Got something you want to say but don’t know where to post it?
We have interesting discussions on this blog that often go off topic & then get buried under a blog heading that you may miss because the title isn’t of interest – but our conversations may be.
This area is for general discussions – a forum of sorts.
This is an experiment. Let’s see how it works & if you find it useful?
Thank you (each of you) for coming here to read, chat, or make comments. I am fortunate to be engaged with interesting people & their opinions every day.
Best. Jeanette
jeanettebartha
Jeanette Bartha
02/09/2012 at 8:45 pm
GeorgiaGirl,
any response to my experiences being similar to yours, but my memories were not true? Just wonderin’
Jeanette Bartha
02/09/2012 at 8:43 pm
K, I requested another example of repressed memories and Holocaust survivors that other than Cheit.
What ya got?
Jeanette Bartha
02/07/2012 at 5:48 pm
Ross Cheit has a history of having an agenda that is only self-serving. He misquotes people, is disparaging against people and organizations with whom he disagrees, and often stoops below social discourse by disseminating lies is when it serves him. I offer him no credibility as he has not earned any and has repeatedly failed to generate respect from his colleagues – or me.
I am appalled that Brown University allows this man to run wild with his ideations. He brought Brown University to it’s knees.
I therefore, offer none of my time to anything he offers.
Kindly let me know specifically what you want me to address and I will do so. Through the offerings of Cheit, no. Think for yourself and ask questions.
You see, it matters not the degrees one has accumulated or the university one has maneuvered to align themselves with. What matters is what one utters from their mouths. Is it nonsense? Does it make others and organizations to become nefarious in order to elevate themselves? In the case of Mr.Cheit, it is a resounding yes. He offers nothing useful to the profession of psychology other that the serving nature of the psychology industry – of which he is a player.
Bring me other resources. I will take them into consideration. Mr. Cheit is not worth anyone’s time or attention.
K
02/06/2012 at 10:09 pm
What do you think of this link about repressed and recovered memories of the Holocaust?
http:// blogs.brown. edu/recoveredmemory/scholarly-resources/holocaust/
Jeanette Bartha
02/05/2012 at 10:30 pm
Thank you, Abby Normal for the clarification. I did jump to conclusions as I have recently found that people come here, post questions, distort my answers, and then put them up for destructive discussions. I don’t wish to do the same, but perhaps I have come too close – being human is sometimes messy.
As I said, I cannot comment on your family’s particular dysfunction or know if there was dysfunction – or what dysfunction means to you. I don’t know you.
I do ask, however, whether or not your family acted in ways most families do? If we are all dysfunctional, are we not all normal and not dysfunctional at all? If indeed there is an aberration in a family, does that lead to an inevitable conclusion of psychological pathology the renders the “survivor” incapable of coping without the help of a psychologist/therapist to interpret our experiences? Where is our capacity as humans to be resilient following tragedy?
I do not necessarily disbelieve repressed memories. That is an assumption that many people make (usually those who call themselves “survivors”) because I do not believe in multiple personalities which are usually believed to be due to memories either repressed, distorted, or otherwise unknown. The aspect of repression I do not subscribe to is what Richard Ofshe, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Berkeley, USA refers to as “robust repression” that is to say, the ability to recall events accurately after decades of not remember or forgetting.
Quick to judge? The only thing I was quick to assume is that I’ve seen your bio on the Internet previously. This is the first time I have come across 2 multiples who use the same name – other than anonymous, of course. I wanted to know your identity. I won’t make that mistake again.
Abby Normal
02/05/2012 at 6:56 pm
Wow, nice to be welcomed. My sister nicknamed me that when i was a kid from the movie young frankenstein. has nothing to do with my mental status!. I’m sure there are plenty of us around! As for my memories they are between the ages of 5and 12. From 13 to 16 I have nothing. Wasn’t trying to piss you off. jumped in because i thought you sounded pretty reasonable. My mistake. I wasn’t asking you to comment on my family’s dysfunction. Maybe my question was poorly worded. What I wanted to know was if you don’t believe in repressed memories what would loss of time be? Sorry won’t happen again. You are pretty quick to judge aren’t you?
Jeanette Bartha
02/05/2012 at 6:32 pm
Here is what I know about another multiple who goes by the name Abby Normal.
She was diagnosed by Dr. Richard Kluft who practices psychiatry in Philadelphia, PA at approximately age 30 & is now in her early 40s – and may now consider herself recovered from DID.
She lives in N.J. She cut herself off from family around 2010. Her real initials might be K.K.
If not, you will be confused with another multiple who goes by the same name so you might make yours more distinctive.
Jeanette Bartha
02/05/2012 at 6:15 pm
Dear Abby Normal. Are you not pulling my leg? I’ve seen your name here and there on the Internet. I have a hunch that you are not recently diagnosed.
I don’t know why you don’t remember parts of your life.
I don’t know if that was the height of your family’s dysfunction. What do you think? I could not possibly answer that question or comment on it. I wasn’t there.
There is a bit of contradiction to your post. You say you have long periods of time with no memory then go on to say that you have memories of extreme abuse that are collaborated.
Then you tell me to be open to experiences that effect us differently – that leads me to wonder if you are faking questions on this comment of yours.
So tell us, is this a truthful post of yours Abby Normal? As I said, I’ve seen your name around – it struck me because I don’t understand why someone would want to call themselves essentially – abnormal.
Abby Normal
02/05/2012 at 5:52 pm
Hi Jeanette, I was recently diagnosed with DID. The whole thing is pretty frightening to me. I haven’t shared this with anyone around me and at this point I have no intention of doing so. I have been looking up information on the subject and stumbled upon your site. I certainly appreciate the discussion thread. I have a lot of questions myself. This is actually the first time I have ever written a response in a forum setting about anything but I’ll give it a shot. I’m sure there are many people out there who benefit in some way by pretending to suffer from DID. But I have to admit it’s hard to see any benefit. You were talking about repressed memories. I have certain periods of time that are missing in my life. I have no recollection of stepping foot into a classroom until my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college. I am also missing a several year period when I lived in another state during my teen years. What would your opinion be as to why that might happen? I have been told this period was the height of my family’s dysfunction. I have certain memories of extreme abuse before that time. That has been supported medically as well as by family members. My story is just that, mine. You have your own story. Be open to the fact that certain experiences might affect each of us differently. DID is not a blessing. It is always confusing and often frightening. I would give anything to be different and am trying to achieve that with help. Maybe someday you’ll have an opportunity to help someone yourself with this. Whether it might be a rare or common experience is irrelevant to those of us who live it. -Abby
Jeanette Bartha
02/04/2012 at 5:56 am
I am struck by you being 23 years old and then stating I am a “grown woman.” You are a grown woman too, K.
You go on to say, I find you extremely disrespectful and your behaviour down right deplorable. So I guess we’re even. This is what I mean by the “gotcha” game. There is no “guess we are even”. As I said, you are not my enemy and I am not trying to get even with you.
When a woman of 23 years make statements like this, it makes me wonder why? When I was in therapy and “remembering” I spent a lot of time thinking and believing I was a child, acting like a child, being treated like a child, and not being held responsible for my behavior as children often are not – simple because they are children. Whether or not K is experiencing this, it is a good example of why I say that the diagnosis and treatment for dissociative identity disorder does not serve the patient/women in a positive manner i.e. to treat a woman like a woman and not as a child needing the help, guidance, and protection of the all-knowing therapist.
K
02/02/2012 at 5:06 pm
Then read the damn conversation.
I asked you what your opinions on Dissociative Amneria and Dissociative Fugue were. You told me that you only took issue with Dissociative Identity Disorer; meaning that you only find issue with that diagnosis. That would indicate that you find no issue with the other two diagnoses.
Sweetie, I’m pointing out that you said something that indicated you believed in Dissociative Amnesia. I was curious about how you could believe in Dissociative Amnesia yet disregard DID. Then, you suddenly claim that I’m reading between the lines. Jeanette, I fail to see any other way to interpret your post.
I am not playing a “Gotcha” game. I am trying to figure out what on earth you meant by your statement if you were not saying that you found only DID to be a suspcious diagnosis. Care to enlighten me?
Enemy? I’m not even 24 yet, and you’re a grown woman. It’d be extremely pathetic if we were enemies.
I am not in any way making fun of you, and I’m sorry you’re sensitive enough to take it that way.
I find you extremely disrespectful and your behaviour down right deplorable. So I guess we’re even.
Also, you completely ignored all research I showed you on recovered memories in favour of whining that I misinterpretted something you said. Are you here to educate and learn about DID and repressed memories, or are you here to poke fun at a college student?
Jeanette Bartha
02/01/2012 at 8:58 pm
This statement made by me, I only take issue with dissociative identity disorder, means I think DID people can’t recall memories but those with dissociative amnesia can? And, you go further and say that making that statement means I believe in dissociative amnesia? What rubbish. That is more than reading between the lines… that’s disregarding what is said, taking it out of context, and rewriting it. Your statement makes absolutely no sense to me.
K, you go on to say That, right there, is where you admit that you believe Dissociative Amnesia exists. I am not playing a “Gotcha!” game as you not only are, but seem to think everyone else is too.
You are not my enemy any more than any other woman who claims to have a mental illness is. Unfortunately, you are making fun and games of the “gotcha!” kind & I find it utterly deplorable & disrespectful to people with mental illnesses.
K
02/01/2012 at 7:20 pm
K: If you don’t believe in repressed memories caused by dissocation, what do you think of Dissociative Amnesia and Dissociative Fugue?
J: I only take issue with dissociative identity disorder.
K: That, right there, is where you admit that you believe Dissociative Amnesia exists. Dissociative Amnesia occures when the brain focuses in on a point of trauma and erases either the memory, all facts related to the memory, or all personal facts. Memories can be recovered through therapy, though this doesn’t always occur.
I have seen no proof of this, or even anything that leans towards this event. Many of the survivors I know remember things about their ab-se history slowly and only when memories are triggered to the surface. Only one survivor that I know moved quickly enough as to be recovering memories daily, but this survivor has actually almost completely integrated within the year of knowing about her DID!
Everyone retrieves memories all the time. As Jennifer Freyd points out, forgetting where you have left your keys and then remembering is a small scale occurance of “recovering” a memory. These memories, like other recovered memories, are not always completely accurate; Surely you’ve experienced rembering that you set up an appointment on the 28th only to discover that it was on the 30th. Likewise, you’ve also probably experienced believing you have an appoitment on the 28th and being correct! You may or may not have experienced “forgetting” the apointment date, but that doesn’t mean your memory preserved the date accurately.
Yet, despite all that, no one would challenge that you were making up the apointment and only knew about it because someone else had written it on the calender.
Also, it was found by Dalenburg (1996) that recovered memories of s-xual ab-se are just as likely to be accurate as continuously remembered ones. It was found by Williams (1995) that “in general, the women with recovered memories had no more inconsistencies in their accounts than did the women who had always remembered” (Williams, 1995, p. 660). This was after studying the memories of 129 adults who were ab-sed during childhood, and had medically documented proof of this ab-se.
Freyd, J.J. (2010). What about Recovered Memories? Retrieved February 1, 2012 from http:// dynamic.uoregon. edu/~jjf/whatabout. html
K
02/01/2012 at 7:19 pm
K: If you don’t believe in repressed memories caused by dissocation, what do you think of Dissociative Amnesia and Dissociative Fugue?
J:I only take issue with dissociative identity disorder.
K: That, right there, is where you admit that you believe Dissociative Amnesia exists. Dissociative Amnesia occures when the brain focuses in on a point of trauma and erases either the memory, all facts related to the memory, or all personal facts. Memories can be recovered through therapy, though this doesn’t always occur.
I have seen no proof of this, or even anything that leans towards this event. Many of the survivors I know remember things about their abuse history slowly and only when memories are triggered to the surface. Only one survivor that I know moved quickly enough as to be recovering memories daily, but this survivor has actually almost completely integrated within the year of knowing about her DID!
Everyone retrieves memories all the time. As Jennifer Freyd points out, forgetting where you have left your keys and then remembering is a small scale occurance of “recovering” a memory. These memories, like other recovered memories, are not always completely accurate; Surely you’ve experienced rembering that you set up an appointment on the 28th only to discover that it was on the 30th. Likewise, you’ve also probably experienced believing you have an appoitment on the 28th and being correct! You may or may not have experienced “forgetting” the apointment date, but that doesn’t mean your memory preserved the date accurately.
Yet, despite all that, no one would challenge that you were making up the apointment and only knew about it because someone else had written it on the calender.
Also, it was found by Dalenburg (1996) that recovered memories of sexual abuse are just as likely to be accurate as continuously remembered ones. It was found by Williams (1995) that “in general, the women with recovered memories had no more inconsistencies in their accounts than did the women who had always remembered” (Williams, 1995, p. 660). This was after studying the memories of 129 adults who were abused during childhood, and had medically documented proof of this abuse.
Freyd, J.J. (2010). What about Recovered Memories? Retrieved February 1, 2012 from http:// dynamic.uoregon. edu/~jjf/whatabout.html
Jeanette Bartha
02/01/2012 at 12:04 am
A movie triggered your memories?
I had similar experiences. But my memories were not true.
How is it that some people can have memories triggered that are not true, while others believe the triggered memories Are true?
BTW. I’ve been impressed by your relentless exposure of your abuser. Do you have any legal fall-out from it? I admire your tenacity.
Jeanette Bartha
02/01/2012 at 12:03 am
Hi Georgia Girl,
I remember reading your story. Horrific. I wish women like you didn’t have to experience such violence in their lives.
Sorry, I still don’t believe the human brain can totally suppress trauma.
Welcome back.
GeorgiaGirl
01/31/2012 at 10:39 pm
No therapy, no DID, no nothing, except …… a movie that triggered the avalanche.
GeorgiaGirl
01/31/2012 at 10:32 pm
Jeanette, you still do not believe the human brain can repress a horrific trauma. Shame on you, that’s blasphemous!
A little reminder …. my memories did not surface until 40+ years after the fact.
I’ve missed being here — nice to see you.
Jeanette Bartha
01/31/2012 at 3:47 pm
Thought I replied to this, sorry.
I never said anything about dissociative amnesia and repressed memories.
I think DID people retrieve memories all day most every day. That’s what I used to do in therapy. In my case, however, I found the memories were not true.
Jeanette Bartha
01/30/2012 at 6:05 pm
Hold on. I, to the best of my recollection, never addressed dissociative amnesia. Please point that out to me because I may need to make alterations or changes.
I am not addressing any population i.e. dissociative identity disorder or dissociative amnesia when I say that I do not believe the human brain can repress horrific trauma.
I think that people who believe in dissociative identity disorder retrieve “memories” all the time. I did. I accessed, retrieved, and relived them every day for almost 7 years. Problem was, none of them were true.
K
01/30/2012 at 5:53 pm
You have yet to answer why you don’t believe retreiving memories of traumatic pasts are possible for Dissociative Identity Disorder sufferers, yet you see no problem with the same occuring for those suffering from Dissociative Amnesia.
Jeanette Bartha
01/26/2012 at 11:27 am
Hello Avalon111.
Many people who write blogs and whatever, use the term “multiple personalities” when talking about the many faces we are encouraged to create Online. We have unlimited fantasy lives to create at our whim. This behavior is like the diagnosis of multiple personalities. Not much different except the underlying belief that child abuse is the cause rather than a whimsical choice to have fun on the Internet.
Once again, I appreciate your input. It is deplorable that mental health care providers are pushing old MPD theories.Please keep talking and reporting on this.
As they say in AA (alcohol anonymous) meetings: Keep coming back – it works.
avalon111
01/26/2012 at 10:39 am
Strangely enough, Deborah Wesson, who I believe (judging by LinkedIn) works for Just Breathe in Connecticutt, mentioned somting that echoes with a recent email received by a colleague;
‘TODAY THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE WITH THE DISORDER OF MPD WALKING AMOUNG US EVERYDAY, AND YOU MORE THAN LIKELY HAVE FRIENDS, OR KNOW ONE.’
Although MPD/DID was originally thought to be rare, as in really rare, some folk believe it is hugely prevalent. Indeed go back to the mid-1990s and some folk were even teaching therapists that virtually everyone is a victim of CSA and probably has repressed memories of it.
‘Yet another group probing deeply into the British psyche calls itself Primary Cause Analysis. According to an article last year in London’s Sunday Times, this group, which “has been secretly training hypnotherapists in Britain,” claims that virtually everyone has been sexually abused as a child. According to Primary Cause Analysis, there are 39 kinds of child sexual abuse that were performed openly as rituals until 2800 B.C., when society – presumably every society at once – banned them. Practically all of the problems that cause people to seek therapy are the result of repressed memories of abuse at the hands of mothers and fathers, as are many other conditions, including acne, alcoholism, asthma, autism, backache, conjunctivitis, diabetes, halitosis, hay fever, and myopia, to name a few. The group’s founder, the late James Bennett of New Zealand, taught that 98 percent of infant crib deaths were the result of sexual abuse. Therapists who are trained in Primary Cause Analysis are required to sign a statement promising to keep secret the group’s teachings about sexual abuse. ‘
(Recovered memories Cross the Oceans – by Robert Sheaffer – Skeptical Inquirer – http://www.csicop.org/si/show/recovered_memories_cross_the_oceans/)
Which comes back to the email. From a budding scriptwriter who has come-up with a variation on the movie ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ (the Donald Sutherland version) when near enough everyone – man, woman and child is a ‘multiple’ and expected to be.
Except some people aren’t and they have to act ‘multiple’ to get by in the world. Certainly in the 1990s the likes of Gloria Steinem were proclaiming the wonderful abilities MPD could confer – psychic, self-healing, more than one menstrual cycle (always thought that would be just great to have!)
Makes for an interesting diversion; what would happen if it became de rigour to be multiple? Indeed, if you didn’t act multiple, then perhaps you would be labelled, identified, burnt as being a satanist, witch and/or pedophile.
But, corrupting a line from The Incredibles, if everyone was ‘special’, then no-one would be.
Jeanette Bartha
01/23/2012 at 9:58 pm
Hi Nurse Deborah Wesson, thanks for stopping by.
You are in support of MPD, why is that? Do you consider yourself multiple?
You seem to be holding on to old versions of MPD so I am wondering where or why you believe as you do.
Come on back when you have more time, I’d love to hear from you.
Nurse Deborah Wesson
01/23/2012 at 9:48 pm
I DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME RIGHT NOW, BUT SURE WISH IT WAS EARLIER IN THE EVENING AS I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO GET INTO THIS TOPIC ABOUT ” MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DOES NOT EXIST” THAT IS FOR VERY IGNORANT PEOPLE, AND MANY DOCTORS AS WELL.
I SAW WHERE IT SAID SOMETHING ABOUT WOMENT TOO, AND THAT CAME FROM A SHRINK WAY, WAY LONG AGO THUS WOMAN WERE JUST CALLED OR KNOWN TO HAVE
“HYSTERIA” , AND NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE ANY MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES, AND WENT UNTREATED SUFFERING NEEDLESSLY.
TODAY THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE WITH THE DISORDER OF MPD WALKING AMOUNG US EVERYDAY, AND YOU MORE THAN LIKELY HAVE FRIENDS, OR KNOW ONE.
IT IS NOT LIKE SYBIL, THAT WAS DONE TO MAKE MONEY. IT IS A HORRIBLE WAY TO EXIST IN THE WORLD. IT TAKES OVER 5 THERAPISTS BEFORE ONE IS FINALLY DIAGNOSED, AND THEN, AND ONLY THEN HAS THE CHANCE TO HEAL, AND LIVE A PRETTY NORMAL LIFE.
LONG AGO IN THE MPD COMMUNITY THEY CAME UP WITH “MPG” GIFTED, AS IT WAS TO THEM JUST THAT. THEY DIDN’T END UP PUSING GROCERY CARTS, AND LIKE WHAT ONE SEES ON THE STREET. THEY ARE VERY INTELLIGENT, AND JUST LIKE ANYONE ELSE.
ALL THAT IS WRONG IS THEY SUFFERED SUCH HORRIFIC ACTS AS A CHILD FROM THE EARLY AGES OF INFANT TO 5, AND THIS IS WHAT WAS THE GIFT THE ORIGINAL CHILD
DIDN’T HAVE TO REMEMBER THE MEMORY, BUT THE OTHER TOOK ON THAT FOR THEM SO THEY COULD FUNCTION IN LIFE.
WHAT WE DON’T BELIEVE DOES NOT MAKE IT SO.
K
01/18/2012 at 7:08 pm
They’re opening, easy to interpret sites in case anyone who was not previously aware of the disorders decided to look. I figured I’d be having to resource actual studies later on, but I wanted to get my bases covered first.
Besides, I had trouble finding even a single site that was skeptic of DID that even mentioned the other Dissociative Disorders.
K
01/18/2012 at 7:04 pm
Why is that? They’re all caused by the same dissociative mechanism. They all involve dissociation of personal history. DID and Dissociative Fugue both involve amnesia to personal information.
What about “repressed” memories? They’re kept from the mind by dissocation. This occurs in both Dissociative Amnesia and Fugue. What makes recovering ab*se memories more unlikely than losing and then (hopefully) recovering traumatic or stress causing memories by these disorders?
Jeanette Bartha
01/18/2012 at 5:55 pm
K, why did you supply those particular websites?
I don’t particularly find them current on the controversy surrounding dissociative identity disorder/multiple personalities. So I am skeptical about what they publish in general because I know they are not going to tell me all sides of issues.
Jeanette Bartha
01/18/2012 at 1:29 pm
I only take issue with dissociative identity disorder.
K
01/17/2012 at 8:14 pm
Another question;
If you don’t believe in repressed memories caused by dissocation, what do you think of Dissociative Amnesia and Dissociative Fugue? Dissociative Amneisa being, of course, when an individual forgets things related to a trauma on a selective (recalling certain parts of a traumatic event but not others), localized (forgetting an event), systematized (forgetting all information related to a certain memory category), or generalized (forgetting one’s entire life) level. Dissociative Fugure refers to the forgetting of not only one’s past but their very identity, as well.
Sources:
http :// www. ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/ pubmed/16791779
http :// www. nami. org /Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Dissociative_Disorders. htm
http :// my.clevelandclinic. org /disorders/dissociative_disorders/hic_dissociative_amnesia. aspx
http :// www. memorylossonline. com /glossary/psychogenicamnesia. html
Jessica
01/16/2012 at 11:46 am
not sure it never came up. personally i think its wrong for therapists to dispense drugs i think medication should be a last resort but i’ve learnt to not say that to my professors.
Jeanette Bartha
01/16/2012 at 1:26 am
It seems you’re class is more concerned with the liability than the ethical aspect.
What would be the opinions if there was no liability? In a fantasy world, of course. Would they think psychologists dispensing drugs be OK?
Jessica
01/15/2012 at 1:52 pm
The discussion of psychologists giving meds did come up in class. the entire almost unanimously agreed that it wasn’t right for both the reason that we have no medical training and that it opens us as therapists up to an even higher amount of liability.
Jeanette Bartha
01/14/2012 at 7:54 am
Katharine. Thanks for your opinions.
There are alot of skeptics out there – within the mental health care-provider community as well, I’m just one of the few who write about it. And, am not scared to.
Want some proof? Go to Amazon and do a search on DID & multiple personalities. There are hundreds of books published supporting it – memoirs abound.
Then look at how many memoirs like mine are on the market. If you find more than 3, let me know. lol
It’s politics. The publishing industry, literary agents & publishing houses are too afraid to publish stories like mine because they are “political” have an “agenda” etc. Duh. Aren’t most books?
I’ll post some rejection letters. I framed some they are so good I use them for inspiration. I particularly like the one by an agent who wanted to take the project, but his boss said it wouldn’t sell. That was 10 years ago. The climate has changed, but not much.
Jeanette Bartha
01/14/2012 at 7:24 am
Hi Jessica. You may be referring to sodium amytal, considered a truth serum? You might also be thinking about sodium pentothal also a truth serum and which was more widely used. Otherwise, Idon’t know.
Your point about having current text books and that may not be a good idea. Hadn’t looked at it that way, but you have an interesting point. Both would be the best is my opinion.
I am pleased that your psychopharmacy book does not list drug treatment for DID – because there is none to be known. That fact is part of arguments against the existence of DID. It gets included in texts, but there is no agreed upon course of treatment & no drugs to “cure” or treat it. What clinicians do is treat symptoms like anxiety & PTSD as you noted.
Be wary of those who support the DID is complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Personally, I think its just a maneuver to get DID covered by insurance and to make is seem a viable diagnosis and treatment.
People may indeed be suffering from PTSD, why & how they got there is my focus. One can have a belief that they are ill and display all sorts of symptoms – doesn’t mean there is multiple personalities underlying them.
One other thing I’ll request of you as a graduate student that you alluded to. History of psychiatry, the practice of psychotherapy & drugs are vitally important to understanding any psychopathology.
All you have to do is read some posts here, or go to blogs published by people who believe they have DID & you will find that they either know nothing about the history of their illness, and therefore, have no idea about how it came to be, how it morphed over the decades and how it came to be known as DID.
I always remind people that we are talking about the existence of multiple personalities. The name was changed to dissociative identity disorder (DID) partly as a political maneuver after so many therapists were successfully sued for negligence and made psychology a bumbling laughing stock of medicine.
Read Dr. Paul McHugh – former head of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins. His paper, “Psychiatric Misadventures” follow the bouncing link, or go to my reading list post. addresses this. I encourage you to also study sociology and the psychology of group behavior.
Ask your professor probing questions & see what they say. It will tell you what you need to know – and, more importantly what they DON’T teach is what you might check out.
You must be having mind-bending conversations and questions as you study abnormal psych & psychopharmacology – I sure did.
p.s. is anything being addressed about allowing phd level psychologists dispensing medications/drugs (instead of psychiatrists who are medical doctors)? If so, what do you think?
Thanks for the conversation.
*Paul McHugh holds the copyright to “Psychiatric Misadventures” and I have his permission to copy.
Jessica
01/13/2012 at 6:38 pm
the medication you spoke of in your bio is the one i’m referring to i cant remember its name right now just that it began with a p and sounded like propothanol or something like that..yes i am also taking abnormal psych. The pharma book actually never refers to DID or any dissociative disorder, its speaking of treating PTSD which i’ve heard did reffered to at times as complex ptsd. The book has a publication date of March 13, 2011, luckily my program is getting current books, but i guess based on what they said it maybe thats not so good.
Jeanette Bartha
01/13/2012 at 9:33 am
Hi Jessica, You must have interesting stories to share while studying psychopharmocology.
You seem to be making an point I am interested in reading, sorry, I don’t know what you are referring to as phonalal (sp?) help us out here
!
When was Sincola’s book published? Curious to know how up-to-date your graduate program is.
Thanks. come on back. Enjoy your studies! Ask lots of questions – and demand answers. Challenge professors and yourself and be one of the scientifically-based therapists out there.
Jessica
01/12/2012 at 9:32 pm
I am a graduate student in counseling. As part of my classes i just received a book on psychopharmocology for based for therapists, “basic psychopharmocology for counselors and psychtherapists” by Sincola. The reason i bring this up is the ONLY section of it that refers to traumatic disorders states to use that phonalal (sp?) that you brought up and states (paraphrased) “it is better to use this to alter memories then to keep the traumatic memories”
K
01/12/2012 at 5:45 pm
Ok, it appears that half of my posts don’t want to show up. I may be missing something obvious, but is there any way I can just email what I wanted to say to you?
Katharine Mair
01/12/2012 at 10:54 am
Well done Jeanette! It’s good to know there are other sceptics out there. I have written a book about DID and other dissociative disorders, and am now trying to get someone to publish it. There are so many books now available stating that these disorders are common (up to 10% prevalence apparently!) and that they are almost always caused by severe child abuse. My book is very different. It questions the evidence for this alarming belief, and also documents the damage that causes. I don’t know of any other recent books that are doing this, do you? Debbie Nathan’s critilque of ‘Sybil’ was helpful, but we need more of this informed criticism. Have you published anything?