Studying psychology over the years, I do not believe that MPD actually exists. I have never met someone that has appeared to have this type of disorder and no one I know that has degrees in psychology and works with mentally ill patients has ever encountered it.
Now there is DID which is a new name for MPD which is a bit different. But how MPD is potrayed in television, film, and pop-culture etc. I do not believe that it exists.
I don't understand why it wouldn't exist. It isn't something someone could just spontaneously fake.
You love me more than sunny summer days.
These type of posts debunking the reality of MPD/DID fall into the category of how many people choose to live their lives- IN DENIAL. DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) definitely exists and is a very painful, confusing mental disorder for people who were severely traumatized in their childhood. RMS (Repressed Memory Syndrome) also exists, primarily due to physical and sexual abuse by a parent or close family member. Those people denying it's existence, mostly males who were accused of the abuse, debunk it for obvious reasons. If you have experienced any level of trauma as a child, you know this is all real- no matter how horrific it sounds to others. These disorders manifest as survival coping mechanisms for fragile, young minds. Thankfully, we have a society that is more open to learning about physical, sexual and emotional child abuse, not sweeping it under the rug or turning a blind eye like in the past. The safer an abuse victim feels, the more they will share. Sometimes it is decades after the abuse occurred and after going to several therapists or psychiatric hospitals. I've met quite a few people diagnosed with DID and that I suspected suffered from the disorder. One fascinating story I heard in a therapy group I was in came from a women in her late 20s whose alter came out while she was driving and she almost crashed her car because that alter didn't know how to drive! She was not lying and had no reason to. The disorder prevented her from carrying on normal relationships or keeping a job. It's heartbreaking to see what people who have DID actually go through before their alters are successfully merged. It can take years of therapy, if it ever happens. Repressed trauma can resurface if triggered by another traumatic event.
shareWell I believe it does exist, because I have it. I'm 100% serious. My case is not exactly as depicted in the film 'Sybil' though, for example I don't have the 'black outs' like she did where she can't remember what was going on when another personality would pop out. I am aware of what's going on the whole time another personality comes out. I have at least 3 other personalities. I've had this since I was very young. I don't see anything really wrong with it either. It's just my way of coping with certain situations that life throws at me. I'm not keen on it being classified as a mental 'disorder'. For me, this so-called 'disorder' has always helped me to MAINTAIN order. In the film Sybil, Dr. Wilbur once described Sybil's condition as a 'creative alternative to insanity' which is a pretty good way of putting it. For people like myself who have this condition, it's actually what KEEPS us sane and helps us get through the pressures of life. Others cope by by smoking, drinking, drugging, meditation, exercise, etc. This is just another way.
shareScimetar - I find it interesting you reference what you know and people who work in mental health that you know have never encountered MPD. How many people do you know working in mental health? The world is a big place with billions of people! I'm assuming you don't know everyone nor have you read everything. That said, I doubt if MPD is nearly as widespread as alluded to after the movie Sybil came out. But there are probably a few people that actually have it. Why not? Idiot Savants can play the piano with no lessons. A few people are geniuses. A few guys are hung like horses. A few people have amazing singing voices without training. Now that repressed memory syndrome business I think was a real hoax. Further reading from sources here make it pretty clear Sybil was a hoax too.
share