Where the Wild Things Are

My family and I saw the movie at the weekend. I thought it was very well done, and my children (aged 11 and 8) also enjoyed it. They were moved by it and understood that the boy was trying to work out how to express what he felt - I don't know enough about dissociative disorder to comment, but it certainly seemed that the boy needed to create that imaginary world in order to cope with his feelings. My youngest is very imaginative and has created a whole host of imaginary characters so she could identify with it very well (though I don't think for a minute we'll be talking about her on the Oprah Winfrey show ). It was a thoughtful movie which kids can also appreciate as well as the "happy ever after" ones. Has anyone seen The Bridge to Terabithia? - not a typical kid movie and sad in places but brings up important issues.

Im sorry I think there may be a miscommunication here. I didnt say people with Mental retardation, MS, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy were people that cant communicate. A persons IQ is not based on how well people communicates. there is an IQ tests for those that are unable to physically speak. and those that are unable to produce sound though their vocal cords there are special aids that voice what they want to say just by pointing their fingers or their eyes on the pictures and words they want to use, sign language, picture boards, computers.

At the crisis center we see many kinds of people including those with these challenges in their life. there is a woman who is mentally retarded downs syndrome, who was severely abused by her aid the situation was so extreme she will never be able to have a child and she split into 6 fully developed alternate personalities. she has the ability to speak and communicates both by speach, sign language and a speaking board. she didnt tell for a while because he threatened her. Her parent happened to come home early and caught them in the act.

She does not have a normal or above average IQ. her IQ score is 62. she is a 22 year old woman and she had Dissociative Identity Disorder diagnosed my a psychaitrist.

there is a 32 yr old man diagnosed with MS this past summer. he has a slightly below normal IQ of 68. he can still communicate very well. he was abused as a child and split into 15 alternate personalities. His doagnosis Dissociative Idenitity Disoeder.

There is a 12 yr old girl who was kiddnapped by her non custodial parent. she has Cerebral Palsy IQ average at 70. during her year out of the country her father abused her to such and extreme that she split into 3 alternate personalities. Diagnosis Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Last summer a 10 year old boy that we used to see at the crisis center committed suicide. he was average to borderline IQ at a score of 72. He died because one of his alternate personalities that was suicidal and jumped off a cliff during a summer camping trip. Diagnosis Dissociative Identity Disorder. communication skills were considered to be normal.

so I didnt mean to imply there was a communication problem. I was asking because there is documented cases where there are people with below normal IQ's (IQ scores under 70) that have been abused to such an extreme that they have Dissociaitve Identity disorder.

Theres also me. when I entered college my IQ score was below normal because of the poverty, area in which I lived in. and because of the aBuse I went through. Communication I have no problems with speaking. my vocal cords are physically intact and fully capable of producing sound. the welfare lady wasnt sure if I would be able to handle college life because my IQ score was only 71. which is below average - borderline mentally retarded. my diagnosis Dissociative Identity Disorder. My IQ this past summer has increased to 95 thanks to getting out of the abuse and poverty and attending school.

I think everybody only 'knows what they know'.
For instance, I know that I have seen a documentary about a woman of low intelligence who has DID. She was extremely low functioning and needed a full time team of carers to assist her. Until then I also believed that one of the 'criteria' of DID was high intelligence... or at least, that is what my T had told me.
It would be nice to believe that DID requires a high level of intelligence and creativity (that would mean there has to be something 'right' with our lives, right?) but I don't think that is the case. However I do think that those dissociative people who have a high level of intelligence and creativity are perhaps able to 'use' their dissociation more effectively and may have a better outcome. Maybe a higher percentage of people with DID who have lower intelligence end up in jails (or worse). What I do know for certain is that there are people with DID who have below average intelligence.

it may not be DID but I have dissociation issues and I have normal if not slightly bellow average IQ if I recall correctly (IQ doesn't count for much though as far as intelligence goes imo)

Thank you Wpowers for the movie recommendation.