Dissociative Identity Disorder, Multiple Personality Disorder To Integrate Personalities or Not to Integrate - DID, MPD

Written by HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer

David:Here are some more audience responses:

pensive: I don't tell people because it tends to make them look at me differently. I just want to be treated like anyone else.

berrybear: I tell them I've been in a war far worse than any they have ever imagined, and that like war veterans, I have a strong case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (ptsd) from it.

sammi1: I lost my career as a nurse. All my friends abandoned me. My daughte,r age 16, left home.

JoMarie_etal: We don't even trust each other, and trusting a therapist takes a very long time. They really have to prove themselves. There is NEVER complete trust.

David: I have a question: From what I know, most of the people who have Dissociative Identity Disorder, it developed because they were abused in some way. Is there any other way to develop DID?

Paula McHugh: I heard of a case which developed because of seeing violence and people being killed accidentally, but I think that's very rare. Everyone I know experienced sexual abuse.

David: How common is ritual abuse in Dissociative Identity Disorder cases?

Paula McHugh: All too common. It's a factor in about 1/3 of the cases I have worked with.

oryakos: Question: How does one start to identify triggers BEFORE switching?

Paula McHugh: Time. Time and practice. Also, someone to help you - someone to talk to.

janedid: I am afraid that if we integrate, we will be gone, that we will not know who we are anymore. Does this ever happen, or are all the alters still aware of themselves.

Paula McHugh: I know it's scary at first, but I've never known anyone to be lost, and people stay the same. I mean, they know exactly who they are. At first, they are a blending of "Shirley, Sue, Joe, etc." Later, it's just "me," but Shirley, Sue and Joe are still there. I can see it in the person's action, in their eyes, in their choice of words.

Les M: Is integration considered to be a oneness, or like, if the process happens unconsciously, do we "lose everyone"?

Paula McHugh: Yes, it's a oneness. No, noone is ever lost. I've never seen anyone getting lost. Everyone is there. You can't believe it until you feel it.

David: I'm wondering why, after the trauma that caused the Dissociative Identity Disorder, the splitting and alters, why after a period of time, say a year or more, does one continue to develop alters? And also, without therapy, does that process just continue throughout one's lifetime?

Paula McHugh: Alters develop when there is overwhelming stress. Yes, I think it may continue without therapy. Splitting is just a reaction to anxiety and fear which you can learn new ways of reacting and new ways of coping, so you don't have to split off anymore.

David: What about hypnosis therapy for Dissociative Identity Disorder? Is that effective?

Paula McHugh: I think so. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a mechanism of self-hypnosis. DID people are experts at using hypnosis, even if they don't even know it. Every time there's a switch - it's through hypnosis. Hypnosis in therapy helps people go back and experience the past, then redo the past into a better solution. It helps to relieve the fear, anger and sadness, and replace it with some safety.

David: Here's an audience question:

Tyger: How do you, as a therapist, deal with satanic abuse? Most people don't believe me when I tell them, so I just stopped talking about it.

Paula McHugh: I believe it happened. Keep trying to find people who understand. I'm not a doctor, I'm a counselor, I just talk to people - no pills.

David: Here's another question:

angel wings: I have one part that so hates the part called Body for what it did, that she threatens to kill us if she is made to share the same physical body as Body. What hope is there that they will ever integrate?

Paula McHugh: Lots of hope. They just need to know more about each other. All that anger belongs somewhere else. It needs to be directed toward the perpetrator - not the inside family. People just don't know what to do with all that anger. They need someone to accept them as they are and listen to why they are so very angry.

JoMarie_etal: How do you work with highly suicidal clients?

Paula McHugh: Sometimes medication helps a little, sometimes the hospital helps. Most of all trust helps. The person has to get to know me and know that I care before they can really talk about why they want to die. Usually, it's the memory stuff that haunts them. When we can clear that out, the world looks better.

David: By the way, Paula's website is: http://www.ioa.com/~dahlia/

trill: Do you ever recommend that DIDers take some pills? Do you send them to psychiatrists? When? Why? What's your opinion on using or not using medication for this deal?

Paula McHugh:Yes, sometimes pills help. It has to help the whole system though. Antidepressants work if they help the right people chill out a little and don't put the little ones to sleep. Yes, I recommend doctors if I think people need them. Dissociative Identity Disorder people taking medications is not at all like other people on medications. It always works differently, and you have to go slow and see if it's helping or not.