“Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist • Hacker News Board

Re: “Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

#151

Post by aaron695 » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 5:44 AM UTC

majkinetor wrote: post #108

thelettere wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude has exactly zero expertise in the field or experience with this population, and yet he makes these kinds of claims. And all based on an article or two he found. Pathetic. Almost every psychiatric diagnosis is problematic, and articles questioning any's validity can be dug up. Doesn't mean the emotional/cognitive/behavioral cluster does not exist. The link between trauma and disassociation is incontrovertible, an…

> Case reports of it across Western, Middle Eastern and Asian societies across the last 2 centuries show a remarkable degree of consistency in their reports of this The same goes for vampires.

No post body was provided.

Re: “Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

#152

Post by ralusek » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 7:15 AM UTC

thelettere wrote: post #94

pnathan wrote: post #46

I'm friends with someone who has clinical DID. It is, as near as I can tell, not induced by media, etc, but by extreme and profound trauma. > The people who have traditionally been treated for DID have suffered, greatly, and not in the cool arty time-to-dye-my-hair-again type of suffering common to social media performance, but actual, painful, pitiable suffering. Those patients who have been diagnosed in the past wi…

Dude has exactly zero expertise in the field or experience with this population, and yet he makes these kinds of claims. And all based on an article or two he found. Pathetic. Almost every psychiatric diagnosis is problematic, and articles questioning any's validity can be dug up. Doesn't mean the emotional/cognitive/behavioral cluster does not exist. The link between trauma and disassociation is incontrovertible, an…

> so the idea that this is some kind of passing fake fad is absurd

Two things can be true simultaneously. DID is real, however, exceptionally rare...and there is also a passing fake fad where (mostly) teenagers struggling with their identities (extremely common at this age) are self diagnosing this and amplifying whatever confusion they might actually feel into this specific pattern of behaviors.

Re: “Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

#153

Post by ralusek » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 7:18 AM UTC

mav88 wrote: post #76

pnathan wrote: post #46

I'm friends with someone who has clinical DID. It is, as near as I can tell, not induced by media, etc, but by extreme and profound trauma. > The people who have traditionally been treated for DID have suffered, greatly, and not in the cool arty time-to-dye-my-hair-again type of suffering common to social media performance, but actual, painful, pitiable suffering. Those patients who have been diagnosed in the past wi…

Yeah it's horrible. I have had contact with half a dozen people with severe DID because of extreme trauma experienced before the age of four. DeBoer is a great writer and he's dead right about the effects of social media on all this but he is completely wrong about the literature. The so-called Greenbaum Speech, alternatively called "Hypnosis in MPD", is just one example of the consistent body of work out there showi…

Unless you work in a field that exposes you to extremely rare psychological conditions, there is absolutely no way for any person to have had contact with a half a dozen people with severe DID. If you're talking about the new wave of people who are self diagnosing with nonsense, then sure, but that's not what we're talking about.

Re: “Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

#154

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 8:00 AM UTC

thelettere wrote: post #94

pnathan wrote: post #46

I'm friends with someone who has clinical DID. It is, as near as I can tell, not induced by media, etc, but by extreme and profound trauma. > The people who have traditionally been treated for DID have suffered, greatly, and not in the cool arty time-to-dye-my-hair-again type of suffering common to social media performance, but actual, painful, pitiable suffering. Those patients who have been diagnosed in the past wi…

Dude has exactly zero expertise in the field or experience with this population, and yet he makes these kinds of claims. And all based on an article or two he found. Pathetic. Almost every psychiatric diagnosis is problematic, and articles questioning any's validity can be dug up. Doesn't mean the emotional/cognitive/behavioral cluster does not exist. The link between trauma and disassociation is incontrovertible, an…

[deleted]

Re: “Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

#155

Post by Majora320 » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 8:41 AM UTC

I'm disappointed this culture war drivel got to the front page of HN. I have a close friend with DID caused by severe childhood trauma, who has contributed to the sorts of TikTok communities mentioned in the article.

Those faking it for attention or clout exist, and invented victimhood is definitely a thing, especially among the sheltered upper middle class. But most of this is just byproduct of youth and inexperience with the world that people tend to grow out of.

People like this watch teenagers still discovering themselves do or say some mildly stupid stuff and construe it as the collapse of society or something.

Re: “Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

#156

Post by thelettere » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 9:26 AM UTC

majkinetor wrote: post #108

thelettere wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude has exactly zero expertise in the field or experience with this population, and yet he makes these kinds of claims. And all based on an article or two he found. Pathetic. Almost every psychiatric diagnosis is problematic, and articles questioning any's validity can be dug up. Doesn't mean the emotional/cognitive/behavioral cluster does not exist. The link between trauma and disassociation is incontrovertible, an…

> Case reports of it across Western, Middle Eastern and Asian societies across the last 2 centuries show a remarkable degree of consistency in their reports of this The same goes for vampires.

It should go without saying that a rumor is not a case report. Name one physician who published a report based on extensive first person experience with a vampire (and not, say, Renfield's syndrome).

Plus the case reports are only supplemental to the larger and more empirical lines of evidence for it.

Re: “Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

#157

Post by codr7 » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 9:30 AM UTC

rhn_mk1 wrote: post #66

codr7 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the idea was to integrate, not splinter your consciousness. Why would you want to make yourself more confused? There is only one you; pretending otherwise, while perfectly possible, can't possibly lead anywhere worth going. I find these trends among people who are too young to know better deeply troubling.

Who decides what the idea is? What about the post invokes confusion? You come off as extremely dismissive of what doesn't fit your preconceived notions.

Multiple personalities in the same body? Being chased by imaginary dragons and lions for the rest of your life?

Fuck yeah, I'm being dismissive.

Re: “Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

#158

Post by ZeroGravitas » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 9:35 AM UTC

tus666 wrote: post #145

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“According to an eight-state study, the insanity defense is used in less than 1% of all court cases and, when used, has only a 26% success rate. Of those cases that were successful, 90% of the defendants had been previously diagnosed with mental illness.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity_defense

Mental illness is still widely used as a mitigating factor in sentencing, even if insanity is not plead.

Mental illness has a much longer history of being (pointlessly) punished as 'evil'. A current one is the recognition that many people in prison may have untreated ADHD, which makes sense, just like a bunch of folk got kicked out of school for dyslexia in recent history (and then became successful artists or business leaders).

You could argue, people are now just faking dyslexia to get a pass on having to work hard at school, but if you can't demonstrate that to be a bigger problem than the genuine dyslexics being discarded as useless due to assumptions being made that they were stupid or troublemakers because of their condition, then it's a price well worth paying.

Re: “Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

#159

Post by rikroots » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 9:51 AM UTC

Foxmilk wrote: post #3

I wonder how many of these people are just creating and interacting with tulpas without realizing it. For anyone who isn't familiar, there is a subculture online of people who create what subjectively seem to be autonomous personalities that frequently manifest I'm the form of hallucinations. Think fight club sort of. My ex tried it out. Called me one day at work, terrified because this dragon was following him aroun…

Thank you for introducing me to the world of tulpas.

As an adult, I've written a couple of novels. Reading a few of the reddit tulpa-related posts I got the feeling that some of the characters I generated had tulpa-like qualities - in particular the independence aspect: having a series of internal conversations with a key character who profoundly disagreed with the plot line I had developed for her was one of the weirder experiences I had while writing that book. (She did make some very good points and eventually got her way, mostly).

I'm now wondering what sort of crossover there is between tulpas and childhood imaginary friends. I'm pretty certain that from my memories of my IF ('Mr Man'), he was an entirely separate entity from me, and a scary one at that - though only towards other people, never me. As much as he often offered me good advice at the time, I'm not sure I'd want to invite him back into my life today.

Re: “Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

#160

Post by rurban » Sun, Apr 24, 2022, 10:32 AM UTC

rob_c wrote: post #38

rurban wrote: post #10

My wife treats some of them, and they definitely do exist. The human brain is a fantasticly complex organ, and these personalities help the brain to overcome severe trauma. but it is extremely rare of course. now my wife read it and commented: no, this article is very well written and very true.

From what I've read (which makes me worse informed than ill-informed) most experts are still stating that most split-personality symptoms develop once the diagnosis is made and there is a chicken and egg concern that people aren't diagnosed without being made aware of it which may be hiding broader/other mental problems in the process. Out of curiosity does experience in treatment match these concerns?

I've talked now to another colleague of her. they do share the scepticism that it belongs into the DSM5 at all.

but they have a crazy case of a traumatized woman who has a cat as alter. miau. hard to detect any cheating, but they are trying