Psychotherapy / psychiatry / quackery relevant to gender / trans issues / DID / cults

[hoodathunkit]

I just thought that it might be useful to have a thread where people can discuss issues relating to different models of psychotherapy, especially in relation to transgender issues and also to issues relating to multiple personality disorder / dissociative identity disorder / complex trauma and also new age and other cults as there are many resonating issues.

I'll put my cards on the table here, even thought it will identify me to some of the "enemy".

I am a survivor of child sexual abuse within my family and by strangers, also of sex trafficking (many years ago) and of multiple sexual assaults as an adult woman.

I have been on the receiving end of quack psychotherapy within the NHS and was diagnosed with complex trauma (the new brand for MPD/DID) by an NHS psychiatrist, who I only later discovered was deeply involved with a sinister organisation the ISSTD.

There are other experiences of NHS mental health practice I have experienced that I will not share here as to do so will likely result in me being gaslighted even more than I have been in the past and at present.

I would like to make it clear that I am not in a position to the able to determine whether a therapist is motivated by avarice, psychological dysfunction, mental illness or is simply a well meaning therapist who has received CPD credits for attending a quack training event.

If I post about a therapist I have concerns about here it does not mean that I believe they are a bad person. It is not my place to determine and judge a therapist's character.

It is important though to examine therapeutic practice and influences and to subject them to thoughtful reflection and sceptical analysis.

more to follow

Firstly, before I post some examples of therapies and therapists of concern, it is important to consider different models of the mind as they relate to selfhood and personal identity.

What make a person's sense of self is a question that has preoccupied philosophers since ancient times and is currently something that is preoccupying discourses in the world generally, especially in relation to gender identity and to responses to trauma (MPD/DID/complex trauma).

The subject is also an issue for anti-abortion religious movements, some of whom (to my knowledge Christian movements) offer "regression to the womb" therapy as a strategy for supporting their anti-abortion beliefs and activities. These therapists claim that selfhood exists from the moment of conception.

New age, Hindu and Buddhist influenced therapy models may offer regression to past lives. Selfhood in this instance includes the incorporation of ancestral "selves".

Any kind of regression therapy involves altered states of consciousness that may be induced by hyperventilating (usually referred to as "breathwork") repetitive chanting or drumming, dancing / vigorous exercise, meditation, massage / muscle testing (often referred to as "body work" or "body psychotherapy"), hypnotism and the use of psychotropic drugs (usually euphemistically referred to as "healer plants' or "teacher plants").

It is my understanding that, while altered states of consciousness may produce powerful visions and hallucinations, it is important not to claim that such experiences are authentic memories. Persuading vulnerable people that such experiences are "real memories" can lead to false accusations of abuse and familial alienation. It can also lead to situations in which predatory therapists sexually and financially exploit vulnerable people.

In the systemic family therapy model of therapy the patient is the family as a unit and one person acting in a dysfunctional manner (e.g. a teenage girl with an eating disorder) is just one element of the system that is in need of treatment. In such a model it is the family system and not the girl who is in need of treatment.

Individual people diagnosed with DID may claim to be a "system" with multiple personalities existing within their body.

Psychotherapists in the field of object relations posit that the human mind is like a theatrical stage inside which perform a number of actors (internal objects) that are influenced by early unconscious anxieties and by parental figures that many be loving or persecutory depending on internal and environmental factors.

Many new age and Buddhist influenced therapists claim that individual existence and identity are an illusion and that "we are all one" - "oneness" is a buzzword in this respect.

I just wanted to share a few provisional thoughts on the notion of selfhood and individual identity before exploring therapies of concern.

This is very interesting. I've had several types of therapy and no one has spelled this out to me.
Several people have tried to get me to use one type or another and I've declined because of their approach more than any problem with the therapy. It seemed to me less that they were enthusiastic about its benefits, and more that they were 'recruiting'. There was a lot of emotional pressure involved and it felt quite culty.

I know quite a few psychiatrists through my professional life. All are wary of anyone who is a devotee of a single method. The impression I get (psychiatry is not my field, but I have worked alongside psychiatrists in a specific role) is that the professional ones recognise that most methods have good and bad points, and pick the good from various methods to create an holistic approach to therapy.

All have mentioned the concept of MPD/DID very negatively. I wasn’t aware complex trauma was that rebranded, that’s interesting.

I think I’m wary of anyone telling me their method of anything is the One True Way.