TRIGGER and DISCLAIMER WARNINGS:

The following posts have to do with - MY - therapy work with Dissociative Identity Disorder and will also contain copies of - MY - blog entries that explain MY therapy program.

Since it is impossible for - ME - to know each persons trigers on the world wide web what is contained in MY therapy program may trigger some.

And because it is impossible for - ME - to know each persons triggers of every person on the world wide web I leave it up to the readers of my posts to take care of themselves.

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what is contained in this post is -

MY experiences with having dissociative idenitity dissorder

MY therapy program for having Dissociative Identity Disorder

and may contain MY research for MY having dissociative Identity Disorder

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IF ANYONE HAS A DIFFERNET EXPERIENCE WITH HAVING DID AND THERAPY FOR THIER DID THAT IS OK. I AM POSTING ONLY FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF

MY DID
MY therapy program
and MY research for My having DID.

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Since I am not forcing anyone to read my posts should anyone become triggered after CHOOSING to read this post beyond these trigger warnings and disclaimer and I statements, the person reading is accepting repsonsibility for their own triggered reactions and so forth


"I read your post about the sand tray, and I have to tell you, it showed me a side of you that I think would be great to know more of it."

The above is copied from the kudos board and is a post made by Bipol to me.

Using the sand tray is a part of MY theray program.

I was diagnosed as having Multiple Personality Disorder (which is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder) back in the 1980's by way of taking a comprehensive Psychological Evaluation with suplimental tests specifically for locating Multiple Personality Disorder.

Here is a blog entry of mine that explains what a Comprehensive psychological evaluation is -

How is DID Diagnosed?
This blog entry is now a part of the psychotherapy message boards in the community area of psych central therefore is now protected by the new guidelines that state the entry cannot be taken to other peoples blogs and websites for disscussion and or copied without my written permission to do so.

How is DID Diagnosed? Can you see the memory of doing the dishes this morning on brain scans, X-rays and so on? I was told by many professionals in the field of DID the answer was No and that -

If someone says they had those types of testing it is because they went to thier normal family physician complaining of loss of memory and a headache and the tests were done to check for tumors, anneurysisms, epilepsy and other non mental health related problems.

A person being diagnosed for Dissociative Identity Disorder is seen by a psychiatrist and or psychologist. (which is my experience with being diagnosed as having Dissociative Identity Disorder)

If the psychiatrist or psychologist suspects Dissociative Identity Disorder (or any mental health disorder for that matter) the psychiatrist/psychologist sets up a Comprehensive Psychological Evaluation.

These tests are done over a space of 8-10 hours and or more. Some professionals do them all on the same day and others (especially if DID is suspceted) these tests are spaced out over a period of daily for two weeks or more.

The tests include:

A face to face interview an hour or more in length, during which personal history is taken. The tester also takes observational information - hygene, mood and other important to the testing professional type information.

IQ - Mathamatics - adding, subtracting, spacial awareness, geometry, algerbra, history, writing and reading comprehension, long term and short term memory recall, specific tests geared for locating learning disorders.

MMPI, DES, DDIS, TAT, Rorshache (ink blots) Scud scales and validity scales tests and other written tests that they feel relevant to what they are looking for.

Once the testing is complete, those parts of the tests that are computerized are sent out to be evaluated.

Once those results come back the psychiatrist or psychologist writes up the written report.

This report includes the history taken and the psychiatrist/psychologist views on that history and observations.

The test scores and the psychiatrist/psychologist views and observations on that,

and then the persons AXIS (diagnosises) I,II,III,IV. and V (otherwise known as GAF)

The last part on the report is the psychiatrists/psychologists recommendations and treatment plans.

Sometimes these tests are repeated yearly to chart the clients progress.

Though it is easy for someone who is DID to hide the disorder by not answering truthfully during the testing, it is impossible for a non-DID to come up as DID by not answering truthfully. The way the questions are worded and repeated and done over a space of time it is impossible for the non DID pretending to be DID to be consistant on the validity scales and so on.

And of course there are certain actions that are not a part of the disorder but have been overdramatized by the media are dead give - aways of if the person is really DID or a DID “want to be.” There are also certain aspects of this disorder that is not released to the general public which also helps in the weeding out the “want to be’s”Original Blog entry date on the original blog server with psych central was October 21, 2005

Original Blog entry date on the original blog server with psych central was October 21, 2005

Since this blog entry is now posted on the community message boards it cannot be taken to other peoples blogs to be discussed and so forth with out my written permission to do so.

Once I was diagnosed as being Multiple personality disordered I went into denial for years and years.

I was forced out of the denial phase when my child was placed in foster care due to my becoming suicidal. At that point I didn't have much time to mess around with being in denial. I had one year to take care of my problems up to DHS standards so that I could have my child back.

At that point I knew nothing about what Dissociative Identity Disorder was and how to treat it. I was in therapy for Suicide, depression, flashbacks and nightmares.

Here is a blog entry of mine that explains what went on during this time in my life and how I ended up back in therapy..

The Label MPD/DID Pops Up Again
this blog entry is now a reply on the community message boards here at psych central. Therefore is now covered by psych centrals guideline that states posts on the community boards cannot be dicussed copied, printed or taken to other sites without permission of the poster.


Staying out of therapy for years and ignoring I needed help for my Multiple Personality Disorder and depression came to a head in 2001. There were alot of factors involved and situations that I was just stuffing and ignoring. The end result was I picked up my son, locked him out of the house and I was going to jump out a second floor picture window - through the glass. Somehow I ended up on the phone. at the same time my son followed my teaching him that if I or anyone else ever tried to hurt him. he was to get out of the house and find someone he trusted - neighbor, friend, or the managers of the complex. By the time my friend on the phone talked me into unlocking the door and going outside my son was by the manager and the manager had a phone in her hand so I yelled down that I needed help. She waved the phone and yelled she was trying her best to get us help. The police came. and the end result was DHS was called. I signed my son into fostercare temporarily (a year later he came home but thats another blog post in itself).

The intake DHS caseworker and I made up a goal sheet. I had to call my primary physician and get back on meds for depression. I called my doctor the next morning at 7 am and at 8am his nurse called and told me to catch the next bus to the office.

My doctor is great like this. All I have to do is call and he gets my son and I right in. Partly because my son has Asthma and is known for stopping breathing and I rarely get sick and when I do its usually bronchytis so he just calls in a prescription. (boy both him and I were shocked when I had cancer. I can’t just get a normal bacterial infection the first time around - its a bacterial infection that caused me to have cancer)

I also had to get back into therapy. The intake DHS worker had a list of DHS approved agencies and so the next day I went down to the office and met with the mental health consultant who gave me the name of a therapy agency.

I went home and called them. All I had to say was I got their agency name from child protective services and I was told to come down the next day for intake. Here I had been on every therapy list for the past few years trying to get my son in because his best friend had chased him with a knife trying to kill him and I had been told “our list is 6 months to three years long” at each therapy agency.

I remember I kept asking this receptionist now telling me to come right down “are you sure theres an opening tomorrow?” She laughed and told me what time to be there.

The next day I met with one of the therapists who took history and so on. A week later I was playing phone tag with the woman who was assigned as my therapist -”SKR”. She called me I was visiting my son. I called her and she was with a client. She called me and I was in court.

Court was a blur. My doctor had started me on Paxil and everything tilted and I just wanted to go to sleep. But I do remember My lawyer telling me we were saying not guilty. I argued with him because I WAS suicidal and the day before my son was put into foster care I had cut myself in front of my son. I didn’t want to go to jail for purgery.

My lawyer laughed and told me it was just the way it was done. Saying not guilty gives the lawyers time to talk and decide what is best for their clients. Neither one thought my being arrested because I was a danger to myself (which is the state and nation wide law on such things) was the right thing to do for me and my son.

Given that I had gotten right into my doctor and had already signed up for therapy that showed the lawyers, and DHS that I was open to doing what ever was needed to be done for both my son and I. So I plead not guilty. and when the judge pointed out that I was actively self injuring and suicidal then asked if arrest or commitment orders were pending both lawyers and DHS said no they were confident I would cooperate with services.

“SKR” and I hit it off from the first second of meeting. I had been seeing her for about 6 months when right before it was time for her to leave my appartment she asked if I hear voices or do things I don’t remember. I thought “oh %#@&#! she’s asking the MPD questions.” I did a quick dodge by reaching for my courage to heal books (wrote by Laura Davis) and said something about them being great books and I was doing some of the questions in it and asked if she wanted to see my notebook on them.

For a week I tried every possible scenerio in my head trying to find a way to drop her since she was getting too close but since I couldn’t legally without problems from DHS, on top of that I really liked her and the next person may not be someone I would like so then I tried to think about not answering her. But then decided - Nope she’s not the type to be avoided very long she would ask her questions again and again until she had her answers. So then I figure ok I’ll answer but in a way she won’t catch on.

When she came for the next appointment I got the conversation on to diagnosis and then rattled off every diagnosis I’ve had putting MPD smack in the middle and I said them so fast I thought she would focus on the first one or the last of the long list. Not “SKR”.

She says “so you have been diagnosed as DID”. I asked her what that was and she told me MPD. I told her “yea but Im not it.”

She looked at me with a smile and said “ok prove it to me”

So I set out for the local library the next day deturmined to prove to her I didn’t have DID. In the meantime “SKR” started doing research on how to help me.

Original Blog entry date - November 15, 2005

Since t his blog entry is now a part of the community message boards posts it is covered by the psych central guideline that states posts cannot be taken discussed copied printed and so forth outside the community message boards with out permission from the poster.

To be continued....