Today was "dissociative disorders" day in our abnormal psych. class..

[stealthdragon.livejournal.com]

The professor introduced DID with a case study of the only multiple system she'd ever worked with, and commented that we're "as rare as hens' teeth". She described stuff with the classic textbook trauma framework, integration, etc. She only got about halfway through, since she ran out of time. She's got a habit of that, since she's enthusiastic about psychology as a whole.

So after class, I wrote her an e-mail:

Hi, [Name Removed].

I'm writing to you to let you know that you've got a real, live multiple in your class this semester. No, we're not joking. There are three of us in here, and all of us pay attention in your class. I get to write to you because I didn't draw homework duty, and we're easy to identify by writing.

Now, we're multiple, but we're not disordered. Since we can share thougts, memories, and even co-pilot the body to share experiences, we don't meet the diagnostic criteria for DID. To the best of our knowledge, we were never abused as children. Our parents didn't believe in physical punishment, so they didn't even spank us. [From the Peanut Gallery: "But man, could they guilt."] Breaking even more stereotypes, we don't seem to have a "core" person. We don't know whether there was anyone in this body before we were, just that somewhere along the line one of my headmates realized "Hey, that's not me thinking at me!" It was another ten years before we found out that there was a word for people like us, besides "imaginary friend".

There's more stereotypes in the textbook than I can deal with in just one e-mail, so here's some stuff written by other people.
Astraea's FAQ: http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/faq.shtml
The Laymans' Guide to Multiplicity: http://www.karitas.net/blackbirds/layman/
The Collective Phenomenon FAQ: http://www.dreamshore.net/amorpha/faq.html


Since I'm out of time, I think I'll end with that.

Peace!
- Esmerelda

P.S.: Just in case someone else in the class is named Esmerelda, my name isn't the bodies' name.

A few hours later I got an e-mail (timestamped at the end of her office hours) that read "Too cool!!!!!!"

I do think I've managed to expand someones' horizons today. :)

Comments

[ridetothesea.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear that she responded in a pretty positive way, and didn't automatically call you crazy for believing there's something more than what's in the textbooks. I wonder if she'll say anything in class about it.

[stealthdragon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we can't wait until class on Wednesday. Should be interesting.

[somepatches.livejournal.com]

Cool. Tell how it works out, please? :-)

[pyoska.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I only wish everyone saw it that way.

[ricktboy.livejournal.com]

dude, please let us know what happens....I think that's awesome...it's Sooooooooo nice when someone accepts. :)

Faith
Pack Collective

[chaostiny.livejournal.com]

I loved Psychology 101.... it took my psych prof about 3 weeks to notice us switching...which we did freely during class just to see if he would notice,,... and then another week or so for him to finally talk to us about it,,... which went well and the other 4 classes I took from him were a blast.... but it was fun watching him figure it out!:) OF course we did kind of make it easy for him! :)

Congrats

[schadendox.livejournal.com]

Hah, the wonders of learning. She's lucky to have met you.

[schadendox.livejournal.com]

Also, how about making this thread public? I think your post really shows something good. You write a lot more expressively and effectively than I do.

Whoops, typo. You left the one 'h' out of 'thoughts'.

[stealthdragon.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I've changed the post to a public one.

Only one typo? I'll leave it for veracity. ;)

[climbatize.livejournal.com]

...That's so awesome. :D

[rhymer-713.livejournal.com]

Yay! Smacks you a high five. Our psyche class was online so we didn't ever get to meet the professor...:-D

[freakshownia.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely awesome. We never heard back from our professor =/

[mysticeden.livejournal.com]

thats awessome! =)

[ex-memepr0g.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, Es! I'm happy to hear that for all of you. We're kind of similar, although we have experienced abuse...but there has always been a 'we' before it, or a sense of thoughts from more than one person. That's always existed for us.

- The Fen Group