It always amazes me when dissociative trauma survivors tell me that after they've met three or four of their inside alters (or maybe even a few more than that, but not many), that they think they've met everyone in their system. They think they don't have that many dissociative splits in their DID system, or they think that they are "done" meeting their insiders. That never makes sense to me. Oh, I … [Read more...]
Split Decisions
When you have Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID or DID/MPD), and you’re thinking as a multiple personality -- thus having a multitude of different thoughts at once time -- it can be very difficult to make decisions. How do survivors with DID ever make up their minds? How do survivors with DID decide whose opinion to follow? How do survivors with DID ever decide what is best for … [Read more...]
Believing a Lie – the Foundation of Dissociation
What makes it difficult for trauma survivors with Dissociative Identity Disorder to know the truth? How easy is it to trick someone with DID with a lie? When are survivors lying to themselves? When does dissociation block out information to know the difference? When does pain, especially emotional pain, become the deciding factor in what survivors believe, regardless of truth? When does the viciousness … [Read more...]
Scoring the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES)
I hope you have already recorded your score for the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) before reading this follow-up blog. If you haven't yet taken the DES, please do so before reading any further. Information about the DES can be found here: How Dissociative Are You? Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) To explain the scoring of the DES, I’m going to quote some material from Dr. Colin Ross’s … [Read more...]
United States of Tara – If you were the writer…
Obviously, there is a tremendous amount of controversy and upset among the survivor community about how Showtime has presented Dissociative Identity Disorder in United States of Tara series. Thank you, everyone, for so many lively comments on the previous post about this topic. I think that's excellent. It is very good to speak up about your cause and let the world know how it really is. One way to combat the … [Read more...]