Taking back a Word,...

[jhonathand.livejournal.com]

So I've heard alot of People talking lately about "Integration" and I have to say,. The thought of what the Dr.'s, Psychy's, And Therapists see it as is frightening.

I wouldn't want it. Even with a million dollar purse attached.

I have come to know and live with my brothers and as far as I'm concerned "I am Integrated!"

I view Integrated as being able to live life, in a semblance of Order that works for you! (All of you even,.........LOL)

I love Lilly Tomlin in that movie,..........Whoops! That's,..."All of Me" with Steve Martin.

Anyways, Taking back the word for 'US' I think would be a huge Boon in our Campaign in Fostering amnity and understanding in the world, which we face constant ridicule, shame, torture, hatred Etc. Etc. Ad-nausium, Ad-Infinitum.

In World War 2 If you were discovered to be Homosexual (And not killed immeadiatly) You were forced to Wear an upside-down Pink Triangle on your clothing (similar to the Star of David that the Jews had to wear.) That has since become our Banner. (reffering to the Gay Community.)

Our Standard, Our Coat Of arms almost. (Along with the rainbow that has only 6 colors, {red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple.} No Indigo present, like in the standard Rainbow/Spectrum of color.)

Which thusly has turned an extremely Negative and dangerous thing, Into something positive, and inspiring.

I think the same should be done for "Intigration".

It seems rather Barbaric that the thought of, Killing off the 'Others' and absorbing them back into one consciousness,(which is what the Dr.'s/Therapists would like to see.) is like asking one of us to cut off an arm or a foot,. I know I "Just can't do it." and I wouldn't want or ask anyone else to either.

I understand that there are those out there who Need and Desire the Textbook re-Integration,. But I am coming to learn that those of us, who can cope in reality, can also become Integrated in a sense that, The whole Family/System/Core and Alters/House Etc. all live and work together. For the mutual benefit of Existance.

I think that would be an admirible goal for all of us to strive for.

Here's wishing Luck for the Future,.......

~M/Frost/Jake~

Comments

[etana.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree with you on the idea of integration as it stands as a negative for some systems...definitely for ours. We were "integrated" when the first layer popped out 5 years ago only to find that layer was just pushed further underground. And there were many more of us anyway. But an over-zealous counselor thought how fabulous a multiple system could be integrated in less than 6 months of therapy!!!

Right.

She doesn't talk to us anymore because she still wants us to integrate now. The idea has always seemed deplorable to me because it's always some non-multiple therapist, counselor, etc. that comes along saying "you must integrate!" which to me is reflective of reparative therapies used on gay/lesbian/trans folk even after the American Psychological Association deemed it unaffective and abusive for gay/lesbian folk in 1972.....

But I'm not sure how one could turn "integration" into a positive....the meaning of the word is to combine into a whole....I think reclaiming the word "multiple" as a positive when it's been so misused (and hten re-defined as dissociation and dissociative instead to save face by the APA folks) is pretty radical....but if you come up with somethin....:)

[enigma-system.livejournal.com]

We're going to be therapists. We'll make sure that no one has to integrate if they don't want to. ;)

[jhonathand.livejournal.com]

I think what I as aiming for was rather a "Subversive" understanding, starting in this community even, That Intigration be the new term for a decently co-exsisting system, that can function in the real world without bringing harm to themselves or Others.

But all copy needs fine tuning, that and it would take everyone to see my point of view, and decide that's what we ALL want it to mean and start using in the context that we created on a regular basis,.

That might take longer than I can keep up with it.

I still think it's a damn good Idea.

~M~

[enigma-system.livejournal.com]

I don't see integration like that exactly. I feel there is a difference between integration and death. That said... we find that integration isn't for us. We support YOUR collective choice to integrate or not to integrate.

I do think, though, that many therapists get people to KILL their others (especially if they have violent tendencies or even if the therapists just plain don't like them) instead of integrating them.

[jhonathand.livejournal.com]

It's not that I 'choose' to be intigrated.

I've just changed the defenition in my head as to what I think it should, thusly changing the label in my mind,. so that if need be. I could walk strait up to any Thereapist/Dr/Pschy/ in the world and tell them "I'm perfectly Intigrated." That's what I was going for,.

as to the Death and Killing thing; I meant that Metphorically. although I do see it as kind of a death,. Forcing one of my brothers to become part of me, kills the distinctive qualities of them. and that's something I wouldn't want to have happen.

That's how I see it,.

~M~

interesting article on integration

[retinalscan.livejournal.com]

Here is an interesting article (http://www.sidran.org/integration.html) on integration written by someone who is both a therapist and who was diagnosed with DID. It's a long article but I suggest reading all the way through it, especially if you disagree with her. She seems to provide a well reasoned argument for integration and I would be curious to see some equally well reasoned counter arguments to the specific points she used to make her case.

Please be aware that I am not taking a particular stance and I'm not saying that you should make a counter argument. It's just a proposition for those who are interested.

Re: interesting article on integration

[enigma-system.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I might have to write something inspired by that. :)

Re: interesting article on integration

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

Well, my immediate thought would be that it only applies to systems who are trauma-based and/or who dissociate. Since we're neither, it would be difficult for me to see the advantages of trying to 'fix' something that wasn't broken in the first place. We have our own coping mechanisms for dealing when things go wrong, but we never used our multiplicity for that purpose-- if anything, we used denial of our multiplicity to cope. Our people aren't personalities, they're not "collections of thoughts, feelings, experiences and memories that had been separated from normal awareness and from other collections of thoughts, feelings, experiences and memories." They're people with their own distinct aspects and sides of themselves, who don't lose the intrinsic core of 'who they are,' the aspects which make them different from each other, just by sharing memories or being in communication.

Moreover, we know from having tried to integrate that it doesn't feel right-- there was no moment like the author described, where the main frontrunner began to feel 'they're all me, they're just aspects of myself which have been cut off.' In fact, the harder we tried to push everyone into a single identity and to accept the idea that we were one person, the more wrong it felt, and the less control we had over whose traits were prominent at any given moment. The more we tried, the more difficult it was to make our 'unified identity' hang together.

Again-- integration is a choice, and if it's the right choice for someone, we support it. But to assume that all multiples have DID and are using dissociation as a coping mechanism just because that was your experience is as misguided as to assume that all homosexuals were molested as children or didn't have a supportive father/mother because that was your experience.

Re: interesting article on integration

[unknown-tales.livejournal.com]

Interesting article, thank you for posting the link. As for my response, I could easily go through and reply to almost everything, but that would take too long. But beyond what sethrenn has already said, which I agree totally with, there are a few problems I find with it.

My biggest is that the writer insists that because others beside myself exist, I must not be a whole person. She also seems to believe the idea of alters=emotions, and that without integration I cannot feel the full spectrum of emotions, which is entirely untrue. I am in no way less than a normal person, and so integration is not going to benefit me because it is not going to give me something that I lack. She also seems to believe that there is no way a system that is not integrated could be happy and at peace, and that's not true of us, either.

And personally I find the stance that children naturally lean toward integration slightly offensive. I and one other have been here since birth. We never integrated, and never wanted to. We did learn, however, to keep it a secret because others wouldn't accept it, and would often tell us that we had too vivid of an imagination. Some children, I am sure, do integrate after a time. But not all children will "spontaneously move" toward integration.

Overall, there is an tone to the essay that says that being in a multiple system is unstable, and not a safe way to live because you can't control anything, not even your own emotions. This could be true for some, but it's not true for my system. We function fine together, and we would function just as fine apart. We aren't fragments and emotions with names tacked on. We are very capable of handling our personal life.

And the worst line: I realize more than ever that the best way to honor the personalities is to incorporate them into the whole self.

We thought the best way to honor each other was to respect each other's individuality, and to provide strength and comfort when we need it.

Re: interesting article on integration

[appadil.livejournal.com]

I'm probably the only one doing so... but parts of that essay were reminding me of the End of Eva movie, specifically the bit with Rei and dissolving the AT fields and everything becoming LCL... Is anyone else picking up on that parallel, or am I just being odd?