About a year ago, right after we were diagnosed with DID, I started watching a tv show called "The United States of Tara." I was absolutely fascinated. I identified with so many of Tara's issues so intimately that, at times, it felt like my life was being displayed on that show. Unfortunately, due to some triggers, I have not been able to watch it as much as I would like to. However, I do believe that it is an important step for those of us with DID. It gets the word out. It makes it less scary to those who do not have it.
The International Society for the Study of Trama and Dissociation (ISST-D) released an article and video regarding DID and "The United States of Tara," entitled after the tv show [link]. I feel that it is by far an article worth reading. The video, while long, is highly informative interview with Dr Kluft (prominent expert on DID) about people with DID and misconceptions people tend to have about us.
For those of you who actually watched the video, Dr Kluft advocates integration, the merging of alters into a unified person. There is also another treatment goal which I, and others, call "Harmony," which is the idea of living a full life with one another without full integration. This is Erin's goal. Many of us within have fought very hard to gain our identity, myself included, and we do not wish to merely fade within another person. However, also within us are alters who do wish to integrate (NightFall, for one) and we are also honoring their wishes and helping them with their goals. In the end, we wish to learn to live with one another as best we can, like a family.
I would also like to point out that Erin also has alters similar to the ones in "The United States of Tara." Blissy is similar to the perfect one. Grace "Guilt" is/was similar to the flamboyant teen, but she's been taking great strides to change herself for the better. However, I'm not overly sure who would be similar to the "strong, silent male" type that Dr Kluft was talking about, I have a few ideas, but none of the males inside really carry that role.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask them.
-- Yomi Kitty
The video clip was very informative. I ended up drawing the same comparisons with Alice and T.
ReplyDeleteWhether through integration or harmony, the route to achieving stability certainly does not have to have a single path.
I have noticed that over time, multiple alters have developed different names or nicknames. It would be nice to know what name each alter prefers to be addressed as (this would be good to include in the About Erin section).
Well, that's my 20 cents. Until next time.
That's actually a good question. Our names are very, very important to us. Morrigan once commented that we consider them almost sacred; I agree with her. There is no faster way to irritate us than to get our name consistently wrong. That said, here is a list of what to call those of us that go by a different name (which I will incorporate into the About Erin page).
ReplyDeleteName -- Wish to be called
Yomi Kitty -- Yomi
Sierra Lime -- Sierra
Guilt -- Grace
Little Erin -- Ellie
Ginko Honey -- Ginko
Tommison -- Tommi
Everyone else goes by the names as listed on the About Erin page.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
-- Tommi
I enjoyed that video a lot. I've been following your blog off and on for awhile, but couldn't figure out how to post a comment until tonight.
ReplyDeleteSam