power to da peoples

[changelyng14.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_personality_disorder#Multiplicity_as_a_social_phenomenon

Healthy multiplicity:
Some professionals and multiples would say that multiplicity is not inherently dysfunctional. So long as there is co-consciousness and no loss of memory, so long as the various "selves" can communicate and negotiate with each other, multiples can lead happy and productive lives. It is mere prejudice and bigotry to insist that everyone be a singleton (have a single "self").


http://www.religioustolerance.org/mpd_did5.htm#nat

Multiplicity seen as a naturally occurring phenomenon:
There is a subgroup within the MPD community who often describe themselves as "empowered multiples" (EMs). Others use terms like "non-disordered multiples." "natural multiples," or "non-trauma multiples." They look upon multiple personalities as a gift, and a naturally occurring phenomenon, unrelated to childhood abuse. They differentiate themselves from what they call "survivor multiples": victim survivors of MPD who are seriously disabled by their multiplicity. EMs have not been well accepted by survivor multiples. When they ask survivor webmasters to install links to EM web sites, they "have been rejected for 'unsuitable content.' "

-candy
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Comments

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

About two years ago, a member of our group sent a letter to RT suggesting that they add to/revise the natural multiplicity section, which was completely ignored. We had an idea going at the time that we might be able to persuade others to send letters, because we figured that they'd be less able to ignore it, but nobody around us at the time seemed interested in helping out-- le sigh. I can find Tamsin's letter and post it up here if anyone's interested in seeing it.

[changelyng14.livejournal.com]

rt = religious tolerance?
You should send them another letter, and ask them how they feel about the fact that according to their trinity doctrine, they worship a god with multiple personality disorder, who is occaisionally witnessed talking to himself. ("And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him."-luke 9:35 (go go bible.com)) maybe ask them if they'd recommend inpatient therapy for integration, or if they think god can do ok in outpatient with meds.

:/
candy

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

One of these days, I'm going to have to dig up Rev. Roxanne Howard's old sermon "Is God Multiple?" and post it here. This comes up every once in a while on this comm.

Nick

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

I worked damned hard on that Wikipedia article, as you can see by looking at the page history, and most of my changes have been deleted, but the people who did the revisions did keep the idea of non-pathological multiplicity and gave it its own section.

The problem with the Religious Tolerance site is that, for the most part, the man who wrote it is a debunker, and leads off with a quote from Roseanne Barr that she probably meant facetiously but which makes plurals in general look very, very bad. He also keeps saying things like "Amazingly, otherwise rational people believe in this" and doesn't attempt to differentiate between multiplicity itself and the "believe the children" excesses of the recovery movement. I always meant to write to them and have several letters started in draft form.

Roseanne Barr quote

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

That was one of Tamsin's complaints-- she tacked it on at the end, and didn't make a big deal of it, but she thought it had been purposely chosen to showcase the fruitcake-like nature of our beliefs. 9_9 You really should still write to them-- I think our letter was ignored partly because there haven't been many others backing our view.

[idianshire.livejournal.com]

My problem is once again the RT comment separate functional/healthy multiplicity from those with survivor/abuse issues.

And how!

[spookshow-girl.livejournal.com]

From that paragraph, you'd get the idea that all multiples who survived abuse can't be anything but a victim. Even a huge portion of the fluffy survivor communities at least bother to try to step away from the victim stance, at the very least in name. The whole name shift from victim to survivor, IIRC is supposed to reflect that.

"What's that? Your father beat you? Sorry man, no hope for you to get on with your life."

--Me

Re: And how!

[changelyng14.livejournal.com]

Ever notice how every multiplicity person out there with a testimony has the most amazingly fucked up abuse story for their intro?
its enough to give u an inferiority complex!

candy

[shatterstorm.livejournal.com]

*laughter* No one who likes Lords of Acid can possibly be inferior to anyone!

For our group, having multiple groups sans trauma made it a lot easier to think about and address system issues seperately from trauma issues. Having functionality be separate from group origin is a powerful stance.

[spookshow-girl.livejournal.com]

Having functionality be separate from group origin is a powerful stance.

Definately. Often, linking the two, only serves the purpose trapping the system in the idea that they cannot improve their lives. It makes them dependant on their past, and the therapists who constantly rehash it. It prevents them from looking forward, to the future they want, except as an impossible dream. It's a mindset that practically encourages abreaction.

Separating the two notions allows them to open their eyes to the possibilities before them. It's allows them to realise they can even try to get what they want out of life, as opposed to only scrounging for needs. It breaks the pattern of dragging the past to the present, and allows the multiple to head towards the fucture.

I might seem a little maudlin here, but I've watched that attitude take it's toll from people so many times, it's driven me to distraction.

--Me/Us

Re: And how!

[idianshire.livejournal.com]

It was a bug up my arse for a while I admit. When I started hearing about empowered multiplicity the people I was hearing it from came from a position that empowered meant no trauma. I do not believe this is how it was started, or the meaning, but unfortunately, for my blood pressure, the people I was hearing it from were coming from that position. For me the functionality/health of a person or system has very little to do with how it was created and more to do with the people themselves. I know some multiples that identify as natural that I would call very disfunctional as well as those that are functional. There is something I think happens sometimes with changes in language though, the meaning behind them seem to get lost. The victim to survivor change, I often feel that the word survivor is now used for anyone that is now an adult, or years after the trauma has past. The same victim stance often occurs but the word survivor is still used. Ok enough ranting from me

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

It's based on material that is five years out of date. They refuse to change or update it.

[shatterstorm.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Having a well functioning system is a matter of how you work with your system-mates, it shouldn't have anything to do with what you survived.

[melange-fiesta.livejournal.com]

I don't think multiplicity is a "gift" any more than being a singlet is a gift, but I'm glad that they at least take a positive view of the situation.

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

I don't know what site they read it on that "MPD is a gift." Certainly not one that was really about empowered multiplicity, or maybe it was one of those ones that thought 'empowered' meant you weren't going to integrate. But nobody who actually knew what it was supposed to mean would call it either MPD or a gift.

We also quibbled with the issue that they referred to us as "a subset of the MPD community." We are not, to quote Michelle Dawson, your community.

[amusedinsanity.livejournal.com]

I suppose it's nice that others are affirming that functional multiplicity is a good thing etc, but I'm still bothered by the stance they seem to take that all 'survivor' multiples are disordered, nonfunctional victims (who by the way don't seem to like 'empowered' multiples very much) Yet our system is a survivor system of years of abuse, we're QUITE functional, very happy to be that way and intend to remain that way, and believe strongly that natural multiplicity is possible and have no problem with 'empowered' multiples. I believe Onyx would have very strong words for anyone who calls her a disordered victim. heh.