An apology
It has ocured to me that I have made several snarky comments regarding doctors in this group, and it's really not fair of me. MDs are an easy target as an outlet for my frustration. But I don't want to insult an entire profession on the basis of some bad experiences that I have had, and I certainly don't want to discurage anyone from seeking help by feeding an unfair stereotype.
So, a few facts. First, DID is a very difficult disorder to diagnose. My therapist specializes in trauma-related disorders, and I was seeing her wekly for about six months before she was able to confirm DID in my case, and at no time during the proces did she ever suggest to me that I had "other personalities" or "alters" that I was hiding from her. I had to get to the point where the others truster her enough to come out and introduce themselves.
Given this, it is not at all surprising that I have been misdiagnosed with a whole host of organic disfunctions. (I've had so many psych evals that I can quote the MMPI from memory.) A four hour testing session simply isn't enough for anyone to confirm dissociation, since the entire purpose of the adaption mechanism is concealment.
Processing my trauma is a long, frustrating, frightening journey. It took me until now (I'm 42) to be ready for it. But this is not the fault of the medical professionals I have seen over the course of my life. There are some bad ones (there are bad people in any profession) but the majority of physicians want to help. That's what draws people to the business. It doesn't take long to find out if an MD has a treatment paridigm that is inconsistent with your own symptomology, and if that turns out to be the case, switch doctors.
There is some very scary stuff in my head, and probably in yours. But we shouldn't be frightened of the ones who are trying to help us, and I want to make very sure that I'm not discouraging anyone from seeking help.
So, a few facts. First, DID is a very difficult disorder to diagnose. My therapist specializes in trauma-related disorders, and I was seeing her wekly for about six months before she was able to confirm DID in my case, and at no time during the proces did she ever suggest to me that I had "other personalities" or "alters" that I was hiding from her. I had to get to the point where the others truster her enough to come out and introduce themselves.
Given this, it is not at all surprising that I have been misdiagnosed with a whole host of organic disfunctions. (I've had so many psych evals that I can quote the MMPI from memory.) A four hour testing session simply isn't enough for anyone to confirm dissociation, since the entire purpose of the adaption mechanism is concealment.
Processing my trauma is a long, frustrating, frightening journey. It took me until now (I'm 42) to be ready for it. But this is not the fault of the medical professionals I have seen over the course of my life. There are some bad ones (there are bad people in any profession) but the majority of physicians want to help. That's what draws people to the business. It doesn't take long to find out if an MD has a treatment paridigm that is inconsistent with your own symptomology, and if that turns out to be the case, switch doctors.
There is some very scary stuff in my head, and probably in yours. But we shouldn't be frightened of the ones who are trying to help us, and I want to make very sure that I'm not discouraging anyone from seeking help.