So here we go again. The second season of the Showtime series "United States of Tara" starring the Emmy Award winner Toni Collette has begun. The first season was full of controversial episodes, and most of the survivor population with dissociative identity disorder was disappointed and angered by the series. Even though some of the best-known trauma psychiatrists were allegedly acting as advisors for the show, … [Read more...]
Expressing Anger Instead of Pain
Every now and then, Dr. Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) from HBO's series, "In Treatment" comes out with a good line, full of depth, and accurate to the therapy process. In one of the episodes I saw this week, Dr. Weston says, "Is it easier to be angry with me than to look at your own pain?" His client was throwing all kinds of angry jabs at him when clearly she was angry, upset, and miserable about her own … [Read more...]
United States of Tara – Going too Far
Okay. So I was all kinds of optimistic and hopeful that the Showtime series, United States of Tara, would be a positive statement for Dissociative Identity Disorder. After all, Showtime interviewed Dr. Richard Kluft, an informed psychiatrist, one of the founding fathers of the treatment of DID/MPD. That was a good sign, wasn't it? Well. As a trauma therapist with 20+ years of clinical experience working with … [Read more...]
What if you don’t like being Multiple?
This week, the readers here have posted a wide variety of reactions to the idea that being multiple could have benefits. If you haven't yet read all the comments on that blog, please do so. They are very interesting. When people have DID/MPD, they have experienced life as a multiple since their childhood. It is their norm - basically the only way of life they know. Multiples typically have not experienced … [Read more...]
DID Trauma Survivors and Getting Support from Other People – or not?
Dissociative trauma survivors need emotional support. However, this can be difficult to achieve. As the show, "United States of Tara" is gradually starting to demonstrate, survivors with Dissociative Identity Disorder have friends and family members that offer varying levels of support: Those that find dissociative trauma survivors to be really good, kind, decent, and wonderful people, and will stand by them … [Read more...]