Sometimes, “Nothing” Requires a Lot of Work

(Summary) People with DID or OSDD may feel exhausted even after a day with few external demands. One possible source of this fatigue is internal containment: the work a system may do to keep distressing memories, emotions, sensations, or activated parts from disrupting whoever is fronting. Sometimes an uneventful day may require considerably more internal effort than it appears to from the outside.

Sometimes your system has worked really hard to accomplish…nothing. We usually think of effort as producing something: completing a task, solving a problem, having a difficult conversation. But effort can also go into preventing something from happening. For people with DID or OSDD, some of that effort may involve internal containment. Sometimes the apparent absence of activity is actually the result of activity happening elsewhere in the system.

What might the system be containing?

Your system might be working hard to contain certain experiences from your conscious awareness. This can include:

• emotions that could overwhelm whoever is fronting
• traumatic memories or memory fragments
• distressed or activated parts who are trying to come closer to the front
• thoughts, sensations, impulses, or other internal material that could interfere with current functioning.

Successful containment may mean that whoever is fronting (you) is unaware this work is happening. But it is still work which requires effort.

Successful containment can make the work invisible

If a memory doesn’t intrude, an emotion doesn’t flood you or other parts of the system, or an activated part doesn’t disrupt functioning or take over fronting, containment may be doing its job. A system may have significant amounts of internal distress, but you as the one fronting are completely or largely unaware of it. From your point of view, nothing is happening. This is exactly what your system is working so hard to ensure.

Imagine you are in a room. The door is closed. You can’t see that on the other side of the door someone is holding that door closed. From your perspective, nothing is happening. You have no idea you’d have difficulty leaving the room or that anyone is pushing on the door.

Containment may become more demanding at some times

Similar days may have different costs in terms of the energy needed to maintain containment. The effort required to maintain containment can be significantly increased on days when a part of the system has been triggered or activated or when the system is already stressed. Containment can require more effort when internal material such as memories is pressing closer to your awareness or when parts are unable to maintain distance between themselves and you, the one fronting. Externally, the two days may look very similar. The difference is what is happening below the surface.

Reconsider what “I did nothing today” means

So on those days when you catch yourself wondering, “Why am I so tired? I didn’t even do anything today!” you might want to consider that your system may have been quietly hard at work. Your system may have invested a lot of effort into making sure your uneventful day remained uneventful.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can DID or OSDD make you tired even if you haven’t done much?

Yes. External activity isn’t the only possible demand on a DID or OSDD system. Internal processes, including managing distress, switching, internal communication, and containing experiences outside the awareness of whoever is fronting, may require effort. As a result, the amount of visible activity during a day may not reflect everything the system has been managing.

What is internal containment in DID or OSDD?

Internal containment refers here to efforts within the system that keep certain experiences from disrupting current functioning or reaching the awareness of whoever is fronting. This might involve intense emotions, traumatic memories or memory fragments, thoughts, sensations, impulses, or distressed or activated parts.

Why might internal containment be more exhausting on some days than others?

The demands of containment may vary depending on what is happening within the system. A trigger, increased stress, activated memories or emotions, or parts moving closer to the front may make maintaining containment more difficult. Two days that look equally uneventful externally can therefore involve very different amounts of internal effort.

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