DID becoming more popular

[MondayYogurt]

Possibly not the right place to post this but I just wondered if anyone else has noticed that DID www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/dissociative-disorders/ self-diagnosis is becoming more popular among teens (girls)?

It seems to be going the same way as other so-called social contagions - spread via popularity on tiktok, reddit, tumblr, twitter etc.

I used to live with someone who has DID.

She could barely function, she would hide from the world for weeks at a time, not shower, forget to eat, get drunk and stay drunk for days on end, all sorts.

She suffered from extreme abuse as a child, and DID was the result. She functioned as well as she could, and I did my best to be patient and kind with her, but she was, frankly, very difficult to live with. When she was 'on' she kept the entire household at a very high energy level and would start things like massive redecoration projects and huge, life-altering plans, all things that would fall apart after a few days when she exhausted herself.

She would sometimes change alters and had massive gaps in her memory as a result. Her inner world was highly complex and storified, but there were people in her life who used and abused her memory gaps and personality confusions, and she couldn't get rid of them, because her alters would take over and allow these people into her life anyway.

She would forget to feed her dog, or forget she even owned a dog. I tried to help her get the right help she needed, but our relationship broke down irretrievably in the end (I couldn't cope with the dog welfare issue) and I don't know what's happening with her now.

DID is not some cool 'thing' to have, it can be an utterly debilitating mental health condition that is not well understood, carries a massive amount of stigma and is frequently the result of severe childhood trauma. It disgusts me that people pretend to have it.

So is it now allowed to post about the connections between the extremes of the transgender movement and the newtorks of dubious therapists promoting DID and conspiracy theories about satanic ritual abuse?

I'm a bit astonished that my post was removed, however if anyone is in a researching mood this video and the book it promotes contains various controversial people of interest who readers will be familiar with.

New from Confer Books! - What is Normal?: Psychotherapists Explore the Question (2020)

I know that mental illnesses and disorders exist and it is distressing for those who suffer. however , the explosion of teenage girls in particular who now claim to have those disorders shows that is contagious and a trend and fad. It seems that to have a disorder is normal and something to seek - very worrying

DID is not some cool 'thing' to have, it can be an utterly debilitating mental health condition that is not well understood, carries a massive amount of stigma and is frequently the result of severe childhood trauma. It disgusts me that people pretend to have it.

DID evolved from the satanic panic, Michelle Remebers and various controversial psychotherapy organisations that keep changing their names.

DID is widely believed to be an iatrogenic condition (caused by a therapeutic intervention).

Possibly the worst thing about it is that when therapists diagnose vulnerable people with DID their clients do tend to end up very unwell for a long time and usually end up alienated from their loved ones.

The "stigma" you describe is I think related to the debunking of the condition by rational, evidence based academics and anti-quackery activists.

I think it is difficult to know how to deal with someone who believes they have DID if they are in the clutches of a cult like network of therapists who are abusing them. I speak from bitter personal experience.

It is always good to be kind to others, especially vulnerable persons. But should that kindness extend to being complicit in their exploitation?

It is my belief that it is the greedy, exploitative "therapists" who should stigmatised. The vulnerable people who believe that they have DID are in need of proper, evidence based, support.

@hoodathunkit

Do you believe in childhood trauma? If yes, what effects do you think childhood trauma causes? You seem to think that all symptoms of trauma are iatrogenic.

So it doesnt get removed here is the promotional text for the book in the above video

What is Normal?: Psychotherapists Explore the Question
Editor : Roz Carroll, Editor : Jane Ryan

Many people strive to be normal, and deviation from accepted norms can feel likefailure. But why do we want to be normal? And what does that mean? Ordinary? Sane? Similar? When probed, the notion of normality starts to look fragile. It is not clear who decides what being normal means or who is entitled to say. Nonetheless, concerns about conforming and being accepted are deeply pervasive.

With an extraordinary diversity of perspectives, the authors featured in this collection – all psychotherapists – use biographical accounts, political analyses and clinical vignettes to challenge the concept of normality. Through these stories and discussions, it emerges that our very uniqueness, oddness and differences as individuals are what make us fully human.

At a time of rapid social change, the freedom to be oneself – whatever form that takes – is at the core of contemporary debate, and this volume makes a vital contribution to that project.

Contents:
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
INTRODUCTION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1. The new normal - Tania Glyde
2. Therapy and hope: are they really normal? - Andrew Samuels
3. No escape from ‘normal’ - Doris Brothers
4. The normal couple therapist - Jane Haberlin
5. Your normal, my normal. Disruptions, accommodations and respect between therapist and patient - Susie Orbach
6. Black paranormal: a playlist - Foluke Taylor
7. Normal sex - Meg-John Barker
8. Minding the gap: a couple psychotherapist’s perspective - Christopher Clulow
9. Born to love, driven to destroy - Felicity de Zulueta

10. The myth of normality - Chris Oakley 11. The shifting landscape of sexual normality - Dany Nobus 12. Norms and normality: a socio-psychoanalytic approach - Stephen Seligman 13. Why would I want to be normal? - Lennox K. Thomas 14. The problem of words. It’s why we are all mad! - Phil Mollon 15. Negotiating the normal - Ann Shearer 16. Flourishing: the ‘normal’ therapist versus the‘healthy’ therapist - Brett Kahr 17. Cultural schizophrenia and internalised racism are not normal - Isha Mckenzie-Mavinga 18. In the therapy room: are all patients normal? - Valerie Sinason 19. When simply being human is abnormal - Stephen Setterberg 20. Future flat-packed or future fluid? Why normal is the problem - Roz Carroll

Reviews and Endorsements

“This compilation of insightful, thoughtful, and highly original explorations gently subverts the concepts of normal as conventional and of what we often call ‘disease’ as abnormal. Written with sensitivity and compassion, it is a challenging and much needed contribution to the psychotherapeutic literature.”
Gabor Maté, M.D., author of When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress.

“What is Normal? is a really brilliant resource for therapists – or anyone – who has serious doubts about the set of ideas and ideals that passes itself off as ‘normality’. This book manages to be simultaneously comforting and challenging, presenting a stunning array of provocations to anyone who thinks there’s anything normal about normality.” Anouchka Grose, psychoanalyst and author of A Guide to Eco-Anxiety and Are You Considering Therapy?

“Roz Carroll and Jane Ryan have done an absolutely excellent job at bringing together some of the world’s most creative and intelligent psychotherapists to teach us about the complex concept of ‘normality’. This should be core reading for anyone interested in the idea that all people are unique individuals who cannot be categorised by conventions.”
Professor Estela Welldon, author of Mother, Madonna, Whore.

archive.is/5oOGU

I know the woman I'm referring to, lived with her in fact. She was not in the clutches of some network of abusive therapists, and she never was. I have witnessed her interacting with the world as different alters. Her condition is very real.

I know the woman I'm referring to, lived with her in fact. She was not in the clutches of some network of abusive therapists, and she never was. I have witnessed her interacting with the world as different alters. Her condition is very real.

I do not, as far as I know, know the woman you are referring to.

I am genuinely curious as to how you are able to tell that her condition is "real", as in, presumably, genuine DID.

I have met many people who genuinely believe that they have DID. Most of them were abused via bad therapy. I know as I was abused by therapists who believe in DID and I was even diagonised with DID at one point (I do not believe I have DID).

Genuinely interested and curious to know how you know your acquaintance's DID is "real".

I also think that many people do not "fake" DID, they genuinely believe that they have it. This does not mean that they do have it of course.

I won't argue with someone so clearly disinterested in discussing such a delicate issue in good faith.

I’ve seen extensive rise in this disorder. Even some medical professionals don’t believe in it and you need to have a huge significant trauma.

It’s a bit like Stockholm syndrome. That has a very few appearances and relates exclusively to kidnapping. Yet people band it about for medical issues they’ve had. Though Stockholm is seem more to violent marriages or relationships now.

Though I do believe it exists. Though not in the way we believe of multiple personalities. So one day Fred will be there. The media has shown it as that and I feel incredibly bad for people with the real disorder.

I’ve also seen a rise in teenagers pretending to either have Tourette’s. Which is a nasty illness. Exhausting and damaging. Also in things like EDS. POTS and gastroparisis. Again this makes it really difficult for the people with those. Friend of mine I’ve known for 40 years got diagnosed with EDS some 30 years ago and at the time no one had even heard of it. (I know hEDS has a genetic component so cannot be faked). But the others don’t have many definitive tests.

Do you believe in childhood trauma? If yes, what effects do you think childhood trauma causes? You seem to think that all symptoms of trauma are iatrogenic.

Of course I believe in childhood trauma. Adult trauma also. I have experienced many significant adverse life experiences and understand more than most people about childhood trauma.

I just think it would be a wonderful thing for those of use who have experienced significant trauma to be able to access decent quality mental health services from people who really understand about trauma.

Unfortunately many "survivor" based charities and organisations openly boast of working with DID as if they are legitimate authorities on trauma rather than batshit conspiracy theorists.

Vulnerable people, adults and children, who have endured trauma deserve better.

I am skeptical about DID as I was about multiple personality disorder, largely because the vast majority of people who are diagnosed with DID have a history of being involved with cult like psychotherapy networks.

I have significant first hand experience of abuses at the hands of such networks.

These networks typically promote strange conspiracies about satanic / satanist ritual abuse. Fellow travellers are significantly over-represented in these pseudo-therapeutic networks as are new agers, plastic shamans, energy healers and various other charlatans.

They promote hypnosis / hypnotherapy, EMDR, psycehdelic therapies / entheogenic therapies, body therapies, "breathwork" and pretty much any therapy that has been demonstrated to induce false memories.

So, to answer your question, yes I believe in child trauma. I also understand that dissociation is a real thing. DID? I believe it is either iatrogenic and / or extremely rare and massively overdiagnosed.

I’m actually diagnosed with this and it took 16 years of being diagnosed clinically with each symptom separately and then looking at my records and putting it all together.

Re; multiple personalities I have them with full amnesia and they’ve been noticeable since I was a teen. However their presence is effected by the state of my life in general. Mine stems from trauma from a house fire. The amnesia is very very distressing and not something I talk about with any fondness like some seem to.

I find it dubious when people self diagnose. I was told by other people about my personalities. Not the other way around. I thought people were lying at first. My mum took me to psychiatrists and alsorts. I remember her saying “I know she’s lying. But she doesn’t think she’s lying” when I’d been having amnesia.

@hoodathunkit I agree re the cult like psychotherapy groups. I didn’t actually know what DID was until I was hospitalised. When I was a bit better and read some more I noticed this too.

I think there are many parallels between the mental health industry and the gender industry, including dubious and sometimes unscrupulous practice from certain professionals, unproven theory promoted as rock solid fact, and now of course, self identification by individuals.

I am diagnosed with eds and some eds-related disorders, and ASD. As others have mentioned, these too have now become trendy in the world of self-identity. It is incredibly frustrating, and I find it embarrassing too.

When I initially got diagnosed I joined a few online support groups and soon realised they were consumed by identity politics. I saw people who were genuinely suffering from particular conditions receive verbal abuse or ridicule for using "incorrect" or out of favour language. For all their talk of inclusivity, the particular type of "progressive" person you find within identity political circles always seem devoid of empathy and completely lacking in self awareness.

Incidentally, I was reading something entirely unrelated to any of this on Reddit earlier today and one of the links on the bottom of the page took me to a group called "traaans". Here I read an angry mini rant about Elon Musk, criticising him for his self-descriptive use of the "ableist and anti-Semitic term", 'aspergers'.

I’m actually diagnosed with this and it took 16 years of being diagnosed clinically with each symptom separately and then looking at my records and putting it all together.

I would be very interested to know the name of the organisation or therapist that diagnosed you.

If you feel comfortable sharing of course

I might not be able to respond for a few days so no hurry

Off topic of DID, but here too is an example of people identifying their 'souls' as minorities (in this case black lesbians) in order to...appropriate trauma??

twitter.com/cheazeborger420/status/1407421800225509380?s=21

That is another level!

If you pop over to Reddit and look at "fake disorder cringe" or "DID cringe" or "systems cringe" you'll see literally hundreds of teenagers claiming to have up to hundreds of 'alters'. Sometimes their alters are different species, races, are deaf, are based on a fictional character, have tourettes... Honestly it's pretty horrifying.

Just posting a link to a recent thread about self diagnosis via SM and algorithms. Not about DID but in this instance how TikTok as helping(?) people diagnose themselves re ADHD. Has parallels I think with some of the comments here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4261768-self-diagnosis-and-social-media-algorithms

Thanks @stumbledin it does all seem connected.