good at staying hidden to some degree. Mine didn't get noticed until, well, until I decided to directly tell people about it. I didn't know it was DID at the time (long story, denial, and teenage stupidity), but most people either didn't take me seriously or just went along with it for the heck of it. There was one summer where people thought I might be bipolar, but that was the closest anyone got. In fact, many oddities get overlooked in society. It's kinda weird sometimes. Also, not all personalities take control on the outside, so having a variety of personalities doesn't necessarily mean more symptoms.

>>7 But yeah, you really don't need to worry - the others in the system will more likely than not keep any that DO decide to do anything dangerous under control. After all, DID is first and foremost a defense mechanism. And them having favorite colors and names is not odd. Hating when they take over is unhealthy and I don't know why it would bother you just to hear them talking. Honestly, that tends to be pretty normal. If you were annoyed because sometimes they stay up late talking at night and you can't sleep, or sometimes they say things that irritate you (you know, because they insult you or say something that you happen to strongly disagree with, like maybe how much they want to have cabbage for dinner), then ok, but just that they talk in general? It's kinda like saying that you hate when you sit at the dinner table with your family and people eat... That's just what they do... It sounds more like you hate people in general.

And I have to admit, I'm a little iffy about your claim here, just because you seem way too worked up about all of it, you only mentioned the common things that tend to show up a lot in media, you claim psychology is helping you but all my studies of psychology did was explain why it probably doesn't exist, and you talk about medication like that is actually something people want or use or even that helps in most circumstances. Either you are really ignorant about your own condition and desperately want to sound 'normal' and somehow knowledgeable at the same time, which is really unhealthy and a terrible way to approach the disorder, or you really don't know what you are talking about and just want attention here for some reason... Just my opinion. But if you want attention that bad, there are actually other disorders for that which are far better understood and you might actually benefit from therapy. And if you are just using it to write off the fact that sometimes you can come across as bitchy, then maybe you should do some introspection and learn to accept yourself and do something that will be useful for you in the long run.

But if you really do think you have DID, I suggest looking for a good support group and doing some research. I would suggest looking for a good therapist, but they can be difficult to find and my search mostly brought me people who basically told me that they didn't believe me because I had already talked to people about it and done research before deciding that therapy might be worth the money... Because apparently I have $140 to blow every month for over a year (over $1,700!) on a practical joke and people with DID aren't supposed to place importance on 'trivial' things like finances and information... Idk. So I guess it depends on your area and how much research has been done on it, since they have only actually started really studying it in the last 30 years or so, at least in the US. Support groups have always been the most helpful for me, so that's what I will recommend.