(no subject)

[distanteyes.livejournal.com]

I was wondering. Is there a support group for family or friends of people with multiple personalities on live journal? Thanks. - C***

Comments

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Not that we know of.

Come to think of it, I don't know that there's any real need for them. Separating singlets into their own little groups doesn't seem to help them understand us. Since multiplicity is not a sickness, the best support should come ideally from within the community; ourselves explaining ourselves. Are there separate "support groups" for the straight parents or friends of gay people? If you've got a singlet friend who sincerely wants to understand plurality, I'm sure they'd be welcome here. Or show'em around the various websites.

[distanteyes.livejournal.com]

*nods* somebody asked me about it... and I was not sure... there are groups like polymono for monogamous partners of polyamorus people, so I figured there might be a group for this as well... it isn't particularly important to me thou... – De

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[sexylittleone.livejournal.com]

yes its called PFLAG.

El

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[saturniakitty.livejournal.com]

Isn't PFLAG for showing support, rather than receiving it?

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[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

That's the general impression I had.. that PFLAG was for straight parents and friends of gays who were sympathetic and worked for gay rights. It's what it says on their mission statement:

http://www.pflag.org/about/mission.html

We may have misunderstood the original post. The correspondence we've received and the web boards we've seen concerning support groups for singlets tend to run along the lines of "I find it very difficult to live with my wife and her terrible disease.." "The joys and challenges of living with a multiple" etc. In other words, support groups in the standard sense, for people who have a family member with a dreadful illness.

[shandra.livejournal.com]

There used to be a list on Topica for SOs of multiples/plurals WITHOUT a disease perspective, but I don't think it's been active for quite some time.

If you're asking for someone, I'd encourage them to participate in a multiple community, myself, just go for it.

I think there are challenges to living with a multiple that are just due to the *numbers of people* involved... like how do you get a birthday present that either suits everyone, or afford presents for all. :) How do you handle conflict, that kind of thing. Some of the poly groups are interesting reading for that but it doesn't -quite- fit.

Anyways it might be interesting to start something like multi_relationships for that kind of thing.

Shandra

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[tir-nan-og.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think posting questions to a multiple community would be the best way for those who are not multiple, but intimate with those who are, to work out their personal challenges, questions, or misconceptions about us.
I dont know how many partners of multiples follow Multiplicity, but I can garauntee at least one does. My boyfriend always reads this, and he is in many ways extraordinarily groovy and wise. He does not think of us as having a dread disease. We have all the downsides of being a more troubled multiple system...the self hatred, the lack of memory, the bickering among ourselves. He sees us as fighting to become a healthy and happy multiple system. Certainly in the process we've kept things..perhaps overly lively and interesting for him...whoops.
So if anyone has any specific questions about dating multiples, by all means, post, and I'm certain the person who posts will get at least one gentle and intelligent response by a seasoned veteran. (We should know..we seasoned him!)

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[jinxtigr.livejournal.com]

*coughs, shaking off pepper and salt* yeesh! ;)
Yeah, I follow this community, and yeah, I absolutely do not think of Tir as having a dread disease. More like a group of people some of whom have various issues and all of whom must learn to team up and work cooperatively with each other due to the limitations of having only a single body to use.
I would say the primary thing for me is that I've always tended towards being polyamory-friendly, and the primary thing with Tir is that not everyone in Tir_Nan_Og is actually poly, or free of jealousy. It's tricky to try and encourage a group of people to all be at peace and love life when they gotta timeshare it! And yet nobody is particularly dispensable, or particularly suited into being trash-compactored into a 'single whole person'. It was hugely revelatory when Tir posted about how the whole spawning of selves process was about trying to MAKE someone with that 'I', that sense-of-self quality. And of course it's not about who you are but how you are, so the process never really bore fruit until now it's like EVERYBODY is getting increasingly eager to be out and partake of life- and there's only limited time. A fascinating dilemma that I'm glad I don't personally have- but you gotta work with what you got.
If you want to see seasoned check in on me after we've shared a house with a four-year-old for a while ;) or perhaps that will be Cajun blackened veteran ;P

[shadowechoes.livejournal.com]

I think there's a general support group community for SO's of people with depression and stuff, but not one for SO's of multiples. I agree with what ksol1460 said about the problem with most "singleton support groups". I think (like previously mentioned as well) that the best thing is to invite SO's to join the multiple community itself. I know that this community doesn't disallow non-multiples from joining if they're here to learn or support, etc (aka not start trouble).

~Ash and BrokenWings