Trauma and Dissociative Disorders Resources

These mental health resources related to dissociative disorders and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) are freely available for reference. However, keep a TRIGGER WARNING in mind for some of the words that may reference issues, such as a*ss*ult or s**c*de.

Dissociative Identity Disorder Resources

Apps for DID Systems

  • Pocket Advocate App– A web app for creating emergency profiles for First Responders, or those with DID to build a system map.
  • Lighthouse – An online journal web app for those with Dissociative Identities to communicate and get to know their system.
  • pronouns.cc – A service to create and share a list of each alters’ preferred names, pronouns, and terms with other people.
  • PluralKit – A bot designed for plural communities on Discord to present your username as the alter who is fronting by use of commands. Register your system, maintain information, and, log switches.
  • Octocon – A similar but simplified Discord bot to PluralKit allows alters to post according to who is fronting. Octocon also offers a mobile app on Android that connects to users’ profiles and has additional features.
  • Antar – An app on iPhone and Android that was not created for DID, but can be used for system chat conversations.

Depersonalization, Derealization Resources

Maladaptive Daydreaming Resources
General Mental Health Resources
  • NAMI – A mental health organization based in the United States. Offers comprehensive assistance to multiple aspects of mental health.
  • Mental Help – Assisting those with mental health difficulties that lead to addiction issues.
  • Mental Health – Information on different mental health disorders and guidance on how to get help.
  • NIMH – Help for mental illnesses
  • Ami Quebec – Free services based in Quebec, Canada, that assists families in managing the effects of mental illness.
  • The Lifeline Canada Foundation – Raising awareness across Canada for the risk factors of suicide. They work to build mental health resilience. 
  • Help Guide – General information on mental health and wellness for all ages.
  • CAMH – A wide range of clinical care services, such as brief interventions or inpatient or outpatient programs.
  • Mind – Mind, in the United Kingdom, is fighting to support mental health campaigners and end discrimination. They provide information resources.
  • ReThink – Information on different mental illnesses and helping us know our rights and benefits. They provide a carers hub and a blog. They campaign with the experiences of those with mental illness in the hopes of changing government policy for the better.
  • The Trauma & Mental Health Report – A trauma information resource from York University in Toronto.

Addiction Resources

  • Addiction Help – Founded by recovering addicts and board-certified addiction specialists. Offers resources and treatment options tailored to individual mental health needs.

Self-Help

  • Now Matters Now – Watch self-help videos or read direct advice for avoiding ending life or using opioids. Also has links to helplines and directories. 
  • Help Guide – With the tagline “We don’t just educate you – We empower you,” this help guide is completely free and not-for-profit. It offers guided meditations and extensive articles on mental health. 
  • Coping and Self-Care – Options like guiding through recognizing the signals of being stressed, coping strategies on how to feel less stressed, coping with stress, and making a plan to avoid it. 
  • Wellness Workshop – The program offered by the team in SOS built their understanding by listening to people’s experiences. Their Online Wellness Workshop gives you tools to help monitor and manage your own mental health.

CPTSD - Complex Post Traumatic Stress & Assault

  • PTSD Association of Canada – Offers self-assessments, coping strategies, and resources and teaches about PTSD.
  • Dan’s Legacy – Provides youth ages 15 to 25 with free trauma-informed and culturally sensitive counselling in the lower mainland of BC, Canada. 
  • Love Is Respect – Services for survivors who are Blind, DeafBlind, or Hard of Hearing.
  • WavAh – Rape Crisis Center – In British Columbia, Canada, an assault crisis center offers services, like a 24-hour helpline, hospital accompaniment, court accompaniment, and counseling for women, which includes trans women.
  • Rape Crisis (San Antonio, USA) – Offers a helpline, as well as free, unlimited therapy for survivors.
  • Beauty After Bruises – A non-profit for survivors to help them pay for treatment.
  • A Life After Trauma – Resources on support meetups, websites, forums and books. Offers a directory of professionals, hospitals, conferences, and service animals.
  • Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services – In Washington, offers immediate help, ongoing support, safe housing, and education. Offers support groups and the option to “Ask an advocate.” Offers prevention education.
  • Blue Knot Foundation is an Australian nonprofit with a helpline and support service, national counselling, and services for supporters of survivors.
  • Helping Survivors of sexual abuse and assault with support, legal information, resources, and referrals. 
  • HOPE Options seeks to share effective and respectful healing options with individuals and communities while removing the financial barriers that typically prevent access.

Religious Trauma Syndrome Resources

  • Freedom Of Mind – An organization for education and relief of Religious Trauma Syndrome by Dr. Steven Hassan, the creator of the BITE Model
  • I Got Out – With the motto that freedom of thought is a universal right, I Got Out gathers and shares important stories of survivors.
  • Multiplied By One Org – Offers online support groups for several categories, including Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS).
  • Faith To Faithless – As part of Humanists UK, programs include panellist discussions, a helpline, peer support, and safeguarding training.
  • How To Leave a Cult – A WikiHow page with images and a step-by-step guide on how to leave a cult.
  • Witness No More – Recovering from coercive mind control.
  • Shunning is a crime – A global campaign to set legal precedents against mandated shunning as a violation of human rights and to expose the harm of organized ostracism
  • Dare To Doubt -Dare to Doubt is a resource hub for people detaching from belief systems they come to find harmful.
  • Religious Trauma Institute – Resources, Training, and Community for Therapists, Researchers, Advocates, and Survivors
  • Journey Free – Recover from harmful religion. Offers individual coaching and retreats.

RA/MC, Organized Extreme Abuse Resources

Support For Men

  • 1 in 6 – Offers a helpline chat and chat-based support groups for men who are survivors
  • Better Blokes – Free Peer Support
  • Heads Up Guys – Manage and prevent depression in men
  • Movember – A movement for changing the face of men’s health.
  • Man Therapy – Offers what they call a “Head Inspection” for seeing where you excel and where you can improve your mental health.
  • EVRYMAN – With members benefits, EVRYMAN offers support groups, seminars, a retreat, and more.
  • tethr – Peer-to-Peer Support Group
LGBTQ Mental Health
  • MindOut – A mental health service run by LGBTQ people with peer support groups, peer mentoring, advocacy, suicide prevention, online support, and counselling. 
  • Rainbow Services – LGBTQ virtual support services.
  • The Trevor Project – A lifeline, chat, or text with trained counsellors. Hosts “The Lifeguard Workshop,” a free online classroom learning module.
  • It Gets Better – Take the pledge to It Gets Better to stand up and speak out against hate and intolerance. Share your stories, educate others, volunteer, or attend an event like a digital pride experience.
  • Thrive Lifeline – Quarter annual support groups. “TRANS: Togetherness + a Really Awesome Non-Normative Support Group.”
  • Trans Lifeline – Peer support for the trans community run by and for trans people.

Transgender Women

  • WavAh – Rape Crisis Center – In British Columbia, Canada, an assault crisis center offers services like a 24-hour helpline, hospital accompaniment, court accompaniment, and counselling for women, which includes trans women

Transgender People Of Color

  • Mental Health Fund – National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network. In response to violence and instability, the MHF provides financial assistance to increase mental health support through psychotherapists for trans women of color.

People Of Color

DID or OSDD Specific Online Therapy

  • Discreet Online Counseling – Not all their therapy is dissociation specific, but they specify offering therapy for DID.
  • Harley Therapy Platforms – This platform is also not entirely dissociation specific, but they are open to treating it and have a page dedicated to DID.

Peer Support from Another Multiple

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)

Charlie Health – Offers an online Intensive Outpatient Program across the United States, with an option that focuses on dissociative disorders, which can be covered by insurance.

Dissociation or DID Specific Programs within Treatment Centres

These Treatment centers might not be entirely for DID or Dissociative Disorders, but they specify that DID is among the conditions they treat.

Helplines

  • Samaritans (United Kingdom)
  • THRIVE Lifeline – Crisis intervention or help to navigate the struggles of a person of colour, LGBTQ2S+, persons living with disabilities, neurodiverse, and/or other marginalized identities.
  • Disaster Distress Helpline (Includes Spanish) Based in the United States, a dedicated hotline provides crisis counselling to those experiencing emotional distress due to natural, or human-caused disasters.
  • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Includes Spanish) Based in the United States, free and confidential support for people in distress are provided, as well as crisis resources for loved ones, or best practices for professionals. 
  • Crisis Services Canada  Based in Canada, if you are thinking about suicide, you can call, text, or chat. Find resources for if someone you know is thinking about suicide, or if you lost someone to suicide. Find stories of hope, share your own stories, or even volunteer.
  • Lifeline and On The Line If you’re in Australia and feeling suicidal, going through a difficult time, feeling worried about someone, or just needing information and support, you can find what you need at this lifeline.
  • 113 This helpline from the Netherlands is in Dutch. It assists those in crisis, their loved ones, or healthcare professionals. 
  • The Low Down In New Zealand, find out how The Low Down can help you with free texts or emails. Some of the issues covered are anxiety, depression, grief and loss, health, relationships, money worries, and Covid-19.
  • Careline Alaska In Alaska, USA, if you need to talk, the call for help or text. This care line helps you get to know the signs of danger, as well as provide resources, or let you know how to get involved. 
  • Crisis Line Free 24/7 support in the USA, The UK and Canada where a trained crisis counselor responds from their own secure platform.
  • 7 Cups – Connect to free emotional support with a 24/7 chat. They also offer affordable online therapy.
  • I AM Alive – An online crisis chat for those who may be weary of using a phone.
  • Trans Lifeline – Peer support for the trans community run by and for trans people.

Assault

Crisis Line Directories

  • The LifeLine Canada Foundation A Canadian directory that also lists global resources.
  • Unsuicide The Unsuicide directory lists helplines and various other worldwide resources of many forms and uses. 
  • Befrienders At this global volunteer action to prevent suicide, you can search for a helpline or a directory by the country in which you reside.
  • Suicide.org Lists hotlines by State in the USA, but there’s also access to a global directory. 
  • Suicide Prevention Wikia A worldwide open-source directory of hotlines, online chat, text lines, and resources. 
  • The Survivors Trust Based in the UK and Ireland, The Survivors Trust provides support to women, men, and children who are survivors of sexual assault or child sexual assault.

Dissociative Identity Disorder Podcasts

  • System Speak – Diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Emma and her system share what they learn along the way about DID, dissociation, trauma, and mental health.  Educational, supportive, inclusive, and inspiring, System Speak documents her healing journey through the best and worst of life in recovery through insights, conversations, and collaborations.
  • The Bag System – Melissa aims to show that Dissociative Identity Disorder isn’t all a tragedy and that there can be a fondness for Headmates.
  • The We in Me – Navigating life after trauma. No longer surviving but living. Dissecting and chatting all aspects of Trauma, Recovery and educating on lives complicated by traumatic experiences.
  • The Mangled Mind – Steven Shelton lives with DID and interviews guests who have Dissociative Identity Disorder or their loved ones.

DID-Themed Games

  • Reflection of Mine; a dark puzzle video game about dissociative identity disorder. The entire game takes place in the broken mind of Lilly Witchgan, and the goal is to discover who is real – Lilly herself or one of her many personalities. The plot will tell us about her many minds and how they fight each other. Nintendo Switch – Xbox One – Steam – PS4
  • Who am I: The Tale of Dorothy Steam 

Books

  • Dissociation Made Simple – By Dr. Jaime Marich. A Stigma-free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Daily Life.
  • Memoir of a Mangled Mind: How Concealing My Dissociative Identity Disorder Unleashed Multiple Personalities – By Steven Simmons Shelton. Steve discovers he has multiple personalities but keeps the mental disorder a secret for fear of being institutionalized. To maintain his freedom and reputation, Steve discards his ethical compass in order to conceal his alters’ criminal activities—even after becoming an attorney at one of the world’s premier litigation firms.
  • Brain Storm: A Life In Pieces – By Shelley Kolton MD – In Brain Storm, Dr. Shelley Kolton tells the story of a childhood marked by unimaginable abuse and the distinct parts her brain created to hold those memories and protect her. Brain Storm is the heartbreaking account of a mind, fragmented and broken, ultimately made whole by one woman’s incomparable strength and courage.
  • An Apparently Normal Person: From Medical Mystery to Dissociative Superpower – By Bonnie R Armstrong. The author is led to unravel the enigma of her past. What follows is the revelation of a secret internal community that helped her function in the face of unspeakable suffering.
  • Staying in the Room: Managing Medical and Dental Care When You Have DID – By Cathy Collyer. A new playbook for adults with DID and OSDD who experience fear, avoidance, or increased dissociation during medical and dental treatment. Written to support adults with dissociative disorders, it goes beyond offering an explanation for their distress, and provides practical strategies that make it easier to seek and receive the care they deserve.
  • Me, Myself & Them – By Dan Mooney – Though previously funny and charismatic, Denis struggles with even life’s basic interactions. When his ex-girlfriend returns to town, she is shocked at the change in him and she resolves to bring him back to his former self. Denis is forced to confront the adversaries with which he shares a mind.
  • Becoming Yourself: overcoming Mind Control and Ritual Abuse – By Alison Miller – A guide in helping survivors understand that their symptoms are the consequences of their abuse, and advice on achieving stability through life’s difficult issues. The book addresses the reader that may be in a dissociative state by guiding through informational exercises toward healing with cooperation and communication within an inner community. 
  • The Stranger In The Mirror – by Marlene Steinberg, Maxine Schnall – Dr. Steinberg shares fascinating case histories of Dissociative Identity Disorder with insights on how we respond to and overcome trauma. 
  • Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders: DSM-V and beyond – By Paul F. Dell – The most recent scientific findings on Dissociative Identity Disorder are reported in an unprecedented publication that identifies the points of confusion and gaps in knowledge in current understanding of dissociative disorders. While clarifying previously undefined traits of dissociation, this book by Paul F. Dell both defines and redefines the field. 
  • Amongst Ourselves: A Self-Help Guide to Living With Dissociative Identity Disorder – By Tracy, Ph.D. Alderman, Karen Marshall – Read through practical steps for coping and for emerging in greater self-awareness with the skills to lead a rewarding life. The authors explain what DID is and underline what causes the symptoms. Read practical suggestions for those living with and coming to terms with the condition. With a look at the positive aspects of DID, learn to manage behaviours and how to reach out and talk about what you are experiencing. 
  • The Dissociative Identity Disorder Sourcebook – By Deborah Bray Haddock – Following a long history of the media turning the lives of those with DID into chronicles, this sourcebook serves as a bridge between dissociated individuals and their therapists, families, or friends.  
  • Got Parts? An Insider’s Guide to Managing Life Successfully with Dissociative Identity Disorder – By A.T.W. – The practical approach to person-centred therapies is a guide for adult survivors of childhood trauma. Master everyday life issues, self care and medical treatment through coping strategies and techniques. 
  • The Sum of My Parts: A Survivor’s Story of Dissociative Identity Disorder – By Olga Trujillo – Olga recounts her experience of protecting her mind by numbing herself and splitting into distinct mental parts over a 10 year period in order to escape constant abuse. Follow Olga’s unforgettable triumph of recovery from Dissociative Identity Disorder and follow her transition from a survivor to an advocate as she unearths childhood memories and parallel identities. 
  • Recovery is my Best Revenge – By Carolyn Spring – A collection of essays are written from a number of perspectives and experiences of living with trauma-related dissociation. While evocative, raw, and disturbing, there are also profound insights, such as on shame, child abuse, and the ‘complex meanings of madness.’ Finish the journey through these pages, written by Carolyn,  that lead to Her determined vision of recovery,  and her path to what defines the soul-reaching title of her book, “Recovery is my best revenge.”
  • Five Farewells – A Southern Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder – By Liz Elliott – Despite the series of hardships that led to her DID, Liz writes beautifully of her time here being one of evolution. In describing DID as just another way of living, her psychological truth is one of a girl’s dream-like qualities in her experiences with the disorder. Read and learn of her redemptive healing through therapy that leads to hard-won wisdom.

  • Understanding Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Guidebook for Survivors and Practitioners – A broad introduction to childhood trauma and its legacies, with a focus on dissociation and DID.

Books for the littles

Books that teach children what DID is

  • The Patchwork Quilt – A book for engaging children in conversation about Dissociative Identity Disorder. It’s open to interpretation, but was written to be a starting point for discussion. 

DID Online Forums or Discord Servers

Dissociative Identity Disorder on Television

Series

  • Many Sides of Jane This 6-part documentary series follows the story of Jane, who has Dissociative Identity Disorder.
  • Moon Knight is a Marvel series in which Steven discovers that he has an alter named Mark. Together, they navigate the mysteries of their own lives and of the gods of Egypt.
  • The Crowded Room—In 1979, a young man was arrested in Manhattan, and an unlikely investigator must solve the mystery.
  • Doom Patrol members each suffered horrible accidents that gave them superhuman abilities — but also left them scarred and disfigured. Traumatized and downtrodden, the team found purpose through The Chief, who brought them together to investigate the weirdest phenomena in existence — and to protect Earth from what they find.
  • United States Of Tara is a sitcom comedy series that brings humour to living with DID while also showing the hardships.
  • Mr. Robot Elliot is a programmer by day and a vigilante hacker by night. The mysterious leader of an underground hacker group recruits Elliot to destroy the corporation he works for.
  • Kill Me, Heal Me Cha Do-hyun tries to regain control of his life with Dissociative Identity Disorder with the secret help of Oh Ri-Jin, who is a first-year psychiatric resident.
  • Do No Harm Dr. Jason Cole is a neurosurgeon hiding a dark secret where, every night at the same hour, he experiences a stark change in himself that leaves him unrecognizable. This alternate personality named Ian Prince is dangerous but has been kept in check by Jason for years with a powerful sedative. After building a resistance to the serum, Ian becomes bent on revenge on his oppressor. 
  • Shattered Kyle Loggins is an ex-cop who has Dissociative Identity Disorder, in which the onset of symptoms was triggered by witnessing the murder of his wife and young child. Kyle’s unique abilities are exploited and put to work by a rookie policewoman.
  • Love Me If You Dare Simon Bo is a criminal psychologist who can examine the minds of mysterious and violent people.

TV Series Resembling the Concept of DID

  • Sense8 A group of mentally-linked people from around the world must survive the haunting of those who perceive them as a threat to the world order.

DID Short Film

  • Petals of a Rose: A short film by Dylan Crumpler, the son of Holly, who lives with DID. A unique, moving, and accurately portrayed film on the experience of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

DID Movies

  • The Planters – Martha Plant meets Sadie, who turns out to be three friends in one and more than she bargained for.
  • Waking Madison Madison tries to discover her own reality that puts all her pieces together.
  • Fight Club Two different friends, meeting seemingly on happenstance, channel their primal aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept of an underground fight club spreads to every town until the unexpected ignites and spins out of control. 
  • What if it Works? Adrian is a tech nerd with OCD who meets Grace, a beautiful street artist with Dissociative Identity Disorder. It may seem like the impossible love story, but what if it works?
  • Voice Within: The Lives of Truddi Chase (1990) The fact-based story of Truddi, who has Dissociative Identity Disorder, is found through therapy to have suffered abuse.
  • Sybil (1976) There is controversy as to the truth behind Sybil’s story that was thought to be fact, but this movie follows Sybil’s therapeutic journey with 16 different alters. 
  • Sybil (2007) This remake of Sybil’s story who may not be fact is still a television portrayal of what we know of as Dissociative Identity Disorder.
  • Frankie & Alice Frankie is a drama-centered dancer who works with a psychotherapist to uncover her mysterious and puzzling inner ghosts.
  • David & Lisa (1962) Back in 1962, Dissociative Identity Disorder was labelled as schizophrenia, which is the time period of this movie where David, a young man with a fear of being touched, meets Lisa, who speaks in riddles.
  • David and Lisa (1998) In this remake of David and Lisa, a psychiatrist tries to treat an emotionally disturbed teenage boy. Lisa, who speaks in rhymes and has split personalities, is the only one who can communicate with David.
  • The Three Faces Of Eve (1957) Based on a true story, a doctor treats a woman suffering with Dissociative Identity Disorder. 
  • Primal Fear An arrogant attorney defends the case of a poor altar boy found running from the murder scene if the Bishop who had taken him in. The accused reveals the complex scenario that there may not have been a third person in the room, which leads to a perception-altering twist to the crime.
  • Identity (2003) Strangers in a remote motel find their numbers thinning when targeted by an on-site murderer. The travellers turn on each other through the uncertainty of the killer’s identity among them.
  • Secret Window (2004 After a painful divorce, writer Mort Rainey is stalked by a stranger who claims that Rainey stole his best story idea. In trying to prove his innocence, Mort begins to question his own sanity.
  • Hide and Seek (2005) In the wake if his wife’s suicide, David tries to piece together his life, and that of his nine-year-old daughter. Though first amused by Emilie’s imaginary friend, David comes to face that sinister and violent Charlie may not be a simple figment of her mind.
  • Huraćan (2019) While battling Dissociative Identity Disorder, Alonso is an aspiring mixed-martial arts fighter from Miami and struggling to make it into the professional MMA circuit. 
  • Shattered Mind (1996) A woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder confronts her long-buried dark secrets. After the death of her father, she lashes out against her husband and daughters as she descends into a bizarre, emotional world.
  • Mirage (1995) After being hired to follow a local businessman’s wife, Matteo discovers that Jennifer has split personalities and puts herself in danger without realizing it.
  • Separate Lives (1995) Tom quits his job as a police officer to pursue his studies in psychology, but his professor is more interested in his criminology abilities. In combining his two talents, Tom observes Lauren after it is suspected that one of her identities has killed someone.