“Multiple personality disorder” probably doesn't exist

I may bring it up at some point, but no, not currently.

> The phenomenon of mental illness & trauma-based clout is intriguing and I don’t really understand it.

The original sin is the convention that punishment for crimes shouldn't be determined by the type of crime and the guilt of the defendant. Instead, it's normal to start with that to get a guideline, then choose from within that guideline based decisively on the degree of empathy and pity that the judge and/or jury feel for the defendant. This is done by selling the defendant as disadvantaged.

But selling the defendant as materially disadvantaged has a drawback: as the individuals who make up the court are drawn from extremely advantaged classes, and claims of material disadvantage make them feel bad about themselves. They generally need to hold the view that all material disadvantage can be overcome by will, having that will (to overcome material disadvantage) thereby becomes a moral standard, and lacking that will becomes a second justification for punishment. A dog can resist food when it is starving if you hit it enough, so punishment actually becomes therapeutic.

With the rise of the concept of psychology and mass medicalization of normal human ranges of behavior, sentencing couldn't help but become a ritual where the defense tries to sell the defendant as mentally unhealthy and pitiable. In other words, someone physically incapable of generating the will that punishment should give them.

Punishment in the justice system is ostensibly a process for deciding on the disposition of people who have committed acts considered wrong. If the anxiety, sadness, or mental instability etc. of the person committing these acts results in less punishment for being wrong, the obvious conclusion to be drawn is that mental illness and disadvantage makes you righter or more correct. Hypothetically, the person with the perfect combination of illness and disadvantage is never wrong.

Which IMO is why we have an culture of opposing mobs being led by people with severe cluster B personality disorders, and people who admire those people also developing these disorders by imitation. It's why when you get called out for molesting tweens, you come out as gay, or why when the twitter mob comes for you for a racist joke you made, you release an essay about being molested as a child and describe the therapy you're about to go into.

Everybody wants to be weak, because the weakest are the rightest. The problem is that these people aren't actually weak (because performance of weakness is part of social climbing), and the loudest are active crybullies. Actually weak people are still voiceless and ignored. The US is spending less on mental illness. The US has a weaker safety net.

Brains are networks. Our concept of a unified "self" is illusory and collapses when subjected to any serious philosophical scrutiny. If some people prefer to conceptualize themselves as multiple entities sharing a body, that's no less accurate than the useful fiction that, for instance, we remain the same person throughout our lives. I agree that most people who identify this way can't accurately be described as having a mental disorder -- because there's nothing wrong with it. It's true that you shouldn't revel in your mental dysfunction or let your identity distract you from your real problems. However, there's no reason why people can't have a plural identity and choose not do those thing.

The kids are alright.

Are you working with an IFS therapist or are you using Pete Gerlach's online self-help course? Has anyone had success with Pete Gerlach's course?

The right has always capitalized on a self-perception of victimhood, above almost all other things other than common religious beliefs.

The left have generally actually been victims, or have advocated for victims. But then there's the privileged wealthy middle-class suburban left, who should rightfully relate to the position of advocate, but instead desperately want to be victims themselves. So they study the victims around them, introspect deeply about what kind of victim they really are, then come out of the closet dressed in their best imitation of that sort of victim. And being privileged, they are indulged.