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multiplicity_archivesQuick hello, since I'm exhausted and I haven't introduced myself (ourselves) to this seemingly wonderful community as of yet.
My name is Juliana, and I'm a member of WhisperSung (our collective name). I'm 18, and the body is 19. I've known about the others for about three years now, although I've probably been in denial for about 2 of those years (heh).
I joined basically to meet others like myself (who hopefully will be able to understand me better than some of my past friends).
I have a few questions that I'm curious to hear peoples' opinions on, if you all would be so kind. . .
1. Has anyone here had problems with parents/close friends/etc. accepting or believing your others? My parents completely refused to accept it, and to this day I don't bring it up with them. I feel very, very fortunate to have a close friend/boyfriend right now who accepts us for who we are. He knows that it isn't always easy to be around us, but he says that rings true for any relationship once in a while. :)
2. I understand that not all multiples underwent abuse, so this question might not be for everyone, but I wanted to bring it up just the same. . .I'm looking into going into therapy so I might be able to work out some of my issues, but I've come across some doctors who've told me that they don't believe in multiplicity. This completely boggles me (is it really something you can choose not to believe in?!). Does anyone have any good tips on how to find a respectable doctor who is willing to work with someone in my situation? Or is it merely a trial and error process?
3. Does anyone have any experience with anti-depressants and their effects on a multiple system? We've found the Nina and Marie, the two girls who need the anti-depressant effects the most, don't seem to be noticing any changes, but Butterfly (a 7 year old) seems to be getting extremely jittery and dizzy from the medication (I assume that's what it is from, anyway). Should we even be on medications? Aik!
I realise these questions aren't the easiest to answer, but I thought I'd throw them out there.
Now, a little more about us. . .
We're third year University students studying ancient Near Eastern studies, History, Hebrew and other semitic languages, and Jewish Studies. We eventually want to go into law school.
Religion is a bit of a controversy inside! Some of us want to convert to Judaism while others (like myself) consider themselves Christian (Catholic, in my case). Hopefully we'll figure out a way to compromise one of these days.
Now that I've rambled for a while *g* I'll leave you all be. If anyone would like to contact me or WhisperSung, our email address is on our userinfo page.
Everyone have a wonderful evening, and hello once again!
Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
My name is Juliana, and I'm a member of WhisperSung (our collective name). I'm 18, and the body is 19. I've known about the others for about three years now, although I've probably been in denial for about 2 of those years (heh).
I joined basically to meet others like myself (who hopefully will be able to understand me better than some of my past friends).
I have a few questions that I'm curious to hear peoples' opinions on, if you all would be so kind. . .
1. Has anyone here had problems with parents/close friends/etc. accepting or believing your others? My parents completely refused to accept it, and to this day I don't bring it up with them. I feel very, very fortunate to have a close friend/boyfriend right now who accepts us for who we are. He knows that it isn't always easy to be around us, but he says that rings true for any relationship once in a while. :)
2. I understand that not all multiples underwent abuse, so this question might not be for everyone, but I wanted to bring it up just the same. . .I'm looking into going into therapy so I might be able to work out some of my issues, but I've come across some doctors who've told me that they don't believe in multiplicity. This completely boggles me (is it really something you can choose not to believe in?!). Does anyone have any good tips on how to find a respectable doctor who is willing to work with someone in my situation? Or is it merely a trial and error process?
3. Does anyone have any experience with anti-depressants and their effects on a multiple system? We've found the Nina and Marie, the two girls who need the anti-depressant effects the most, don't seem to be noticing any changes, but Butterfly (a 7 year old) seems to be getting extremely jittery and dizzy from the medication (I assume that's what it is from, anyway). Should we even be on medications? Aik!
I realise these questions aren't the easiest to answer, but I thought I'd throw them out there.
Now, a little more about us. . .
We're third year University students studying ancient Near Eastern studies, History, Hebrew and other semitic languages, and Jewish Studies. We eventually want to go into law school.
Religion is a bit of a controversy inside! Some of us want to convert to Judaism while others (like myself) consider themselves Christian (Catholic, in my case). Hopefully we'll figure out a way to compromise one of these days.
Now that I've rambled for a while *g* I'll leave you all be. If anyone would like to contact me or WhisperSung, our email address is on our userinfo page.
Everyone have a wonderful evening, and hello once again!
Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-03 10:56 pm (UTC)If you ever want to talk you can leave a comment in my journal, email me at reba@farbeitfromme.com, or contact me through AIM at QMadegan.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 01:10 pm (UTC)Thank you for your comment! You're always welcome to post in my journal as well. :)
Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
no subject
Date: 2003-08-03 11:16 pm (UTC)My dad knows, but he won't really acknowledge it. Sometimes we think he might be multiple, too. Our mom knows, and she tries to be understanding, but I think it kinda scares her, and I know it scares us, so we only talk to her about it when things are really important.
Somehow, magically, we found a good psychiatrist that would also do therapy, and it was only our fifth try at treatment. We got a referral from our regular doctor- if you really like and trust your doctor, that's a good place to start, I think.
We're on two anti-depressants (Celexa and Wellbutrin) as well as an anti-psychotic (Seroquel) and I think they've helped in elevating most of the fronting-peoples' mood, so that we have more stability concerning switching and that sort of thing. We were on Paxil and Prozac (separately) for a while, and they both made us worse.
As for religions causing inner-controversy- well, this is actually about food, but it's sorta similar- one of us is Jewish and wants to keep Kosher. We've all stopped eating pork and some shellfish in respect of that, and anything further is only when he is fronting. We're still working on the vegan/vegetarian/meat-eater/etc. aspects of our diet, though. :D
- Mar
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 01:07 pm (UTC)It's just the opposite for us. We don't speak to our father much, so we'd prefer our mother to accept and know about us. Oh well. Perhaps the time will come one day.
Thank you for the suggestion on therapy. I trust my family doctor, but she doesn't know about the rest of us. . .perhaps I'll just get some suggestions from my University's counseling services.
I've been on Seroquel before, and it made me a complete zombie. I just hated it. :( Celexa worked well for us. . .Paxil made us gain weight (which was NOT a good thing since we have body issues), and Prozac made us dizzy and hyper.
We try to keep kosher as well (although I haven't been able to give up my shrimp pasta at Red Lobster just yet *lol*!), even though some of us aren't Jewish. Lucky for me I never much liked pork anyways. :)
Nice to meet you, Mar!
Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
no subject
Date: 2003-08-03 11:57 pm (UTC)i'm my and i haven't actually been here for very long either but i'll try to answer yous questions as far as they go for me...
for first one it'll be the longest answer probly. yes, i've had problems with my parents dealing with this whole thing... so much so i'm really trying to figure out how to move out of the house. as much as they accept what i say in theory they really don't have any way to fit it into their belief system. my mom even said she thought it was very possible i was under demonic influence a couple of times which really hurt alot. they just really don't know what to make of it and don't really seem to know how to act with me any more even though it would be just fine if they were the same as before i told them or something.
i've also have bad problems with depression so i am seeing a psychologist and may possibly be going on medication for that at some point but right now we've only just been getting into the issues of multiplicity a little bit. its not something that tends to cause /alot/ of problems cause our system seems to be pretty well organized even if its not as stable recently as it was a few months ago.
i do know that it can be hard though if you get into therapy and then realize that alot of what you are saying is just being ignored as fantasy because the counselor doesn't believe in did or multiples or doesn't really know what to believe. that happened to us and as much as i liked him i had to find someone else who would take me seriously... i just couldn't talk to him about that if he didn't believe me really.
i would guess when you call to check them out just ask the receptionist if they treat patients with did or multiples there. hopefully they'll just be able to give a simple yes or no answer and maybe a bit of explanation of treatment philosophy. i read some books about the subject and different treatments at the local library that helped alot too but they were sorta tough to read though. you'd prolly be able to read them better though. my reading level is better than most people my age but not as good as alot of people the body's age
guess its good there are older ones here to do college work and stuffs. i hope things work out.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 12:54 pm (UTC)I'm so sorry about how your parents reacted. My parents had somewhat of the same reaction. I've never been close to my father, but when I realised my mother didn't understand how to accept it, it truly saddened me. Good luck, also, with moving out on your own. That can be quite a scary yet fulfilling experience if you're ready for it. I myself am moving out at the end of the month. I will still spend Thursday night at my parents house, because I'm a figure skater and will be getting my skating lessons on Thursday evenings and Friday mornings every week, so I'll still see my family. At least, though, I'll be on my own mostly. :)
While I was in outpatient therapy, I never once mentioned the "others" within. I was too shy, and we're fairly adept at hiding ourselves. I would like to talk to a therapist who believes us one day, though.
Oooh. University! Do you attend one right now? I absolutely love college life. I know it can be difficult, though, when you're not particularily well-versed on a certain subject. For example, we take Hebrew and Nina and Ayala as well as a few others are very good at it, but I'm horrible when it comes to speaking and listening comprehension. I try not to be out when we have exams if at all possible!
It was nice to meet you, My!
Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
Answer to Question 2
Date: 2003-08-04 12:33 am (UTC)Elaq Chen, Astraea
Re: Answer to Question 2
Date: 2003-08-04 12:27 pm (UTC)On a completely different topic, I noticed your house name was "Astraea". . .are you (plural) the ones who run Astraea's Web? If so, I just wanted to say that you have an incredibly wonderful and informative site. I've read through the FAQ's several times. I honestly never knew about "empowered multiples"/multiples who never suffered any form of abuse. It was really interesting for me to get a different perspective on other multiples (and kind of relieving also to realise not all people like us went through abuse!). Your website is amazing!
Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
Hey, thanks!
Date: 2003-08-04 02:37 pm (UTC)Yes, multiplicity can be natural, no abuse or trauma involved -- although being multiple can get a kid in a lot of trouble. We know about that! No cultural/social frame of reference other than Sybil -- that's what we're out to change, so plural kids in the future (and their folks!) will know they're not crazy or strange.
Empowerment is something else again. Empowerment is whether you were abused or not, split because of trauma or not. Empowerment is for everybody. All it means is being self (and selves)-reliant and making your own decisions instead of letting your problems control you. That's all Jeren of Shaytar meant when he first came up with the idea of calling it empowered multiplicity (http://www.bentspoons.com/Shaytar/soapbox/whatisemp.shtml), back in '99. It's a good idea for everybody and not just abuse survivors and / or multiples.
Keep 'em flying,
Kairu Tarenguil-Jazoreh (Bluejay Young)
Re: Hey, thanks!
Date: 2003-08-04 02:59 pm (UTC)Thank you also for better explaining what "empowered multiplicity" means. I had previously thought it was a term only for "natural multiples". I honestly was afraid when I first began noticing the others within, and I felt extremely ashamed to not be "whole". I thought I was some kind of broken plate or something of the sort that needed therapy to be put back together.
Over the last few months I've been realizing (along with some of the other members of WhisperSung) that, yes, we did go through some things that we may need to one day work out and deal with in a therapeutic setting, but that doesn't mean we need to be ashamed of who we are. I've come to feel proud of myself for who I am. I'm not simply a piece of some original person; I'm my own person with my own likes and dislikes, and that certainly isn't anything to be ashamed about! I honestly wish it hadn't taken me so long to realize this, but now that I do I think outside life is going to be a whole lot easier for all of us who are beginning to accept ourselves for who we are. < insert big smile here >
Thank you again for the explanation and for making a website that attempts (and succeeds!) to take on multiplicity from many angles instead of just one (natural) or two (mpd/did).
Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
Re: Hey, thanks!
Date: 2003-08-05 12:28 pm (UTC)One reason we do the website is that we feel no one should be ashamed to find others, whether they were called or created to help withstand abuse, or were just there all along, or .. whatever. And that being multiple is and can be a way of life like any other, it's as simple as that. Thank you for your vote of confidence. It really means a lot to all of us.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 03:31 am (UTC)Unfortunately, many parents go into denial because they see multiplicity as a specific accusation against them; whether or not they abused you-- and whether or not your multiplicity has anything to do with abuse-- they take it personally. That's why we're not out to our parents. Not bringing it up is probably the best choice, to be honest; you have your truth in your heart, but sometimes it's best to tell people what they want to hear, if they can't accept it.
To be honest, since we're very careful about who we come out to, we've never had anyone say to our face that they didn't believe us, that they thought we were faking it or that we were mistaking different sides of one person for seperate people. Or at least, we may have friends who do indeed harbor such beliefs, but they've never told us so. I'm glad you have someone close to you in your life who believes and accepts you, though.
I'm looking into going into therapy so I might be able to work out some of my issues, but I've come across some doctors who've told me that they don't believe in multiplicity.
I can say a little bit about this, and relate to it on some levels too. We went into therapy about six months ago for issues which weren't specifically related to multiplicity, but we concluded, after weighing the risks and benefits of it, that a therapist would not be able to really completely understand us and our situation without knowing that we were a we.
My advice? Be totally up-front about it. Ask the doctor at first meeting if they 'believe' in multiplicity. (I know, I agree-- it's stupid to reduce it to a matter of belief, but there were so many lawsuits against bad therapists in the mid-90s, who were finding multiplicity and abuse where they didn't exist, that some people decided to relegate it to a has-been diagnostic fad. An ugly reality, yeah, but one that some people are working to change. (http://www.tanuki.cx/pavilion/)) Try approaching it without actually using the words MPD or DID-- say something like 'we're more than one person' instead.
If/when you find a therapist who accepts your statement of selves-hood at face value, be very up front about the fact that integration is not your goal (I assumed from what you said that it isn't), and be clear about the specific issues you want to work on.
3. Does anyone have any experience with anti-depressants and their effects on a multiple system?
Some of us experience different side effects than others. To be honest, antidepressants-- which we have taken before-- are kind of a toss-up for us. When we are on them, they definitely help with certain things, but some of us feel that our communication is impaired when we're taking them. I suppose we really should do more experimentation on how we experience things on vs. off antidepressants.
Not sure if that helps, but there you have it.
~Azusa, for amorpha
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 12:39 pm (UTC)Hello! I love your name (very beautiful). We actually have an Aziza with us, but I haven't seen her for a while. :)
Warning: May be triggering below.
1. During my second stay in psychiatric, Marie (who is almost the only one out at home who interacts with our parents any more) told our parents what her actual name was. She was extremely hurt when our parents wouldn't acknowledge her as Marie and instead insisted on saying Marie was just simply not real and to ignore her. Sigh. Again, though, I'd rather have our friend (who perhaps one day we might marry) accept us for who we are than our parents; we definitely want our husband or wife to know and love us!
2. Thank you so much for your comments on this question! We told our psychiatrist during our inpatient stay right away that we thought we were multiple, and he seemed to get very uppity about it. . .as if I, who has lived in this body for 16 years, couldn't possibly be qualified to properly make that "diagnosis" on my own. Instead, I was diagnosed as schizo-affective (schizophrenia with bipolar tendencies) and thrown onto anti-psychotics that made me a zombie. During my hospital stay, I was also told to keep my voices to myself when Butterfly, 7, came out to play with a younger girl in the ward who acted friendly.
&no, integration isn't our goal. When speaking to our boyfriend, we told him that we're working on consolidation (we hate the term integration since it makes us a little nervous to say). . .consolidating/combining littles from Third (a world of nightmares, for a very quick and non-detailed definition) with others who are out more. Since a lot of our littles from Third only come out and begin to relive traumatic things, we think it'd be best to consolidate them with others who are out much more so we don't get as many headaches. Perhaps that'll be something to check on with a therapist.
3. Our communication gets messed up, too. It's not very easy to talk to some of us inside, so having communication messed up more is even worse. We're going to talk to our family doctor about taking us off the meds we're currently on after our supply runs out (she doesn't know there's more than one of us, though).
&Yes, of course that helped. Thank you so much for your comments.
Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 11:24 am (UTC)1) Sort of. Our Mum is still convinced that it's a: horrible/wrong/bad/ect and b: her fault.
we've yet to convince her of either of these, so mostly we try not to bring it up around her. sometimes she gets real condiscending (cause she doesn't understand, I suppose) and tells us, in a voice you'd use to a damned child, "you have to make sure everyone understands this" or "does everyone understand?" or annoyances like that.
I dunno how to deal with it, nyo.
2) we were lucky. our therapist (who we're...mostly I...just going to for depression) seems open enought about it. but it rarely gets mentioned since I told her straight out first thing "I don't want to mess with it"
3) the body's been on prozac for years and years...if we go off it we get withdrawls, but I'm not sure it's actaully doing anything. we're also on a mood stabalizer and occasionaly seroqual (just to help sleep, tho).
i'm not sure if any have any mental effect, actaully
as for the religion thing...ah, I suppose I don't get it. Do they want to allout covert/stay, like, phyiscally and everyone in there? I dunno how to deal with that, other than just letting those who have a particular opion on what they want to belive in keeping their own beliefs (maybe making some sorta guideline that ya dun try to convert others? at the very least to stop some arguments ^^;)
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 01:25 pm (UTC)2. Is it difficult to talk about multiplicity for you in therapy? I would assume that for myself it would be incredibly hard. I'd feel so self-conscious. . .even writing "we" online on this forum makes me feel rather strange. Maybe that changes with time(?).
3. I've found that sleeping medications make it difficult for me to stay awake during the daytime whereas some others inside don't become affected with it at all. It's kind of annoying when meds work differently with different people!
Luckily for us, we try to respect each others' beliefs inside. Eventually I think Nina will convert herself to Judaism the traditional way, because she isn't Jewish now. As for myself, I know in my heart that I'm Catholic regardless of what the body was born into (Lutheranism). It frustrates me that I can't take Communion on Sundays when I attend Mass. Perhaps I'll one day speak to a Priest about that and see what his opinion is on the matter.
It was nice to meet you!
Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 01:56 pm (UTC)as for 2, we're really used to using "we" and such all the time (hell, sometimes we use it outloud too ^^;). but then we've been in circles with some other multiple friends so it's just normal. you'll get used to it if you want to, then.
I dun talk about it much in therapy, and when it comes up it's not very akward. but since I'm goingto help with depression most times it comes up its in the sort of "i'll just hide behind the others" or "the others can push me to..." stuff.
most medications target just our body and leave our minds mostly alone. unless they're really strong.
b33r is like that too. so we loose motor skills and the like long before we start to get intoxicated mentaly. tis odd...but as far as we remember being /we/, the body has been sort of seperate from all of us.
good luck with the spiritual/relgious stuff ^^ tis not really my area of expertise or even comfortablity
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 03:01 pm (UTC)Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 11:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 12:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 12:31 pm (UTC)One of the most dramatic bits of biochem-mucking I realised I have is realising that Stormy is almost capable of doing a full Norse berserkergang, the whole indestructable tunnel-vision rage thing. And nobody else is -- so when who was up front changed when Stormy'd been going off at something, all that adrenaline and weird blood chemistry was just . . . meaningless.
Complicated things, brains.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 01:36 pm (UTC)I would prefer vitamins and natural herbs to anti-depressants any day! Perhaps I'll start myself on something like that after we're off Effexor. . .
Love from,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 11:46 am (UTC)To answer some of your questions...
1) We're not out to that many people. We did tell some people in high school, when we were first diagnosed. Most brushed it off and said nothing. Some didn't believe. Our closest friends were like, "Ah, it makes SENSE now!" (LOL) Our parents know and try to be supportive, but our father tends to make jokes about it and tease us about it, which annoys us, and our mother has days when she declares that she "can't deal" with it. Our girlfriend is also a multiple, so she, of course, is completely understanding and supportive.
2) I think it's mostly trial and error. We have been lucky, but unlucky at the same time. Our first therapist believed in it, but also saw dollar signs whenever we walked into a session after the diagnosis. Our current therapist is much better, but we had to stumble to get to her. We tried someone in school, who said, "Maybe you just THINK you have DID" and then we tried someone we knew was supportive (the head of the Women's Center where we volunteer, who openly believes in DID), who referred us to Jane, our current therapist. We also have to deal with a lot of skeptics in college because we've taken several psychology courses, and only one professor said DID was real and defended it, and didn't make fun of it, but explained what it's like to live with it. We wrote him an annonymous letter thanking him for that. There are professors who openly deny it exists, many of whom are psychologists in addition to professors, and that upsets us. It's why I was created, actually, to deal with doubt about DID, as well as to deal with graphic talk of abuse and other such triggers without triggering.
3) We've been told that we have "odd" reactions to medication. Aspirin never works on our headaches. (Not even migraine aspirin.) We tried Prozac for a while. It made us sleepy and we couldn't stop yawning, but that was about it. When the dosage was hired a little, (a very small amount) we became physically ill, started to get dizzy and see spots... And when we told the psychiatrist that, she said it was impossible that the Prozac had caused it. Then we tried Zoloft, and that turned us into a zombie without any emotions whatsoever...we were a mess. We pretty much decided that anti-depressants were not for us.
On the note of school, we're currently majoring in forensic psychology, a decision that was made by Wyllow, the host at the time that we had to decide, after she consulted several insiders. Most people agreed on it. However, two years later, Rhee resurfaced. She has an overwhelming desire to teach, and she is so passionate about this that she convinced most of the system that we should change our major to education. We are transfering to another college in the Spring and will change our major then. We decided we would minor in psychology, because most of us enjoy psychology, but the urge to teach has become stronger than the urge to be a psychologist.
Religion-wise, we're quite complicated. The majority of the system is Pagan, and on the surface, we identify as a Pagan. Then, there are several Christians, a few Jewish people, a few agnostics, and one atheist. We also have a variety of sexual orientations. Most of the girls are lesbians, and we identify on the surface as a lesbian, but several are bisexual, several are asexual, a few are straight, and the males are mostly straight. (A few are asexual, and one is bisexual.) So yeah... Isn't it fun being a multiple? LOL.
Anyway, it was nice to read about your system, and I hope some of what we posted helps you out. :)
Love,
Robin, of The People
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 12:16 pm (UTC)1. One of our good friends left when she found out (actually, she began avoiding me and we eventually lost contact). Our previous boyfriend, we were never really sure if he believed us which was difficult. Our current one does. He said after Nina told him, all he could think to say was "Ohh. That makes sense." We're so glad we met him! :) We may tell our parents again one day, but now isn't the right time (financial problems happening right now, so no).
2. We've come across a lot of doctors who don't believe in multiplicity. My response to that is, how can they truthfully say it doesn't happen when they themselves haven't experienced it? If the human mind is really such a wonderful device, why is it so impossible to believe that it can mold itself a certain way to fit a difficult situation? We're hoping right now that we can start therapy with someone trustworthy soon. If not, we have a supportive friend/boyfriend and plenty of good things to think about.
3. Prozac made us tired, too! Zoloft had a strange effect on us. . .we became extremely agitated from it and it had to be discontinued. We've been on everything in the book from Lithium to Seroquel to our current med, EffexorXR. Eventually we'd like to stop all of them, because they all make us feel negatively more than anything.
Good luck on education! What type of teaching would you like to do? We've thought about becoming a professor, but most of us are anxious about being in front of other people (except when figure skating. . .that doesn't seem to bug us too much!). We want to go to law school right now, though. We started out in Pre-Med (Ally, 14, wanted to be an Orthopaedic Surgeon, and Nina, 18, wanted to be a Psychiatrist). We also love to write, so we were thinking about Creative Writing or Journalism. Psychology, too. We're interested in too many things, I think. :)
On the surface we identify as a Jew and will probably convert, because the majority of our insiders like Judaism. Speaking for myself, I know I'll always be Catholic. Our boyfriend is Catholic, so he says I'm welcome to attend Mass with him whenever I want (I did so yesterday!). I know some inside seem to be Satanists who say they're Christian (SRA problems, I think, but I don't really know much about that). One or two Wiccans as well. Atheists? Probably those too! :)
Ooh. Sexuality. I didn't even think about that one. I know Nina and Marie grappled over their sexualities for a while. It made us feel so much better when our boyfriend told us that if he weren't dating us, he would most likely be dating another man. We have Robert, 22, who is gay inside, too, and it's so wonderful that he's accepted for who he is by our friend. I, myself, am boringly heterosexual ;)
Thank you for your wonderful reply! It helped tremendously. I also replied to whomever commented in my journal, so you know.
Much love,
Juliana
/WhisperSung
no subject
Date: 2003-08-05 04:23 am (UTC)1. We have told very few people outside of our husband and a handful of close friends. We explain it more from a spiritual than a psychological background, since they're all pagans and accepting of the concept of chanelling spirits etc. It's a fairly short leap from there to the concept of having more than one soul sharing a body.
2. Can't help you with. We do have a sort of abuse background but we never had any success finding a therapist. I'm not sure we even want to have a therapist deal with our "multiplicity" anyway.
3. We found them to be useful in the short term. Having been successfully on fluoxetine one time, when we needed antidepressants again we ended up with bad side effects that we didn't get previously, so we had to be switched onto something else. Doctor said that was very unusual.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-05 05:23 pm (UTC)1. Most of my friends are Christian, so the fact that most of us (not me, though) relate most to Judaism is hard enough for them to swallow. . .learning about our plurality would probably make their heads explode *lol*! I feel blessed to have my current boyfriend who is so very understanding and easy to talk to. :)
2. Right. Perhaps just spending time talking to my boyfriend will help. I'm not quite sure yet, though. Time will probably tell.
3. I agree with you. I think we need to be off them. I forgot to take them yesterday, and I felt like such a horrible zombie today. I've never quite felt that horrible before. They do us more harm than good.
Love from,
Juliana
First of all welcome!
Date: 2003-08-05 04:35 pm (UTC)1. yes, yes and yes. Most people have trouble understanding that which they've not directly experienced, so friends and family who aren't multiples will have trouble understanding.
2. Well, first and foremost, you'll be very hard-pressed to find a doctor who uses the terms multiplicity. Most use Dissasociative Identity Disorder and a few still use the old term Multiple Personality Disorder. However, there are quite a few still out there that deny the existance of such a disorder. Not exactly sure why, however, fortunately, the number of disbelievers is going down. If you are in this area, I do know of a few good doctors with experience with multiples. Outside this area, though, I'm not too familar with. If you need to search for one, it will take time and alot of paitience, as many of the narrow-minded pricks out there can definately try one's patience.
3. NEVER EVER introduce anti-depresants to a system where not every one is depressed. If there is even one that is not, than anti-depressants aren't what you need, mood stabilizers are. When introducing psych. meds to a system, you have to treat the system as a whole not piece by piece. Therefore, you need to treat bipolar, not depression.
Hope that helped. Once again, welcome to the group, hope you enjoy it here.
~Chaela
Re: First of all welcome!
Date: 2003-08-05 05:34 pm (UTC)Hello. . .Juliana directed me to your comment after reading your userinfo profile.
I'm an angel, too. I spend a lot of time out with Juliana together when we're with our S.O. It's lovely to meet another like myself.
I sincerely thank you for answering our questions; it means so much to us to have people to talk to about our questions and thoughts.
Love,
Ninalyn of WhisperSung
Re: First of all welcome!
Date: 2003-08-05 05:42 pm (UTC)~Chaela
Re: First of all welcome!
Date: 2003-08-06 12:09 am (UTC)I would have to disagree there. That may be your experience but not ours. We never had any bad effects from taking Prozac when some people in the system were depressed and others not. On the other hand, giving drugs for bipolar disorder can do a lot of harm if they're not needed, based on what I've heard from friends who were diagnosed as bipolar, so I would advise caution if anything. Remember, if a medication doesn't work for you, you don't have to keep taking it. it's your choice and your right.
shiu, amorpha
Re: First of all welcome!
Date: 2003-08-06 06:29 am (UTC)The point I was trying to make though, was that you have to treat the sytem as a whole. If you have some personas that are depressed and some that aren't then as a whole you're bipolar or at the very least, not suffering from the normal depression. Introducing anti-depressants to someone who doesn't have typical depression can have worse effects than mood stabilizers on people that aren't bipolar. The way a mood stabilizer works is it balances your moods, so that you don't have huge swings of depression or mania.
Anti-depressants to a bipolar or even to a normal person for that matter, can act like speed or esctacy, or even worse, like high doses of risperadone, which make you almost schitzophrenic like nervous, and jittery.
Moodstabilizers at best, will have a calming effect, whereas antidepressants bring tension up along with mood.
I'm not saying I'm a medical proffessional, but this is how it's been explained to me by far too many of them. I've been diagnosed with depression, then they changed their minds and thought I was bipolar. In the end, they decided I was DID and psychotic and until that was fixed there wasn't too much they could do. I've been on far too many psych drugs, and have a tendancy to suffer more from the side effects than the medicines actually help, however, I've also been around alot of paitients with the same kinds of problems and watched
Re: First of all welcome!
Date: 2003-08-06 06:21 pm (UTC)I guess it also depends on what psychological theories you subscribe to. ^Azusa says the current theory in fad is the reductionist one, which attempts to explain all cases of depression, anxiety, etc. to brain chemical imbalances. me, I think that's somewhat wide of the mark. I agree there are definitely cases where something is caused by a chemical imbalance, but a lot of the time, doctors seem to ignore when there's a very logical cause for the depression stemming from life events, such as death/illness in the family, PTSD, bad relationships, etc. I know that in our system, sometimes people will get depressed because they don't have an opportunity to get out and do things they enjoy. If some people in a system have situational depression and others not, I don't think drugs should be the answer at all. I wouldn't call it bipolar unless the depression couldn't be explained by anything other than a chemical cause.
...I don't mind you not being a medical professional, heh heh. in fact, these days, we're somewhat less inclined to trust medical professionals because their answer to everything seems to be drugs, drugs and more drugs, even when the depression has a clearly situational cause. A lot of psychiatrists are subsidized by pharmaceutical (sp) companies to prescribe their drugs. we got tired of trying to get help from professioanls and having drugs thrown in our face, and finally, we had to put our foot down and say "we're not going to take any more drugs than this."
I guess in the end, we can all only speak for ourselves, though, ne? If you've had bad experiences with these drugs I understand why you would want to warn others away from taking them. at the same time, it sometimes seems to me that professionals want you taking as many drugs as possible, and will lie to you and tell you that you can't get along without them or that you can't get along on lower doses. Or maybe they aren't outright lying, just going along with what they were actually taught, but still, it strikes me as a... I don't know, it seems to me that many of them, even if they don't say it, intend to 'fix' your problems by drugging you into submission.
Anthea, for amorpha
Re: First of all welcome!
Date: 2003-08-06 08:14 pm (UTC)You're definately correct on the ammount of over-dosing that happens. When I was on mood stabilizers and actually got a good effect, it was on very low doses.
You know what I call that theory? Laziness. Doctors don't want to find out what's wrong anymore, nor do they care. They jus write out perscriptions.
*nods nods* yep, very much so. I definitely agree that there are better ways to "fix" ourselves than drugs. I jus know how bad antidepressants (as normally perscribed) can be for anyone who's not entirely depressed, though I admit they can help in low doses to treat ODC and anxiety problems, but as we both agree, very few doctors actually start on a low dose. I got lucky with one of my psychiatrists and he actually had me on a tiny dose of lithium. The dose was so small that when I mentioned it to a friend who'd been on lithium nearly 20 years, he scoffed, "What's the point?!" However, he's addicted to lithium now, whereas I'm off it and doing jus fine. Had his doctor started him out small, he might not be so dependant right now.
our answers
Date: 2003-08-07 03:48 pm (UTC)2. I still can't find a DOCTOR. Psychiatrists, I've discovered, have too many patients already to take on another Plural, or they suck suck suck. I'd suggest you check out your local social workers. I've found that there are some who have had so many Multiple clients, and roll their eyes at the bullshit associated with the DSM-IV.
3. If they start causing problems now, I highly advise that you stop. We've had some horrible side-effects from anti-depressants and anti-anxieties of several types. In our case, at first, in some of us there was disorientation. Then the system completely lost co-consciousness. For those who were already having problems feeling 'real', this was a disaster, and some took drastic measures to prove they existed. Of course, this put us in the hospital a number of times. It was only when we stopped taking them that things started to make sense again. The only time since that we've risked taking those meds again was to quit smoking, and we actually had to put things in place with family, friends, doctors, and social workers to make sure we went off before the communication was gone again.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-09 04:52 pm (UTC)no, we haven't mentioned to them.
2. our current psychologist is somewhat.. not that useful.. but it's probably because we generally only talking about things on the surface with him. .. we suppose we don't trust him enough yet. but he knows we're we.
3. it's useful at times.. but we don't take it unless completely necessary.. it may bring out few people we dont expect due to the lowered control.
- S
hiya~ about the religion thing, we don't exactly match about that also.. *cringe* some of us are atheists, one agnostic, and the rest are consisted of moslems and catholics.. ^^; devoted ones, even.. ^^~
er.. yea, we already gave up about taking compromise about that one.. can't you tell? ^^;;
nice to meet (all of) you ^___^ *waves*
- Oz
Toride