The marker thing wouldn't work, Nameless is just.. she self-mutilates. she likes to inflict pain upon herself, the body.. self-punishment, it seems like.
If it's because you want to feel pain, get a big ice cube and hold it against your arm or wherever it is you want to feel the pain, and keep holding it there. Hurts like hell, but doesn't leave any scars. Wrap a towel around your arm and put an ice cube or two in it and leave it tied there.
she doesn't talk at all... I dont know.. I like Tamora Pierce and Terry Pratchet.. Pierce would probably make it worse because one of my... others.. loves the books so much. She even calls herself Alanna. she's 10-13.. something.. it changes, it seems like... I don't know what I'm doing.
It seems like right now the whole idea of sharing your body with other people is really frightening to you. That's not unusual. The dominant culture tells us that one mind, one body is the standard for sanity, and any deviation from that unacceptably ill.
The key here is communication. Get to know the others. If I recall the summary of Tamora Pierce's books correctly, Alanna was a very strong character who disguised herself as a boy and took the place of her twin brother as a soldier. It seems to me that someone who identifies strongly with a character like that could potentially be a very positive force in the system. See what she wants to be and what she wants to do. (Also, don't worry about people who change in age. That's actually quite common and it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them.)
People will often develop a self-image based on others' reactions to them. If others treat them as if they're a thing to be feared, they may come to believe that they themselves are something bad and evil; if they're called as equals to participate in the system's life and honoured, they will tend to see their own good qualities much more clearly. We found that out when we were in the process of beginning to communicate with each other.
Also, it may be that your boyfriend's inability to handle his own issues may be exacerbating your own, and if you have to pay attention to and help him all the time, it draws energy away from you so that you can't focus so much on internal communication. You don't sound like someone who needs to be institutionalized-- in fact we've heard far, far more horror stories about hospitalization, about it making people worse, than good ones. Right now you just sound like someone who's afraid and trying to make sense of a phenomenon which the dominant culture has not given us good models for.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2004-05-29 01:56 am (UTC)If it's because you want to feel pain, get a big ice cube and hold it against your arm or wherever it is you want to feel the pain, and keep holding it there. Hurts like hell, but doesn't leave any scars. Wrap a towel around your arm and put an ice cube or two in it and leave it tied there.
she doesn't talk at all... I dont know.. I like Tamora Pierce and Terry Pratchet.. Pierce would probably make it worse because one of my... others.. loves the books so much. She even calls herself Alanna. she's 10-13.. something.. it changes, it seems like... I don't know what I'm doing.
It seems like right now the whole idea of sharing your body with other people is really frightening to you. That's not unusual. The dominant culture tells us that one mind, one body is the standard for sanity, and any deviation from that unacceptably ill.
The key here is communication. Get to know the others. If I recall the summary of Tamora Pierce's books correctly, Alanna was a very strong character who disguised herself as a boy and took the place of her twin brother as a soldier. It seems to me that someone who identifies strongly with a character like that could potentially be a very positive force in the system. See what she wants to be and what she wants to do. (Also, don't worry about people who change in age. That's actually quite common and it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them.)
People will often develop a self-image based on others' reactions to them. If others treat them as if they're a thing to be feared, they may come to believe that they themselves are something bad and evil; if they're called as equals to participate in the system's life and honoured, they will tend to see their own good qualities much more clearly. We found that out when we were in the process of beginning to communicate with each other.
Also, it may be that your boyfriend's inability to handle his own issues may be exacerbating your own, and if you have to pay attention to and help him all the time, it draws energy away from you so that you can't focus so much on internal communication. You don't sound like someone who needs to be institutionalized-- in fact we've heard far, far more horror stories about hospitalization, about it making people worse, than good ones. Right now you just sound like someone who's afraid and trying to make sense of a phenomenon which the dominant culture has not given us good models for.