Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

by Wounded Heart 95 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  waiting

  Howdy lee,

  Thanks for your post - I know how much I'd pay for this in Real Life You, Larc, and some others have helped many of us here to see therapists/Ph.D's as people with specialized learning and perspectives......not necessarily as just $150-$250 per 50 min. A fine gift your giving.

  I don't know if I could participate in a group mpd/did thing. In spite of the amount of my posts.....quite private. And (no offense) some of those DID are wacked - which includes/included me at different times. Of course, I don't come off *mentally healthy* when triggered either.

  I think we all grow up with the illusion of normal. Father, mother, home, etc. In other words - what we perceive as average. When abused, the kid on some level might suspect his family isn't like the Jones next door - and the yearning begins. I know I tended to tag onto women, just wanting their friendliness. Thankfully, my mom didn't fight me on this - I think she thought I was out of her way. But it helped me a lot.

  Even though we have to be politically correct with children now - it would be a gift to remember that the kid who just wants to visit with you (bring you small gifts/flowers) might have a really crappy life at home and is reaching out - just yearning for what they, on some level, know they don't have.

  I think your review of kids as being naturally multiple makes a lot of sense. I remember my daughter going through stages (like daily) where she'd *try on* being intelligent, girl silly, sexy, boylike, - drove me nuts. She was an abuse victim, so maybe hers was a bit more obvious than other kids.

  Nonetheless, it does make sense. I've also read the theory about the incredible imagination of some kids - their invisable friends, their ability to have strong relationships with them.....and how they outgrow them. Another gift?

  waiting
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  Lady Lee

  expect mail

  yes some of us therapists are normal people who really care about those who have been hurt. I choose to use my experience to help others. It is my way of turning something bad into something good. And it helps others along the way - a special gift.

  I love my work. I love working with people.. And I think this work takes a love of both to be able to do for any length of time.

  As for what's normal - I never knew. I didn't think what I had was normal when I was small. I recall wanting to run away when I was 8 and I didn't think that was normal. But then even the families around us weren't normal - we were just worse.

  A not-so-silent lamb
  
  Aspire to inspire before you expire
• 

  waiting

  got mail.

  I think I knew what normal/average was - some of my girlfriend's families. Fussin', feuding, drunks (teenagers & adults), laughter, hugs. Btw, some of these families had incest in them too - years later, some of us got together (I was searching for my background) and we compared notes.

  Not much different than some jw's response.....talk quietly, division of families, raw emotions. Lol, but that was still commendable to my family. At least those families tried to deal with it, come to grips with it.

  Perhaps my use of the word *normal* was inappropriate. Who knows what's normal? Perhaps average is better......means slightly different.

  waiting
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  Lady Lee

  I have learned about dysfunctional families. The rules are all bascially the same. I have a theory that since Russell was taken to court for sexual abuse and Rutherford was an alcoholic it makes perfect sense that the whole organization would follow whatever dysfunction were in each of these men.

  I know a lot of sexual abuse victims in the in the org and a lot of alcohics too. If the shoe fits the people will wear it

  A not-so-silent lamb
  
  Aspire to inspire before you expire
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  ARoarer

  I came across this thread and felt I have to respond to all of you with many(((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))))))). The subject of Dissociative Identity Disorder, and related conditions, such as Panic Disorder,PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder as well as others, is a subject I have had to deal with in my personal life. God bless all of you, continue progressing with your therapy, stay present, safe, and grown up.
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  plmkrzy

  (((((((((((((((((((((waiting,Ladylee,new eyes, Aroarer & anyone else I missed)))))))))))))))))))

  enjoyed reading this entire thread.[8>]

  
  

  ........................It's the silence between the notes, that make the music.................
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  waiting

  Well, thank you very much ladies for speaking up! Lee gets tired of chatting with me (she's sooooo polite).

  As ARoarer said.....PTS, depression, drug abuse, and a whole host of things tend to go hand 'n hand with the problem. Or are common problems within themselves. Lee's point about having dsyfunctional founders sets the tone for the followers.

  Lol, it's up to people like Lee to figure out what the hell are all of our problems! I remember my therapist would comment on my nailbiting, up/down weight, clothes, etc.,.....finally I commented back to her about such scrutiny. She said that was her job - to get to know the me who didn't talk.

  And Plum............could use a little help keeping fiesty Lee in line, thank you!

  waiting
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  Lady Lee

  grrrrrr jumping up and down being feisty

  Ouch bumped my knee so much for feisty

  So welcome to plm and aroarer

  @$%$%%)&*&($#^$%@#^%$#^# trying not to be so polite

  A not-so-silent lamb
  
  Aspire to inspire before you expire
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  lauralisa

  Encouraging book excerpt moment !

  (Dedicated to waiting)

  But after recovery, after they have chosen to live, these same people often truly live - passionately, in a way many other people never achieve. Survivors embody extremes of human experience, such that everyday misery is a near-stranger to them. At first, their pain is much worse than our everday misery, by a factor so large that it would be difficult for most people to conceive of it. And then later, after recovery, everyday misery is simply unacceptable. Life must be a passionate, conscious journey, or it is just not worth the survival effort.

  In the context of their own personal experience, and their struggle to come to terms with it, survivors inevitably address certain questions. Does anyone every truly care about anyone else? Is love just a word? On this planet, is it possible to be in control of anything? Is it all right not to be in control? Does human life, in its pain and vulnerability, contain something that makes it worthwhile? And these questions are not asked philosophically, from the relatively detached stance that the rest of us might enjoy at times, but rather from a position of intense and consumingly personal relevency every day.

  Eventually, the trauma survivors I see glean their own answers to some of the mot fundamental human questions. And the beliefs, strategies, and personal values they come to live by are fascinating, a school for human life. Perhaps the most instructive of all is the recovered trauma survivor's intimate relationship with what is for many people the most distant of philosophical concepts: awareness of the truth. That awareness is life-giving: that dissociation and numbness are lethal, is a lesson the recovered survivor has learned down to his or her bones. It is the lesson that sparks the missionary's glint. It restores faith, and makes living a workable choice. And though the turnabout may seem ironic, this lesson is precisely the one that many of us have not learned deeply enough to make genuine living possible. Perhaps, like grandchildren, we can learn it from the "old souls", from the survivors.

  From The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness by Martha Stout, PhD, one of the best books I've ever read

  Highest regards to all who have survived,

  lauralisa
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  aluminutty

  Wounded heart:
  You are brave, but you don't need mme to tell you that. I know someone who |had| DID; I say |had| because after 7 years of damn good therapy, not to mension incredible individual bravery this person was able to fully reintegrate. If you would like, you can drop me an e-mail at [email protected] - that address is just in case my e-mail is locked, and I'll give you contact information. This person, while not ready at this time to discuss her individual experience in this most public forum, would love to one-on-one talk to you/give you help if you want. Again, if you want, no pressure, and absolutely no strings attached.

  Bob