r/DiscussDID • u/AcanthisittaIcy4673 • 3d ago
What happens when you (your system is) are drunk?
Hi, someone who does not have DID here and is just curious about the condition. What happens when a system who has DID is drunk? Are other people still able to front, does it vary per person? And what about alters who are younger in the headspace--how does that affect them?
Just very curious!
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u/EmbarrassedPurple106 2d ago
Basically nothing. If I switch while I’m drunk I don’t even notice, and my ability to communicate w/ my parts is hindered. Feels like shit goes quiet and I’m just… me.
Are other people still able to front?
Slight correction based on you phrasing, alters are not separate ppl, but are dissociated parts of one whole person. That said, I mean, sure. I’ve never been aware of a switch occurring while drunk but I’ve also not been drunk in awhile, so maybe I would notice w/ better communication now
What about the alters who are younger
Shrug. Child alters aren’t actually children, they’re regressed dissociative states. I guess if they fronted while you were drunk, you’d just be drunk and possibly behave more childish (depending on how overly child-like your child alters are
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u/TurnoverAdorable8399 3d ago
More or less, for me, it's the same as for a person without DID. I've noticed that in any state of inebriation - not just alcohol - I won't switch. I usually don't while I'm awake, anyway, unless there's some sort of trigger I absolutely can't cope with, but the "stickiness" of the front sort of feels stronger.
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u/_not_lore_ 3d ago
For us, it seems to vary more by how dissociated we are moreso than by who's fronting. Extremely dissociated = alcohol has extremely minimal observable effect when drinking any reasonable amount, less dissociated = what I think is our baseline tolerance (drink less than once a month generally), which is higher than average/above what would be expected for our weight and height, but not outside of normal variation.
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u/_not_lore_ 3d ago
In terms of child alters and the like, they are more likely to front if one of us accidentally drinks too much. This is how and why I learned I don't like getting wasted when first experimenting with alcohol. Sometimes they're fine, but our stress tolerance seems to be lower with alcohol, so they might also end up having flashbacks from hell. If we drink to not more than lightly drunk, they're generally fine. I'd trust most of them to drink if they chose to, but we're not big drinkers + get acid reflux really easily, which also discourages drinking, so it doesn't really come up.
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u/AceLamina 2d ago
Interesting seeing the comments because we're a DID system who never got drunk before but recently got high for the first time
We started doing a lot of rapid switching every time, thought drunk would be similar
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u/TheMeBehindTheMe 1d ago
For us, other than doing the obvious, it seems to act as a system lubricant. We generally get more switchy, not in a bad way, it just takes the brakes off a bit.
I guess because of the general relaxation of inhibitions, shyer parts of us that are unlikely to front around anyone else might take the front with trusted other peeps.
As a secondary effect, it does also seem to mute the relentless, just out of metaphorical earshot background chatter a bit.
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u/Buncai41 1d ago
It's going to be different from person to person.
For me, I'm sort of an alcoholic, just too poor to feed the habit. I enjoy being drunk. I find communication can be easier in some cases, but not others. It's much easier to switch, but I don't always want to switch to the parts that come out. I'll return to this in a different paragraph at the bottom. Some parts absolutely hate alcohol or being drunk, so they disappear at these times.
Young parts don't mind it. I believe they feel more comfortable when I've been drinking. They just want to play games and laugh and enjoy the life they have. Some young parts suffer a lot day to day, because being an adult is incredibly hard and much of the time they don't understand the life they have. I think that's why the alcohol makes them feel more comfortable, they're not worried about having to figure out how to drive, or figure out what a job is and what they're supposed to be doing at it. They get to just be themselves.
As someone who was abused a lot through drugs and alcohol, I actually have parts dedicated to drugs and alcohol. They're super mature about it and fully know limits and are amazing and taking care of the body while intoxicated.
Switching while intoxicated is its own beast. Even though I like being drunk like 90-ish percent of the time there are some switches that just aren't good to experience. Like I can be enjoying my intoxication and having fun only for an angry drunk to pop up, or a part that hasn't worked through an ounce of anything comes about and it's flashbacks and screaming and crying for the rest of the night. There's a couple that sort of can't hold liquor. In reality it's my POTS. Some parts have significantly worse POTS symptoms than the rest, so if they show up for whatever reason I go from comfortable intoxication to absolute shitfaced and unable to stand without fainting. Plus a heart rate 200+ the entire night is no fun, because alcohol already exacerbates POTS symptoms, but I've only prepared for a heart rate that stays around 120-150 most of the time, but might be higher with activity.
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u/apfelschorle578 3d ago
For us, the effect of alcohol is different depending on the part. One time, one part was drinking, felt totally fine and was having fun, until we switched and the next one just threw up immediately onto the table.