Today, I have been doing a lot of research on line to follow up with survivors who inquired to resources for D.I.D. Connecting with other survivors is so important in healing process as it helps in coming to terms with and flourishing in, what I call, "ones creative processes."
So, to all of our readers and friends who have emailed, let me say "You are not alone!" and there are a lot of very cool, creative and awesome bloggers out there, to share with and learn from.
Below is a list of blogs and sites that I think are good places to start.
Jigsaw Analogy
An Infinite Mind
A Safe Place
Multiple Reflections
John Michael's Blog
Keepers Corner
Beautiful Dreamer
It Takes A Village
Shadow Monsters and Fairy Gifts
D.I.D. Blog
Living with MP
Pilgrim's Journey
Roses On The Moon
My Dissonance
Life Spacings
For all the newbies, welcome! Here's our D.I.D. Youtube video for recap.
6 comments:
i dont know where to start. and i have such a resistance to reading. my mind just squishes it all together and then i just make stuff up. get frustrated and give up. how do you change that? blah!
how about you take off those negative pants and give yourself a break! it's ok that you don't know where to start. one foot in front of the other. thoughts are things. so, practice those negative words and replace them with positive. you have to start somewhere. so, start.
right well, and then there is that.
i found the book 'amongst ourselves' by tracy alderman and karen marshall to be one of the BEST books to use in terms of getting started as well as being further down the road of healing. there are checklists (which i personally love) and heaps of exercises and was written by a multiple and her partner, who happens to be a therapist, so you get the voice of the person who is actually experiencing DID and the therapist as well, making this book great for all parties involved to take a look at.
also the book 'united we stand' by eliana gil is a really good book for inside kids because it's written in a very simple type of language and has drawings. it helped my little ones understand better who they were and why they were here sharing a body.
finally, i'd like to say that while the overall tone of this youtube piece here is positive it left me with the feeling that integration is something to work towards in DID therapy, and that that is THE path to healing. if that is not what was being said, i apologize, but that definitely seemed to be a subtext. i also worry about the potential to misread comments along the lines of 'people with DID can lead normal lives' or 'you would never know that someone has DID' and even the idea that DID is a disorder. yes, the is part of the name given to this way of coping in the DSM-IV, but disorder as a term in mental health carries serously heavy connotations and part of what those of us in the DIY mental health community are trying to do is to reframe our experiences outside of what mental health professionals try to tell us we are.
perhaps we don't *want* to be 'just like everyone else'. trauma survivors have been through hell, and we deserve to be fully recognized for that, and have THAT integrated into our lives. who wants to live with passing as someone who doesn't have this gift? this is the thing that saved our lives when we were kids. we need to work towards normalizing language around our experiences not so we can pass as 'everyone else' but so we can be valued and applauded for what we've gone through and lived to tell about when we got to the other side.
thank you for your comments and suggestions seth. i think that you made some very valid points and though i tried very hard to adequately describe my personal reference to d.i.d. i find that there will always be critiquing of information and the way it is presented. let me just say, that i too feel that d.i.d. is a gift and that it is the key that enabled survival. i work and do my best to live from an anti-oppressive framework. as you said, language is extremely important and i will definitely remember your experience in the future.
we should not be restricted by a single frame of reference, as we all all unique in our experience. respectful dialog and acceptance of our exceptional differences is key to learning and extinguishing the stigma.
thank you again, sincerely.
additionally, (as i just re-read your comment) i wanted to reply to your comment "the feeling that integration is something to work towards in DID therapy, and that that is THE path to healing" - this was indeed not what i wished to imply. i think that integration works for some and not for others. i know many survivors of trauma who have integrated, as well as others who have learned to live respectfully with their selfs. the "best path" is the healthiest for the survivor. no one gets to say what works for you, except you. absolutely and without question.
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