[cool09]

In the early '90's I was hospitalized 7 times and I was going thru dissociation and depression but I didn't know what was wrong with me. The pdocs and psychologists never picked up on it which makes me mad. They didn't pick up on the fact that I was detached or disconnected from myself.

[Yaowen]

I'm so sorry that happened to you. How awful!

[*Beth*]

I wonder exactly the same thing. Do they choose to ignore dissociation because it's complicated and they don't know how to deal with it? I just don't know, but I sure do wonder.

[Fuzzybear]

I'm sorry that happened, how horrible.

[buddylife]

These the self diagnoses is still bad idea but how can help it. I would suggest looking at the manuals to help them get it right. I am sorry this happened

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by cool09

In the early '90's I was hospitalized 7 times and I was going thru dissociation and depression but I didn't know what was wrong with me. The pdocs and psychologists never picked up on it which makes me mad. They didn't pick up on the fact that I was detached or disconnected from myself.

back in the 1990's dissociative disorders were treated like psychotic / delusional/ schizophrenic / personality type disorders that require hospitalizations for delusions and hallucinations and being suicidal.

Today they know much more than they did 30-100 years ago about dissociative disorders.

they know today dissociative disorders are curable through the use of grounding and addressing other accompanying symptoms such as depression and anxiety and for some with medications.

Also dissociative disorders today usually are not the kind that treatment providers can just pick up on. you have to tell them how you are feeling. they cant read your mind or watch your body language to see that you may be .......feeling ....... numb, spaced out or disconnected.

today dissociative disorders are about trigger responses, locate the trigger and do something about the trigger so that you dont react by feeling numb and disconnected.

back in the day (1990's and before) they thought dissociative disorders was people hallucinating and having delusional beliefs schizophrenic type problems.

some ideas on how you can understand how this disorder has changed over the years....

go to your local library and research the disorder starting with the DSM III all the way up to today's DSM 5 TR.

I won't give you any google links for researching dissociative disorders because the DSM 5 TR now has information and paragraphs in the dissociative section that states popular symptoms, problems and behaviors you find in media-based resources are no longer to be considered for dissociative disorders.

In other words, people now must go to their treatment providers for specific information about their disorders instead of using media-based resources.

if you have a treatment provider let them know you are interested in researching why in the 1990's you were hospitalized. they can help you get copies of your medical and mental health records that can answer your questions. they can also explain the differences in what the dissociative disorders were back then vs what they are today.

[stahrgeyzer]

It's sad but even though they went to college for a zillion years there's still a wide spectrum of therapists and psychiatrists. Some are horrible. Most are probably okay. A small percentage are amazing that their job.

[TheGal]

Originally Posted by stahrgeyzer

It's sad but even though they went to college for a zillion years there's still a wide spectrum of therapists and psychiatrists. Some are horrible. Most are probably okay. A small percentage are amazing that their job.

My friend mentioned the exact same thing the other day.

[Betty_Banana]

Originally Posted by cool09

In the early '90's I was hospitalized 7 times and I was going thru dissociation and depression but I didn't know what was wrong with me. The pdocs and psychologists never picked up on it which makes me mad. They didn't pick up on the fact that I was detached or disconnected from myself.

I started seeing professionals in my teenage years. I was diagnosed with things like generalized anxiety disorder for many years.

I don't blame the professionals for not picking up on it though. For one thing, I never stuck with any kind of treatment long enough to get to the bottom of things. Sometimes I quit after the first session.

Plus, honestly, I didn't know what I was experiencing was dissociation, I had never even heard the term before. And I didn't know what I was experiencing was anything out of the ordinary since that's how I had experienced life since as far back as I could remember. I didn't know what DID was, didn't know that's what was going on, it was all my "normal". There was no internet way back when I started seeing professionals, I didn't read medical books as a teenager. Actually I never went on my own to see someone at that young age, it was the school that forced it because of my behavior.

Even when I started therapy back 12 or so years ago, even with internet, I still hadn't heard the term dissociation, and I didn't even know what PTSD was. I started going for other issues in my life and was shocked to be diagnosed with PTSD and was disbelieving of the DID diagnosis. But the difference with professional help that time was I stuck with it and although I didn't use the most common words and phrases of what I was experiencing, the professional picked up on what was going on.

All that just to say I think much of it is when we describe what we're going through.

I do wish it had been picked up on many years ago though. I could have received help back then and my life could have been much different. But, it's really no different than expecting a professional to pick up on depression if a person doesn't describe what they're experiencing and wondering why they didn't pick up on it when they're feeling suicidal.

[TheGal]

While I agree that the professionals can't know what you're feeling if you don't mention it, I do think that the majority's screening process, for what I've experienced, could be vastly improved .... They need to learn to probe more and validate ...

[Betty_Banana]

Originally Posted by TheGal

While I agree that the professionals can't know what you're feeling if you don't mention it, I do think that the majority's screening process, for what I've experienced, could be vastly improved .... They need to learn to probe more and validate ...

I agree!

[Fuzzybear]

Originally Posted by stahrgeyzer

It's sad but even though they went to college for a zillion years there's still a wide spectrum of therapists and psychiatrists. Some are horrible. Most are probably okay. A small percentage are amazing that their job.

I completely agree!

[Breaking Dawn]

It seems like a lot of new information keeps coming out about symptoms & causes & how DDs are more common than they realized. I recently read an article saying sleep deprivation leads to dissociation. So I've been wondering what percentage of people who dissociate also are not getting enough sleep? One of my problems is that the voices don't want me to sleep & keep me awake.

[stahrgeyzer]

Originally Posted by stahrgeyzer

It's sad but even though they went to college for a zillion years there's still a wide spectrum of therapists and psychiatrists. Some are horrible. Most are probably okay. A small percentage are amazing that their job.

On top of that only an extremely small percentage of therapists have experience with DID. And among the few who have DID experience there's a wide spectrum. A lot of therapists don't see alters as conscious people. The psychologist who diagnosed me with DID one day asked me if a specific part was a spirit. At the time that shook me so badly. I felt like saying to him, "How dare you even think that!" But now, it's all so very clear to me what my "parts" were. I should have answered "Most likely."