Paule I think you are the only one who understood I wasn't trying to start anything but your thought process. Sorry if you aren't in a place for those particular questions.
However, ya gotta admit, the others sure DID gang up on me about all this, and did indeed channel any responses from either side in a rather negative way.
This is why I asked those questions..... I have been trying to switch support systems because of a recent move. I have met with several therapists and two psychiatrists and have found only skepticism because they are alluding to the fact that every Tom, Dick and Harry who has mental illness are now walking through the door claiming DID. The cost involved in this search for support has been impressive indeed and so far no end in sight. I suppose DID is appealing in that it is so rare as to never be seen by most therapists in a lifetime of practice and that it is "curable". Makes them feel "special".
Now of course someone with DID is not immune to other mental problems, but what profesionals are seeing is a HUGE influx in the last few years of clients claiming they have DID. Frustrating for the professionals because it is vertually impossible to help a person who is lying to you and focusing away from their true problems, and frustrating for real sufferers because the mental health industry wasn't too hep on this particular malady to begin with, indeed it has been claimed to be a ruse all along. Only in the last few years has it been accepted as a real diagnosis by the broad base of theripists. This trend of aping the diagnosis has cancelled out any value the "discovery" of the diagnosis had. Therapists can not be sure of what is true for DID sufferers and have come up with some truly impossible beliefs.
Another thing is that people who have DID have an inbred unshakable NEED to keep this secret. It is the very crux of what makes them successful in protecting themselves. The most unnatural thing in the world would be to want to share this information, in fact the need is so strong that it takes years of therapy to be able to say the words even to your own therapist, say anything about admitting it and understanding it yourself. The last thing that would happen in a true case is that the person shows up at a web site open to the entire world and say "I was just dxed last week and now I found this site", then continue with a string of "how to" questions like, Anyone ever do this.... You, Paule, I did not have those instant feelings with. I guess I was trying to nudge you out of that totally inaccurate way of questioning. But if you come to these forums and see this proceedure, I can see how you would get swept up into that line of questioning when in fact those questions are not the very base of the problems. The real life and basis of DID is still a secret because of that inbred part of DID, to not tell.
I'm not going to talk about that, it would be like a primer for every DID wanna-be who reads it, and if we are truthful here, there are LOTS of them on the internet. I will not reveal this of myself because even after nearly 20 years of therapy, I have not yet reached a place where it is safe to say the words aloud. It is like saying my life is wrong in some way, it would reveal, and that is not what DID is all about.
But my biggest worry is how these people who are non-functional present the true state of DID. It is there only because the person is HIGHLY intelligent (some of these internet people can't even use proper grammer or spelling). So to use DID as an excuse to get state benefits and SSI is a total disservice to those who have DID. I think that only those who also have other Diagnosis accompanying the DID would be non-functional to the point of needing financial support and those would be exceedingly rare indeed. There are sites on the internet presenting studies done on sections of the population testing for the presence of dissociation. The results are pretty conclusive across the board that only a minute fraction of any given study report dissociation to the degree that is needed to produce new personality. The people tested were not aware of what they were being tested for so that the answers would remain truthful.
Drugs do not work well for DID, there is no medication, yet most of these people sit and discuss different meds and dose amounts as if they are discussing weather. Again, not consistant with a population of persons with DID.
So there are some of MY problems laid out, to be attacked and picked apart I suppose. Because I cannot get decent theraputic support any more because of fakers. It is true in my life, not just an accusation. This is a frustration and disappointment to me. I am hurt by it, but if I try to mention it or seek support I am jeered at and attacked. Believe me, what has happened here is very mild compared to the treatment I have received at other places. There just does not seem to be a place to work this out because there are always those who DEFEND THEMSELVES instead of seeing a person with a predicament and trying to help. Fact is, I have only ever met one person that I can be sure is DID and that was through internet in a pet lovers chat room and then going to 3D, a pure coincidence. I don't have a friend who has it, or a spouse who has it or talk with others who have it. I think in the real world that is kinda impossible, there just aren't that many of us out there and we certainly aren't all on the internet.
Anyone who says my experience is not true or challenges what I have shared here does not know me or what I am currently going through, but here lies the motivation behind asking you the tough questions. The other responses seem to be accusing me of other reasons here, but only I can say what I was thinking or feeling. For someone ELSE to say what I am thinking or feeling when I asked you questions is false. So I asked you to find out what is really in YOUR head and not just some things you read from the experience of a different person. I really meant it, you gotta find out for yourself what is truly inside you if you want to get anywhere in your healing.
To the rest of you, if you pick me apart for bravly coming forward and sharing my truth even though things have gone downhill pretty fast here, then shame on ya. But it is the reaction I have come to expect and I finally decided I have to say all of it somewhere.
Good luck in your healing journeys and be truthful to your therapists, whatever it is that is your problem, DID or otherwise.
Posted on Jan 1, 2002, 6:21 AM from IP address 65.25.234.102