Inner World of the subconscious mind

"Dissociative identities exist in a third reality, an inner worldInner reality in dissociative identity disorder (Closed System). In this disorder each dissociated state has its own inner reality, while at the same time there is a common inner reality where states have a distinct, phantom appearance. {{Rp|301}} A closed system is a self care system that helps a child manage [[Attachment disorder|traumatic attachments]], and provide as a supplement to the scarce supplies available in an abused child's interpersonal environment. {{Rp|71}} that is visualized, heard, felt and experiences as real. This third reality is often characterized by trance logic. In trance logic, ideas and relationships of ideas about things in reality are not subject to the rules of normal logic. Because they are kept in separate compartments, contradictory beliefs and ideas can exist together; they do not have to make sense. In the way, the internal world contains many subjectivities that experiences themselves as separate people. There is a pseudodelusional sense of separateness and independence. Trance"periods of absence-like staring and unresponsiveness; well documented in severely dissociative people for over 100 years"{{Rp|229}} logic is characteristic of dreams and hypnosis."

The image is a dendrite receiving chemical signals; nerve cells send, receive and interpret information through chemical, electrical and "short order" impulses. When a signal is sent from the brain to somewhere in the body it is interpreted in the mind. This is how somatic illness occurs. The mind confuses the signal with unprocessed trauma and then sends a signal to the brain and then the individual becomes ill. Medicine won't fix it. The individual needs to work on the integration process which involves trauma processing. The brain and mind play-out fascinating scenarios like this all the time, and all is fine until there is a malfunction caused by the unprocessed trauma that is stuck in the mind.

The mind of an individual with dissociative identity disorder realizes a complex arrangement of signals transpiring through multitudes of neurons and other connections in the brain, and those signals are like a "rabbit in the hat". They are there, then they are gone, but they can be "grabbed out of thin air" before they are gone and interpreted by the subconsciousness mind to be “people and places in an inner world.” The inner world is a fantasy place in the subconscious mind, which is "real" to the states that "exist" there. The brain/mind system of individuals without dissociative identity disorder do this too, but to a far lesser extent; individuals with dissociative identity disorder vary in the degree in which they experience their inner world. Distinct states often remain unconscious in the inner world until their "imagination" catches up with the less than distinct states, and then they become active inside and interact with the other states. Elaboration defines the appearance of the inner world which many states experience as the same detailed environment. "

An individual in "stage II" of therapy for dissociative identity disorder, who has awareness of their inner world describes it like this.

"Less than distinct states" are far more visual and imaginative than "distinct states", and therefore experience an existence there sooner. My distinct states were "seen", but never aware in the inner world until centuries had passed, and my integration had progressed to the point where communication between the distinct state that was "out," and the "less than distinct states" that were inside was fluent. Inside the experience of the states could be one less than distinct state painting, another playing piano, another the guitar, a couple playing chess, while still another might be writing chemistry equations on a blackboard and explaining it to others inside, and another is "listening" to a recorded memory of a Beethoven sonnet, while still another is crying, and soothed by another, and still another is telling me what to write on this page. The intelligence of the states vary, which I find interesting, and when a state is in the inner world, its intelligence is different from when it is "out." It's as if while out, any state is operating with a completely different set of "memory skills," and the integration level seems to dictate this. Distinct states are even more confusing; at first mine were not aware inside, and so when they were out they had no recall of the inner world and their "life" there. Later after integration had progressed they were aware inside, but while out they still had no memory of the inner world. Another interesting point is that there is no age that the states think they are (as opposed to OSDD), but they do maintain a certain level of maturity or immaturity. Their appearance is something they have learned to change at will, but in the past it reflected who they were in the inner world. In this way elaboration and distinction evolved beyond the time these states were out."