Got Parts? E-Book

A. T. W

• Herausgeber: Loving Healing Press
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Serie: New Horizons in Therapy
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2005

Seitenzahl: 186

Beschreibung

Finally a book for survivors written by a survivor!
Got Parts?? was written by a survivor of DID in association with her therapist and therapy group. This book is filled with successful coping techniques and strategies to enhance the day-to-day functioning of adult survivors of DID in relationships, work, parenting, self-confidence, and self-care. Got Parts? will help you introduce yourself to your internal family and improve its communication, integration, and well-being. Although written to carefully avoid triggering, it delivers well-grounded guidelines for living that DID people need to do on the way to recovery. Coping strategies included help you with issues related to triggers, flashbacks, and body memories. Got Parts? also includes a detailed list of outside resources you can draw on. This book is intended to be used in conjunction with a therapist and is not a substitute for therapy.
Once thought of as a rare and mysterious psychiatric curiosity, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is now understood to be a fairly common outcome of severe trauma in young children--most typically extreme and repeated physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse, and often lack of attachment. Formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder, DID is a condition in which a person has two or more distinct identities or personality states that recurrently take control of the person's consciousness and behavior. Symptoms can include depression, mood swings, panic or anxiety attacks, substance abuse, memory loss, propensity for trances, sleep and eating disorders, distrust, detachment, lack of self-care, and distress or impairment at work.
Acclaim for Got Parts?> from Therapists and Survivors
"Got Parts?? is a very well conceived and useful tool, particularly for those treating DID from a more functional perspective." -- Peter A. Maves, Ph.D., ISSD Fellow
"Got Parts? is great tool for working therapeutically with ones internal family." -- Patricia Sherman, LCSW
"I particularly liked the chapter which emphasises the importance of taking care of body, mind and spirit holistically." -- Kathryn Livingston, Chairperson, First Person Plural (UK)
"I strongly recommend this book as a easily read, straightforward and insightful recovery tool for my clients with DID." -- Ian Landry, MA MSW RSW, Nova Scotia, Canada
"I will require Got Parts? for new clients, refer it to other therapists and have even recommended it for others." -- Karen Hutchins, MA LPC
ATW's approach reflects that of Truddi Chase, a DID victim who prefers her alters live in a harmonious community. -- Metapsychology Online Review, Dec. 22, 2005
For more information please visit www.GotParts.org
From Loving Healing Press www.LovingHealing.com

Leseprobe

Got parts? : an insider’s guide to managing life successfully with dissociative identity disorder

Copyright © 2005 ATW and Loving Healing Press. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

First Edition: January 2005

ISBN-10: 1932690042

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data

W., A.T.

   Got parts? : an insider’s guide to managing life successfully with dissociative identity disorder / by A.T.W.

       p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

       ISBN-10 1-932690-03-4

1. Multiple personality. 2. Post-traumatic stress disorder. 3. Life Change events--Psychological aspects. 4. Incest--Psychological aspects. 5. Adult child sexual abuse victims--rehabilitation. I. Title.

RC569.5 .M8 2005

616.85236 -- dc22                           2004096989

Distributed by:

Baker & Taylor

Published by:

Loving Healing Press

5145 Pontiac Trail

Ann Arbor, MI 48105

USA

http://www.LovingHealing.com or

[email protected]

Fax [phone]

Loving Healing Press

~~ Dedication ~~

This book is dedicated to all those whose suffering though trauma and wounding has resulted in fragmenting of self into separate selves… ‘multiple personalities’.

It is our hope that the ideas contained within these pages will help you to feel courage and hope, and to come to find ways of managing your diagnosis, and the circumstances of your life—and to heal, rebuild and reclaim your life.

~~ Disclaimer ~~

The ideas, concepts, phrasing, wordings, and lay-definitions contained in this book are ones used by myself, my System, my therapist, and various persons from my DID groups, past and present.

This work is not intended to be a scholarly compendium, but is, rather, a lay-accounting of what has been helpful on our personal path of trauma recovery, and re-integration of alter personalities.

Information in this book is neither intended to supersede medical advice, nor to replace professional counsel by a qualified mental-health clinician or therapist.

About our Series Editor, Robert Rich, Ph.D.

Loving Healing Press is pleased to announce Robert Rich, Ph.D. as Series Editor for the New Horizons in Therapy Series. This exciting new series plans to bring you the best of person-centered therapies in practical application, theory, and self-help formats.

Robert Rich, M.Sc., Ph.D., M.A.P.S., A.A.S.H. is a highly experienced counseling psychologist. His web site www.anxietyanddepression-help.com is a storehouse of helpful information for people suffering from almost any way we can make ourselves and each other unhappy.

Bob is also a multiple award-winning writer of both fiction and non-fiction, and a professional editor. His writing is displayed at www.bobswriting.com. You are advised not to visit him there unless you have the time to get lost for a while.

Two of his books are tools for psychological self-help: Anger and Anxiety: Be in Charge of your Emotions and Control Phobias and Personally Speaking: Single Session Email Therapy with Dr Bob Rich. However, his philosophy and psychological knowledge come through in all his writing, which is perhaps why three of his books have won international awards, and he has won many minor prizes. Dr. Rich currently resides in Wombat Hollow in Australia.

~~ Acknowledgements ~~

Over the years, there were many folks who befriended us, and whose support, guidance, expertise, insights, and experiences were instrumental in enabling us to get to where we are today—guess maybe you could say that sometimes it takes a village to help a System. In this attempt to give acknowledgement, if we have missed anyone, we humbly apologize. Please know your name is written in our heart.

Thanks go to John A. Newberg, M. Div., who went above and beyond the call to travel with us to the end of the beginning; and to Richard F. (Rick) Ritter, MSW, and Laurie Rainey Schmidt, MS—our wingmen, (and sometime tag-team of Bad Cop/Good Cop). There are no words adequate to our depth of feeling for you.

With her wisdom, her quiet, fearless spirit, generosity, compassionate patience, and willingness to learn with us along the way, Laurie has become treasured and invaluable friend, teacher, spiritual guide, and role model.

Rick Ritter’s counseling-consulting practice, Stress Operations Group, Inc., was where we were first diagnosed with multiple personalities. Rick’s skill in working with trauma survivors of all sorts, and his unique model of re-integration of alter personalities have been the cornerstone of our healing work. The ideas in got parts? are a compilation of Rick’s, and of the many DID clients he has worked with over the last twenty-five years. The result is an amalgam so homogenous and smooth, that it is difficult to know exactly what idea came from whom…

and in this spirit, thanks go also to those persons from our DID groups—past and present—who walk beside us, leaving courageous footprints for others to follow. You have raged with us, cried with us, laughed with us, inspired us, pushed us beyond what we believed were our limits, sat in the silence with us, listened compassionately and tirelessly, and offered equally your ideas, your own stories of pain and healing, and your friendship. We have learned so much from all of you… including from some who have lived the hard truths that come from choosing to not do the work.

Thanks go to Allison, John, Jan, Leigh, Suzie, Kim, Amanda, Jan, Jo, A., Laura, Angie, Elizabeth, Mike, Kim, Rebecca, Bobbie, Kathy, Genny, Rebecca, Rita, Katie, D., Kristine, Tammy, Gina, Josh, Leanne…

You may never know the long-range impact-for-good of your life on others whom you may never meet.

Thanks go to Patrick and Janet, for caring about our safety and supporting us, and to Phyllis, Sunny, and James, who helped to facilitate our leaving our desperate situation.

Gratitude is also extended to Shirley and Tina (among others) of the YWCA Women’s Shelter Self-Sufficiency Program for the initial safe place to live when we got out, and for all we learned there.

In spite of a number of folks along the way, some of them folks in the medical and mental health community, some in agencies and in bureaucratic positions, others whom we thought were our friends…who, by way of their own fears, prejudices, and carefully guarded ignorance, and their own wounded and un-healed psyches, impeded, even sabotaged our getting help and our progress…

…there were others who behaved decently, compassionately, generously.

Thanks go to the many kind souls we have met along the way, who have made the way a little less lonely, a little less dark. Heather, Renee, Helen-Clare, Tom, Nathan, Fritz, Nancy, Tanya, Jenny, Laura, Amanda, and Judy, are only a few… I hope you know who you are.

We extend heart-felt gratitude and appreciation to Pastors Jeremy Ashworth and Steve Clapp, and to the Truthseekers Class and the rest of the Lincolnshire community for their affirmation, support, compassion, and belief in us.

Thanks go from the bottom of our heart to Victor R. Volkman of Loving Healing Press, who saw something unique shine in the manuscript, who believed in its potential to help a wider group of wounded folks, and who was willing to facilitate that vision become reality through the publication of got parts? Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And finally, warm, loving thanks, and a grateful spirit, go to Beth Lee Cripe, … our truest kindred spirit, who never gave up on us through the long haul… and who in return, got more friends than she ever dreamed of…

We would not be here, in this place, without all of you. Thank you.

Here’s what people are saying about… got parts?An Insider’s Guide to Managing Life Successfully with DID

“Got Parts is a very well conceived and useful tool, particularly for those of us who treat DID from a more functional perspective. I believe the straightforward, systematic presentations of “things to do” in an individual’s treatment of DID this guidebook offers will provide help in making this treatment more effective, informed and efficient. Since I believe much, if not most, of DID treatment progress happens outside of the therapeutic hour, this guidebook is the perfect companion for a DID patient.” —Peter A. Maves, Ph.D., ISSD Fellow

“Got Parts is an excellent book: it is wonderfully clear, concise and compassionate. I have worked full time with MPD clients for 15 years and this book would be the first required reading. Having a resource book such as this would have made my client’s lives much easier. I will require it for any new clients, refer it to other therapists who do this work, and have even recommended it for clients who are much farther along in their healing. It is a definite keeper and I would recommend that you let the ISSD know about it when you have it published.”

                   —Karen Hutchins, MA LPC

“Got Parts is an excellent resource for helping people bring order out of internal chaos. It is reassuring, clear, direct, and hopeful. A great tool for working therapeutically with one’s internal family.”             —Patricia Sherman, LCSW

“Got Parts represents a systematic, structured program geared towards positive results for those labeled DID. Its focus on individual responsibility is refreshing in this day and age of blame shifting and excuse making! This is a must read regardless of one’s support of or opposition to the medical model.”

                                     —James Walter Clifton, MS, Ph.D. LCSW, LMHC

“DID is a heatedly-contested mental health diagnosis and it is entangled with no less controversial issues such as false memories. The author of this book avoids these pitfalls by concentrating on the victims. In an unusually empathic and straightforward tome, she successfully tackles the subjective experience of having DID: how does it feel? How to cope with it? What to avoid? The book is firmly grounded in state of the art knowledge about this disorder—but combines it with useful lists of do’s and don’ts derived from the combined experience of numerous sufferers. Recommended.”

             —Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. Author of “Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited”

“I strongly recommend this book as an easily read, straightforward and insightful recovery tool for my clients with DID. It is must read for any person who is struggling to come to terms with their DID as well as the people who love and/or support them.”

                                   — Ian Landry, MA MSW RSW, Nova Scotia, Canada

New Horizons in Therapy Series:

•  Got parts? A Survivor’s Guide to Managing Life Successfully with Dissociative Identity Disorder)

Series Editor: Robert Rich, Ph.D.

“To be what we are,and to become what we are capable of becoming,is the only end in life”

—Robert Louis Stevenson (June 1880)

Loving Healing Press is dedicated to producing books about innovative and rapid therapies which redefine what is possible for healing the mind and spirit.

Loving Healing Press

~~Table of Contents

Foreword—by Rick Ritter, MSW

Preface—What is Dissociative Identity Disorder?

What are the symptoms of a Dissociative Disorder?

Where can I get more information?

Chapter 1—got parts?

You are not alone

Getting To Know You

Respecting Each Other

Getting to Know You

Celebrate Diversity in your System

Parts and the Roles They Play

Inside Kids

Chapter 2—Ideas, Methods, and Approaches?

The Safe Space / Dome

Daily Meetings

Four Commitments to Doing Whatever It Takes to Get Better

Lockdown

Addressing Secondary Treatment Issues

Contracts

Ever-Increasing Co-Consciousness

Chapter 3—Self Care

Therapeutic Benefits of Outside Interests and Activities

Self-Care and Boundaries

Making Self-Care your First Priority

Medical/Health Care Issues

Time Management

What Else Does it Take?

Trauma Recovery/DID Re-Integration

Chapter 4—Therapeutic Approaches

Emotional Release Work

The Daily Log

Therapeutic Approaches, and New Techniques and Modalities

DID Group

Chapter 5—Fallout from Trauma

Triggers

Flashbacks

Body Memories

Chapter 6—Relating to Others

Disclosure

DID and Sexuality / Intimacy

Unhealthy Sexual Expressions

Keeping the Littles Safe

DID and Relationships

DID and Parenting

DID and Working / Employment

DID and School

Chapter 7—Guidelines for Living

This May Not Be Something You Want To Hear Or Believe, But

Important Questions

Guideposts

The Power of Belief / The Power of the Spoken Word

Things to Remember

For Healing / For Re-integration / In Order to Create a Better Life

Chapter 8—Helpful Resources

A Word about Outside Resources

Books

Books for Younger Parts

Websites

Music

Movies/Videos

Appendix A — What’s it Like to Be DID?

Appendix B — Letters You Can Use

Appendix C — About the Author

Index

~~Foreword by Rick Ritter, MSW ~~

The creation of this book has been a process—a process much like working with persons with dissociative disorders (Dissociative Identity Disorder specifically).

I would liken the process to the building and development of an organic garden. Building and tending to the soil leads to fruition in the vegetables and fruit products that the soil produces over time and… produces continuously as the gardener replenishes the soil in one way or another so that the garden will continue to produce without depleting or harming the soil. Just as the garden requires preventative maintenance, likewise so does the internal community of the dissociative person.

After a number of years of clients being dissatisfied with the materials available to them that would talk to them on their level in their language and support their internal growth came the inspiration to write got parts?

Got parts? is a work from the heart and because it is from the heart and experience of dissociative persons I believe that it will speak to them, regardless of where they are in their healing journey, in ways that other writings haven’t.

I have had the privilege of working alongside the author as they have struggled against the odds and against the attitudes of many people in their life to come to this point in their journey. The author has humbly worked on and worked through many obstacles to bring you, the reader, this gift from their heart.

From the earliest lines and the trepidation that arose at so many varied points along the way I believe the writings will become a significant piece of the rebuilding of one’s foundation if they are dissociative, and if they are a friend or family member it will bring them closer to understanding what others live and struggle with daily.

These writings are but a stone in a new foundation one can lay for themselves and their lives. There is no magic dust; there is no potion, only hard persistent work with supportive people and tools in your hands to forge a brand new way of living.

One of the outcomes we hope for in these writings is that they assist you in being able to, in a sense, see through the pain—understanding hopefully that there is a space beyond this work where all isn’t so gloomy. It is beneficial to be able to be comforted by others who have been through this healing process and know that they were assisted by some or all of the helpful words and hints contained herein.

It is our wish that in reading, working, and processing this information that you will feel embraced, comforted and strengthened in the end.

Peace to you all as you continue on your journey.

~~Preface: What is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)?~~

Reprinted with permission from the Sidran Institute

Dissociative Disorders

Recently considered rare and mysterious psychiatric curiosities, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) (previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder—MPD) and other Dissociative Disorders are now understood to be fairly common effects of severe trauma in early childhood. Most typical cause is extreme, repeated physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse.

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) was changed to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), reflecting changes in professional understanding of the disorder resulting from significant empirical research.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), widely accepted as a major mental illness affecting 8% of the general population in the United States, is closely related to Dissociative Disorders. In fact, 80-100% of people diagnosed with a Dissociative Disorder also have a secondary diagnosis of PTSD. The personal and societal cost of trauma disorders is extremely high. Recent research suggests the risk of suicide attempts among people with trauma disorders may be even higher than among people who have major depression. In addition, there is evidence that people with trauma disorders have higher rates of alcoholism, chronic medical illnesses, and abusiveness in succeeding generations.

What is dissociation?

Dissociation is a mental process that produces a lack of connection in a person’s thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. During the period of time when a person is dissociating, certain information is not associated with other information as it normally would be. For example, during a traumatic experience, a person may dissociate the memory of the place and circumstances of the trauma from his ongoing memory, resulting in a temporary mental escape from the fear and pain of the trauma and, in some cases, a memory gap surrounding the experience. Because this process can produce changes in memory, people who frequently dissociate often find their senses of personal history and identity are affected.

Most clinicians believe that dissociation exists on a continuum of severity. This continuum reflects a wide range of experiences and/or symptoms. At one end are mild dissociative experiences common to most people, such as daydreaming, highway hypnosis, or ‘getting lost’ in a book or movie, all of which involve ‘losing touch’ with conscious awareness of one’s immediate surroundings. At the other extreme is complex, chronic dissociation, such as in cases of Dissociative Disorders, which may result in serious impairment or inability to function. Some people with Dissociative Disorders can hold highly responsible jobs, contributing to society in a variety of professions, the arts, and public service—appearing to function normally to coworkers, neighbors, and others with whom they interact daily.

There is a great deal of overlap of symptoms and experiences among the various Dissociative Disorders, including DID. For the sake of clarity, this book will refer to Dissociative Disorders as a collective term. Individuals should seek help from qualified mental health providers to answer questions about their own particular circumstances and diagnoses.

How does a Dissociative Disorder develop?

When faced with overwhelmingly traumatic situations from which there is no physical escape, a child may resort to ‘going away’ in his or her head. Children typically use this ability as an extremely effective defense against acute physical and emotional pain, or anxious anticipation of that pain. By this dissociative process, thoughts, feelings, memories, and perceptions of the traumatic experiences can be separated off psychologically, allowing the child to function as if the trauma had not occurred.

Dissociative Disorders are often referred to as a highly creative survival technique because they allow individuals enduring ‘hopeless’ circumstances to preserve some areas of healthy functioning. Over time, however, for a child who has been repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted, defensive dissociation becomes reinforced and conditioned. Because the dissociative escape is so effective, children who are very practiced at it may automatically use it whenever they feel threatened or anxious—even if the anxiety-producing situation is not extreme or abusive.

Often, even after the traumatic circumstances are long past, the left-over pattern of defensive dissociation remains. Chronic defensive dissociation may lead to serious dysfunction in work, social, and daily activities.

Repeated dissociation may result in a series of separate entities, or mental states, which may eventually take on identities of their own. These entities may become the internal ‘personality states’ of a DID system. Changing between these states of consciousness is often described as ‘switching.’

What are the symptoms of a Dissociative Disorder?

People with Dissociative Disorders may experience any of the following: depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, sleep disorders (insomnia, night terrors, and sleep walking), panic attacks and phobias (flashbacks, reactions to stimuli or ‘triggers’), alcohol and drug abuse, compulsions and rituals, psychotic-like symptoms (including auditory and visual hallucinations), and eating disorders. In addition, individuals with Dissociative Disorders can experience headaches, amnesias, time loss, trances, and ‘out of body experiences’. Some people with Dissociative Disorders have a tendency toward self-persecution, self-sabotage, and even violence (both self-inflicted and outwardly directed).

Who gets Dissociative Disorders?

The vast majority (as many as 98 to 99%) of individuals who develop Dissociative Disorders have documented histories of repetitive, overwhelming, and often life-threatening trauma at a sensitive developmental stage of childhood (usually before the age of nine), and they may possess an inherited biological predisposition for dissociation. In our culture the most frequent precursor to Dissociative Disorders is extreme physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in childhood, but survivors of other kinds of trauma in childhood (such as natural disasters, invasive medical procedures, war, kidnapping, and torture) have also reacted by developing Dissociative Disorders.

Current research shows that DID may affect 1% of the general population and perhaps as many as 5-20% of people in psychiatric hospitals, many of whom have received other diagnoses. The incidence rates are even higher among sexual-abuse survivors and individuals with chemical dependencies. These statistics put Dissociative Disorders in the same category as schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety, as one of the four major mental health problems today.

Most current literature shows that Dissociative Disorders are recognized primarily among females. The latest research, however, indicates that the disorders may be equally prevalent (but less frequently diagnosed) among the male population. Men with Dissociative Disorders are most likely to be in treatment for other mental illnesses or drug and alcohol abuse, or they may be incarcerated.

Why are Dissociative Disorders often misdiagnosed?

Dissociative Disorders survivors often spend years living with misdiagnoses, consequently floundering within the mental health system. They change from therapist to therapist and from medication to medication, getting treatment for symptoms but making little or no actual progress. Research has documented that on average, people with Dissociative Disorders have spent seven years in the mental health system prior to accurate diagnosis. This is common, because the list of symptoms that cause a person with a Dissociative Disorder to seek treatment is very similar to those of many other psychiatric diagnoses. In fact, many people who are diagnosed with Dissociative Disorders also have secondary diagnoses of depression, anxiety, or panic disorders.

Do people actually have ‘Multiple Personalities’?