Posted by deirdrehbrt on June 14, 2003, at 21:13:04
In reply to Re: Been reading up on DID/MPD » judy1, posted by Dinah on June 14, 2003, at 11:24:16
I think that the hard part about working with someone is trusting them to understand the degree and qualities of dissociation which we experience. Everyone is capable of deep dissociation, but most don't do it automatically when threatened or injured.
I suppose that it would be helpful if we could demonstrate by means of an injury that we can't feel, or some other tangible means for them to examine. I'm sure that most of us have experienced illness or injury that brought about questions from doctors or acquaintances as to how we were able to walk / function / handle the pain without being incapacitated by it.
The real problem is when we let these professionals who disbelieve our dx influence our own thinking. If our diagnosis isn't real, how can we be sure that the events that caused this defense mechanism actually occured? If dissociation is supposed to be caused by trauma or abuse, and if our dissociation is doubted by the professional we look to for help, then might we not begin to doubt that trauma or abuse?
I suppose that I'm fortunate in that I have a therapist who has worked with DID clients before. It was a psychiatrist who I trust who first recognized that I dissociate. The P-doc that I'm seeing now doesn't doubt DID. The greatest degree of doubt regarding my diagnosis has come from me. Part of that doubt is because I don't want to recognize the amount of abuse that I experienced.
I guess that what I am suggesting is that the most important people who need to believe is us. With that, we will be able to find the therapists who can help us. It is much more difficult though for those who haven't yet been diagnosed, and might be filled with fear because of the stigma, urban legend, and mis-information surrounding dissociative disorders.
I hope I'm making sense, but I'm real tired right now.
Dee.
poster:deirdrehbrt
thread:233812
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030529/msgs/234050.html