21 replies to this topic

[Katia60]

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this. I wanted to ask if it were possible to have a forum for dissociative identity disorder here at After Silence? I don't know if that has ever come up before, a request, I mean. I know that I have not ever found as nice of a place as AS online before that is open to all survivors and it is harder to find something specific for DID. I am hoping that we could have a forum here. It would not have to be a closed forum. I would be willing to help moderate the forum, if that is something you would need.

Could you let me know if that is possible? Thanks.

Kate

Edited by Katia60, 15 February 2007 - 08:00 PM.

[heathbar]

i see both sides, but who's to say that doesn't occur now?

[Katia60]

Perhaps I was not clear enough. I meant to be asking the administrator and moderators their response to the question if there could be a DID forum here. I do not want to cause bad feelings here by my question.


Kate

Edited by Katia60, 14 February 2007 - 11:55 PM.

[Haullie]

Hi Katia

I was a member at a survivor forum where DID was common, and forums were created for people with DID. Unfortunatly it seemed to have encouraged people to say "ooh I have Alters too" and some of the people who claimed to have DID were widely thought to be lying. Whilst the idea was to allow all alters to be able to express themselves, and it was well intentioned, it made for a bad atmosphere as there is little doubt that some of the people claiming DID were at best unconvincing and that caused incredible friction within the DID'd members.

I think a DID forum specifically would be opening a can of worms. DID seems to be an illness plauged by hanger-on's and I don't want to see that encouraged here. Ultimatly the row about if this member was a liar or how fast people can switch blah blah blah tore the group appart.

I think it's a bad idea to have any specific illness having it's own forum as I can think of several illness's widely known to affect survivors strongly... DID, Borderline Personality Disorder, PTSD, Depression... the list goes on.

It's a respectful no from me.

Ser

Whitewolf,

I TOTALLY know what you're talking about. A few years back when I was running my own forum for survivors way before I met Vera and came to AS, there was a forum specifically for DID/MPD and I swear I met more fakers than real people who suffered from the mental illness and what hurt the most was that it made it hard for those truly suffering. Not to mention being fooled by so many people, and they do come out and tell the truth, or they get caught in lies and contradictions that make zero sense. So I really understand why you felt the need to write that.

This is by no means saying I don't support people discussing DID, I truly do, I have friends who really have it so I understand what they are going through. But as you stated, having a specific forum would only open up a can of worms. This is also a topic that can be discussed in the
Psychological Well-being forum.

I honestly think there needs to be more properly researched information on this and I do not support people giving themselves their OWN diagnoses. If anything I think if you're willing to discuss your DID/MPD, you should get a doctor's note stateing that you have this disorder before discussing how you feel because no one should be fooled and a little proof is not a bad idea.

This isn't like survivors who falsly accuse, the statistics for people who falsley accuse are what 1%? The statistics for people who lie about or don't understand that they really don't have DID/MPD are WAY higher. Just thought I'd bring up the reason why I think there should be a diagnoses before discussion because I don't want anyone to think it was a dumb thing to say. It's just my opinion, some of you may disagree...but I come from experience with fakers and it left a pretty bald patch on my heart so I hope you can understand why I feel the way that I feel.

Haullie

Edited by Haullie, 15 February 2007 - 10:21 PM.

[Saz]

I really have no valuable input hehe... but... maybe those people genuinely thought they had DID? The whole 'internet diagnosis' issue comes into play here, when people haven't been to a doctor and just recognise the symptoms which may be something else entirely. Then, of course, they may get caught up in some DID discussion and thus reinforce their view that they DO have this DID they have read about.

So yeah, as Haullie said people shouldn't really slef diagnose BUT I think a lot of people do it for a lot of differnent things.... It's confusing. But maybe it could be a subforum? We are never to know that people HAVE the illnesses they claim to have. I don't think it is a case of lies, more of mistakes / presumptions. In which case perhaps "true" DID sufferers here can point others in the right direction and advise a proper diagnosis?

[dana]

Wolfie/Haullie,

I'm curious about what you write about people who don't really have DID or have diagnosed themselves, and how difficult it makes forum discussions. I hope this is not a stupid question, but I was struck by how strongly you both seem to feel about people who haven't really been diagnosed, and I'm just curious why that is - both why it attracts so many "hangers on" as you say, and why it's particularly troubling when people who do not truly have it talk as if they do.

(I know next to nothing about DID myself - just the basics of what it is - so please forgive me if the answers are obvious to anyone who does; I was just struck by your responses and it made me curious to know more. I suppose it's obvious that it would be troubling if people are writing about anything they are not truly experiencing, but it seemed like it's particularly so here.)

Hope that makes some sense...
Dana

Edited by dana, 15 February 2007 - 11:57 PM.

[Haullie]

My reason for being uneasy about having a DID forum is because I have experienced being lied to, maybe it does have something to do with my personal feelings I don't know. I think of all the hours I wasted talking to people who eventually confessed to lying to me about having a mental disorder, knowingly lying because they didn't feel "loved enough" and I just get uneasy. How do you react to that? We're not trained liscensed professionals so it's hard.

But it doesn't reflect on the disorder as a whole, I do empathyze with those who have DID/MPD and I know people who genuinely have it which is why I feel places for support are needed, but not if they aren't going to educate the public first and foremost. Like I said, all of this can be discussed in the Psychological Well-being forum, I just don't think personally as a fellow survivor of the board that we need a separate or sub form for this mental illness, it's also not that common umongst survivors, only a very small percentage of survivors have MPD/DID. I think the most common illness would have to be PTSD.

Haullie

[Katia60]

Hi Haullie and everyone,

I do think that a sub-forum would be nice to have in psychological well-being. I can understand the issues brought up by you and Wolf that there are fakers. I don't think that not having a sub-forum prevents that. What I do think is that true DIDers feel more alienated and rejected, that is just a part of their reality, though that might not be the intention or the feeling. I can understand not having that kind of forum here, but I don't agree.

Survivors of child sexual abuse and/or ritual abuse are the highest percentage of DID diagnosis. I encourage anyone here who is questioning dissociation and DID to become informed and to talk to a therapist, the operative part of that being talk to a therapist and seek an evaluation. I would never encourage anyone taking online or pysychological information and using it to self-diagnose or in asking others to speculate about that. I find that more people with dissociation have questions about it than people with DID.

I think that many young survivors do not even understand the components and complexities inherent in dissociation, let alone in dissociative identity disorder. I don't believe in self-diagnosis. However, DID exists outside of a diagnosis and its existence is persistent and historically most DID clients receive up to seven different mental health diagnosis before the receive their DID diagnosis. This points to an inherent flaw in the way that psychiatry and psycholgists interact and evaluate clients. Part of this is due to the fact that DID is not understood to exist in the amounts that it does. It is currently estimated that DID exists in 1% of the population. The figure must be significantly higher among groups with child sexual abuse and ritual abuse survivors. I have found that the percentage is much higher among therapy/support group members and online survivors who are seeking group support.

I have met hundreds of abuse survivors online who have DID. I have never experienced fakers, where there were inconsistencies, inaccuracies or retractions. I believe that it can happen. It can happen with any mental health or health issue. I don't plan on altering the way that I interact with survivors based on that. I can understand the pain of trusting someone only to have been told that you were lied to. I'm sorry that others were lied to and hurt like this.

Kate

[Haullie]

yeah unfortunately being lied to really screws with a person's ability to trust. I still don't know about a sub-forum whether it would be a good idea or not that's up to the administrators. I really can't tell you cause I have a difference of opinion, it's not that I think it should be rejected as an idea, it's not that at all. I just think if you create a sub-forum for DID/MPD then that opens up the possibility of opening up sub forums for all sorts of mental illnesses and the forum members would rather just have one specific place to post topics dealing with mental illness, what with DID being only 1% of the population, how often will that board be used? I'm just trying to put my feet in the shoes of the administrators and see what they would htink but maybe it's best to just wait for their response to this thread because it really is tricky. Not rejection please don't get me wrong, I would never reject the idea itse;f, it's a plausable idea, but like I said it opens up the question as to why there aren't sub-forums for everything else when we could just have one forum to talk about all mental illnesses. Less confuseing that way too. It's kind of like the Aftermath forum, AS doesn't specifically say that it's a forum for Date rape survivors, incest survivors, child abuse survivors...ect...it's just one forum for all of those subjects together.

Haullie

[Katia60]

Thanks for the responses. I do not want to make anyone feel further alienatied, though I do see this discussion as something that could do that.

I do appreciate the responses.

I guess, still, I didn't mean this thread to be a debate, or to be seen as one. But rather as a question to the admiinistrators.

Thanks for the responses.

Kate

[ann]

I hear you Kate.



annie

[AmyLyn]

Frankly, I can see both sides here...I agree with both of them...On the one hand I think it's a great idea..but on the other...I don't know...I have also seen alot of people fake it so yea...I don't know...
I am DID myself so I really don't know if I want a forum specifically for it...I don't want people to think they have it when they don't or lie about it...

Like Kate said though...I think this was more of a question to the admins then a debate type thing...

hmmmmmm...

~Molly