Posted by Dinah on January 6, 2006, at 23:43:03
In reply to Re: The social construction of (some) mental illne » Dinah, posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2006, at 22:57:10
Well, there's an easy way to tell. MPD today is more likely to get you scorn than help from the majority of clinicians. Will the presentation go away?
The theory seems to assume that the presentation of symptoms has a goal in mind. To absolve one of responsibility. To get help or attention.
And that may be the case in a certain percentage of cases, maybe even a large percentage of cases.
But in the people who really are having problems in an emotional sense, that isn't necessarily the primary purpose. I'm guessing the primary purpose behind organizing one's experience into a certain mold (a mold that one learns from one's culture to a large degree) is to make sense of one's experience. It's unsettling in a very large degree to have experiences one doesn't understand. Or to have experiences that one can't organize into a concept that one can grasp. So if an explanation comes up that organizes those experiences a person having genuine problems might grab onto that explanation.
Like someone who hears voices in their head. Well naturally it makes sense that those voices come from somewhere. And it occurs to them that those voices are being beamed into their head from alien spacecraft because the culture is full of science fiction references. While someone from 1750 would come up with a different "explanation" for what they're experiencing.
Or someone who is experiencing overwhelming overstimulation or anxiety might be convinced that their arm is paralyzed if that is something that is considered not unlikely in their society. Because they know that something is very wrong with them and they feel out of control. While someone in today's society would be somaticizing in a different way that is more in keeping with today's ideas. Like scratching themselves into an rash.
I don't know. Maybe we're saying the same things.
But in any case, I think the way a person organizes their experience says a lot about their experience. But not everyone who organizes their experiences in a given way is saying the *same* thing about themselves.
Besides, hasn't MPS been identified throughout the ages in a small percentage of people? And the only difference is that in recent years the percentage has grown larger and the alters have grown more numerous? Leading some to say that it was underdiagnosed in previous times, and some to say that it is a social construct?
While isn't it just as likely that many people who organize their experiences along the lines of MPD have completely different reasons for choosing that way of organizing their experiences?
Again, maybe we're saying the same things. People trying to grab for an explanation are most likely to choose one that is available to them. And so are those who are just trying to express general distress. And so are those who are trying to absolve themselves of responsibility. And so are those who are trying to get themselves help or attention.
poster:Dinah
thread:595576
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20051229/msgs/596082.html