Posted by Dinah on June 15, 2003, at 9:19:32
In reply to Re: Been reading up on DID/MPD, posted by deirdrehbrt on June 14, 2003, at 21:13:04
> 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.You're making perfect sense, because that describes my fear precisely. I wish they would hash it out behind closed doors and come out with a consensus.
I have to confess that I was quite upset when I read that the new treatment was to ignore ego states. But then I realized that the practitioners who did that were so smug that they were right, because the patient quit telling them about it. When the truth is that I would quit telling them too. I would just hide my experience because I wouldn't want to deal with their disapproval. That wouldn't make the experience go away. And hopefully I'd find a new therapist.
Also the negative appraisals of patients by experts (for example, Paul McHugh) who seem to see the diagnosis as something only experienced by people with extreme dramatic and attention seeking behaviors put such a stigma on the whole thing.
But I *know* I'm not like that. I'm willing to admit that I might be wrong in how I organize and interpret my experiences. I'm willing to admit that. Goodness only knows I have no idea of how to interpret my experience. But whether I'm right or wrong, my way of interpreting my experience does not automatically link me with a lot of other personality characteristics. It's kind of like self injury. When you self injure, many diagnosticians automatically assume a lot of other things about you. And it's just not necessarily true. At least in one case, it stems more from an inhibited expression of emotion rather than a florid dramatic expression of it.
I'm really sorry, Dee, that you have so much abuse history to haunt you. That's something at least that I don't have to contend with. It must make things so much worse for you.
I hope this discussion doesn't upset you. I am just so frustrated with the lack of consensus. And so shamed by the views of some practitioners in the mental health community. And the fact that my therapist isn't one of them doesn't seem to help that shame enough.
poster:Dinah
thread:233812
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030529/msgs/234104.html