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“Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

freddiedeboer.substack.com

161–170 of 175 posts

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

#161
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Run along sonny. There are plenty of ways that someone can have contact with survivors of ritual abuse who also experience DID. In my case I just proved knowledgeable and willing to listen and they reached out to me. One was sexually assaulted by Roman Polanski when she was a child, two or three were beta sex kittens, one was a courier and at least one had an assassin as an alter. So yeah, fuck you.

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

#162
post #157
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

To be fair, my ex got rid of his after several months of ignoring it and I don't feel that mine 'chases me' or is distressful at all these days.

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

#163
post #157
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#164
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…

Tik Tok culture also has a similar fascination with glamourising, well, any mental illness or disability really.

There's a whole subgenre of ADHD Tik Tokers, for example.

And it's also well observed that, monkey see, monkey do, when the monkey is a teenager looking to differentiate themselves. Like the mass German outbreak of "Tourettes". [0]

I feel your outrage might be better aimed at people trying to turn serious disorders into a cute personality quirk for social media.

[0]: https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/145/2/476/6356504

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

#165
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are all true statements but they don't seem to have much bearing on the question of whether we're improperly classifying two separate phenomena as the same thing. It could be an explanation as to why the vast majority of trans peoples' mental health is improved after transitioning but a small fraction begin to spiral.

> They don't seem to have much bearing on the question of whether we're improperly classifying two separate phenomena as the same thing. Ok, let's address this directly. First I should note that your account is entirely anecdotal, so I have no real tools to argue you out of this position, as you weren't argued into it in the first place. You saw these things and developed a theory that you believe explains your exper…

Both of those profiles would cause me to personally put them well within the "genuine" category. The small fraction of trans people I wouldn't don't match either of those. It's the lack of self-awareness which so strongly echoes manic delusion that prompted this hypothesis in the first place. They become upset when other people don't match their idea of how their gender should act, presenting in a boom/bust cycle where they go from overconfident to a breakdown and back.

Does your course of treatment change?

Is there a useful difference in the course of treatment? I don't know, but I can't think of one.

Social I think the biggest difference is having an explanation and knowing it isn't their fault. My hypothesis is a defense against bigots who use certain examples of the trans population as weapons to argue against the rights and validity of trans people as a whole.

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

#166
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm fairly sure most of the 'dominionist' christian politics was based on expansionist bigotry, i.e. "lets go beat god into the heathens" and "cold is gods way of telling us we need to burn more protestants". The modern victimhood isn't based on hiding in attacks, priest holes or being afraid to show your face in public, it's being a screaming matyr to some slight, imagined or not, and demanding the same level of att…

> "cold is gods way of telling us we need to burn more protestants". What? Christian Dominianists typically are Protestants, last I checked. (Yes, American Catholics do contain a faction that's been shifting right, and there's a whole Wikipedia article about "Integralism", but this is not the kind of thing you usually find from them...) But yeah, there are strains of Christianity that really like the "Romans fed us t…

> "> "cold is gods way of telling us we need to burn more protestants"."

This is a reference to the classic british TV series blackadder. Go enlighten yourself

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

#167
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are all true statements but they don't seem to have much bearing on the question of whether we're improperly classifying two separate phenomena as the same thing. It could be an explanation as to why the vast majority of trans peoples' mental health is improved after transitioning but a small fraction begin to spiral.

> They don't seem to have much bearing on the question of whether we're improperly classifying two separate phenomena as the same thing. Ok, let's address this directly. First I should note that your account is entirely anecdotal, so I have no real tools to argue you out of this position, as you weren't argued into it in the first place. You saw these things and developed a theory that you believe explains your exper…

> Do you treat him differently

People who present themselves differently will most likely be treated differently by others. Whether or not we conciously choose to focus on language that might or might not discern these each of these differences accurately is ultimately immaterial.

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

#168
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Run along sonny. There are plenty of ways that someone can have contact with survivors of ritual abuse who also experience DID. In my case I just proved knowledgeable and willing to listen and they reached out to me. One was sexually assaulted by Roman Polanski when she was a child, two or three were beta sex kittens, one was a courier and at least one had an assassin as an alter. So yeah, fuck you.

Rather than saying that one would need to work in a specific field, what I actually meant was "unless you have a highly concentrated exposure to this subset of the population, there is no way to know a half dozen people with this exceptionally rare psychological condition."

> In my case I just proved knowledgeable and willing to listen and they reached out to me

If you put yourself out as a resource for people of a specific characteristic to reach out to you, then your exposure is far from a random sampling.

My broader point is that a random sampling of the population would never produce the quantity of actual cases of DID that is manifesting in young people on social media. In other words, the degree to which DID actually exists and the degree to which people claim to have DID have diverged dramatically in favor of the latter. That statement is not meant to be taken personally as I'm acknowledging that you've established yourself as a beacon for those struggling with this sort of thing to reach out to you.

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

#169
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's necessarily what I'd call narcissism. We look back on history and see people championing causes and things for real victims, e.g. the civil rights movement. I think a lot of people feel a weird guilt at not having a chance to be one of these great, celebrated people or someone fighting that struggle. Or maybe it is narcissism and it's a selfish desire to say "look at how much better we left the wor…

> I don't think it's necessarily what I'd call narcissism. We look back on history and see people championing causes and things for real victims, e.g. the civil rights movement. I think a lot of people feel a weird guilt at not having a chance to be one of these great, celebrated people or someone fighting that struggle. We're here talking about people on social media who are faking mental illness for attention or pe…

[deleted]

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

#170

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…

Tik Tok culture also has a similar fascination with glamourising, well, any mental illness or disability really. There's a whole subgenre of ADHD Tik Tokers, for example. And it's also well observed that, monkey see, monkey do, when the monkey is a teenager looking to differentiate themselves. Like the mass German outbreak of "Tourettes". [0] I feel your outrage might be better aimed at people trying to turn serious…

So I should save my outrage for juveniles acting like juveniles on a juvenile platform rather than a grown man playing psychologist and successfully clickbaiting a moderated adult platform?

One could argue I shouldn't be outraged at either, particularly given HN's track record of dealing with anything complex involving human beings rather than technology. But I haven't entirely given up on adults capable of engaging in extended discourse, for better or worse.

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