Growing Not Dwindling: Worldwide Phenomenon of Dissociative Disorders, Disinformation About Dissociation Dr Joel Paris’s Notions About Dissociative Identity Disorder

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR  The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease & Volume 201, Number 4, April 2013 http://www.jonmd.com p. 353 – 358

Growing Not Dwindling: Worldwide Phenomenon of Dissociative Disorders

To the Editor:

In the December 2012 issue of the Journal, Joel Paris, MD, wrote an article about the current status of dissociative identity disorder (DID) and the dissociative disorder field in general. He suggests that DID is merely a ‘‘fad’’ and that there is no credible evidence to connect traumatic experiences with the development of DID. We refute several of the claims made by Dr Paris.

Our biggest concern as non-North American researchers is that Dr Paris does not reference a single international study related to dissociative disorders and DID, despite the considerable and increasing empirical literature from around the world. His speculation that DID is not diagnosed outside clinics that specialize in treating dissociation is not consistent with current data. DID and dissociative disorders have been reliably found in general psychiatric hospitals; psychiatric emergency departments; and private practices in countries including England, the Netherlands, Turkey, Puerto Rico, Northern Ireland, Germany, Finland, China, and Australia, among many others….

Much of the international research, using sophisticated epidemiological and clinical research methods, has replicated dozens of times the finding that dissociative processes and disorders (including DID) can be reliably detected in a wide spectrum of different societies. Epidemiological general population studies indicate that 1.1% to 1.5% meet diagnostic criteria for DID; and 8.6% to 18.3%, for any DSM-IV dissociative disorder  (Johnson et al., 2006; Sar et al., 2007a). The international literature on DID and dissociative disorders has been widely published in mainstream journals of psychiatry and psychopathology and is inconsistent with Dr Paris’s conclusions….

Dr Paris also opines that there is only a ‘‘weak link’’ between child abuse and psychopathology, quoting an article published 17 years ago. Current research illustrates a very different picture. Persons with early abusive experiences demonstrate increased illnesses (Green and Kimerling, 2004), impaired work functioning (Lee and Tolman, 2006), serious interpersonal difficulties (Van der Kolk and d’Andrea, 2010), and a high risk for traumatic revictimization (Rich et al., 2004). The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, an American epidemiological study, has provided retrospective and prospective data from more than 17,000 individuals on the effects of traumatic experiences during the first 18 years of life.

In conclusion, Dr Paris’s assessment of the supposedly dwindling fad of DID and dissociative disorders is not in keeping with current peer-reviewed international research. The dissociative disorder field has been producing solid and consistent evidence that provides guidance to clinicians and researchers about the epidemiology, phenomenology, diagnosis, and treatment of DID (and closely related conditions).

Alfonso Marti´nez-Taboas, PhD  Department of Psychology
Carlos Albizu University San Juan, Puerto Rico

Martin Dorahy, PhD Department of Psychology University of Canterbury
Christchurch, New Zealand

Vedat Sar, MD Department of Psychiatry Istanbul University Istanbul, Turkey
Warwick Middleton, MD Department of Psychiatry University of Queensland
St Lucia, Australia

Christa Kru¨ger, MD Department of Psychiatry University of Pretoria
Pretoria, South Africa

Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease: April 2013 – Volume 201 – Issue 4 – p 353–354  doi: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e318288d27f
Letters to the Editor
http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/2013/04000/Growing_Not_Dwindling__International_Research_on.15.aspx

Disinformation About Dissociation Dr Joel Paris’s Notions About Dissociative Identity Disorder

To the Editor:
We write to record our objections to both the form and the content of Dr Joel Paris’s recent article entitled The Rise and Fall of Dissociative Identity Disorder (Paris, 2012). His claim that dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a ‘‘medical fad’’ is simply wrong, and he provides no substantive evidence to support his claim. From the mistaken identification of Pierre Janet as a psychiatrist in the first line (Janet was the most famous psychologist of his day), it is replete with errors, false claims, and lack of scholarship and just plainly ignores the published literature. Dr Paris provided a highly biased article that is based on opinion rather than on science. His review of the literature is extremely selective. Of 48 references, Dr Paris cites exactly 7 peer-reviewed articles published from 2000 onward (7/48 references equals 14%) and only 8 peer-reviewed, data-driven articles from before 2000 (8/48 equals 16%). Rather than relying on the recent peer-reviewed, scientific literature, Paris relied almost entirely on the non-peer-reviewed books, including a popular press book written by a journalist whose methods and conclusions have been strongly challenged.

He claims that interest and research in DID have waned, yet he fails to cite the multitude of studies that have been conducted about it. In fact, Dalenberg et al. (2007) documented evidence of the exact opposite pattern described by Paris: ‘‘A search of the PILOTS database offered by the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder for articles on dissociation reveals 64 studies in 1985-1989, 236 published in 1990-1994, 426 published in 1995-1999 and 477 in the last 5-year block (2000-2004)’’ (p. 401)….

In addition, he fails to cite a variety of neurobiological and psychophysiological studies of DID documenting similar brain morphology abnormalities in patients with DID to those of other traumatized patients (Reinders et al., 2006; Vermetten et al., 2006). Despite failing to review this and other relevant research, Dr Paris made the claim that ‘‘Neither the theory behind the diagnosis nor the methods of treatment are consistent with the current preference for biological theories’’ (p. 1078). Furthermore, he fails to cite any research that has been done by researchers outside North America. For example, Vedat Sar, MD, in Turkey has published more than 70 articles and chapters on dissociative disorders and trauma (http://vedatsar.com/ index_2.htm), but Dr Paris failed to mention a single one….

A recent review in Psychological Bulletin by 2012) found strong support for the etiological relationship of trauma and dissociation. These included several large meta-analyses, some of which focused on patients with DID. Dalenberg et al. (2012) found an effect size of r = 0.52 and 0.54 for the relationship between childhood physical abuse and sexual abuse, respectively, in studies that compared individuals with dissociative disorders with those without dissociative disorders. In addition, Dalenberg et al. (2012) tested eight different predictions of the trauma versus the fantasy (sociocognitive/iatrogenic) model of dissociation. On each, careful of reviews of the literature, including meta-analyses, on memory, suggestibility, and neurobiology, among others, Dalenberg et al. (2012) found minimal scientific evidence to support the fantasy model. Further, reviews have shown that there are no research studies in the literature in any population studied to support the iatrogenic/sociocognitive etiology of DID promulgated by Dr Paris (Brown et al., 1999; Loewenstein, 2007)….

Dr Paris’s article does not provide scholarly criticism based upon peer reviewed research, scientific data, or accurate discussion of the history of psychiatry. His point of view is incorrect and outmoded. It is the so-called false-memory, iatrogenesis model of the dissociative disorders that is the fallen fad, buried under the weight of rigorous data that contradict it. Dissociative disorders have not risen and fallen. These existed before the fields of psychiatry and psychology did….

Bethany Brand, PhD Department of Psychology Towson University, MD

Richard J. Loewenstein, MD The Trauma Disorders Program Sheppard Pratt Health System Baltimore, MD Department of Psychiatry University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore

David Spiegel, MD Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Stanford University School of Medicine CA

Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease: April 2013 – Volume 201 – Issue 4 – p 354–356 doi: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e318288d2ee Letters to the Editor
http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/2013/04000/Disinformation_About_Dissociation__Dr_Joel_Paris_s.16.aspx

Interview with Brian Moss: Qualities and Information Useful for a Therapist and a Client Working with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

Interview with Brian Moss: Qualities and Information Useful for a Therapist and a Client Working with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

permission to post

Modified from version originally posted in the Survivorship Journal Vol. 18, Issue 2 December, 2012 at survivorship.org

PERSONHOOD

TOLERANCE FOR AMBIGUITY
Integrating a trauma narrative, especially if it is the result of sophisticated mind control procedures, is a complex and lengthy process where subjective states (hypnosis, drugs) and manipulated states (electric shock, psychic-driving, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation) are mixed with objective states (veridical memory of ritual/sexual abuse or any other experiences meant to terrorize.)

CAPACITY TO DISSOCIATE
There is a difference between “forgetting” and “forgetting that you forget”; one insulates us temporarily as we metabolize our experience while the other prevents us from fundamentally accessing our experience. The capacity to dissociate in a healthy sense allows us to live our lives in spite of what we know—to balance the terror of being alive with the wonder of being alive. There are so many ways to get derailed: cynicism and anger, despair and hopelessness, or the false relief of numbness.

TOLERANCE FOR ISOLATION
All of us, survivors and therapists alike, got to where we are in stages. Painful truths that do not correspond to what we have been told about the world require new understandings that only gradually come into focus. In sharing what we have learned and/or remembered, there is deep frustration that in telling our most urgent truths we are not believed.

AT LEAST ONE TRUE “INTIMATE”
Whether spouse, partner, mentor, friend, find someone that can handle the material and understand the larger and hidden truths of what you are learning. The reality behind DID is a “through the looking glass” experience and is a journey best not taken alone. Therapy is difficult when the client is lacking outside support or dealing with an unsympathetic spouse/partner. Clients that are still embedded in the deviant social networks responsible for their original abuse have an enormous challenge facing them.

A SUBSTANTIAL DEGREE OF DIFFERENTIATION
A significant moment in my early childhood occurred while I was watching the television adaptation of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds. There is a scene in which the creatures have landed and are zapping everyone. A priest comes forth, holds up a bible and is incinerated on the spot. I remember thinking, “Are they allowed to do that?” Differentiation from family, religion, dominant paradigms of any kind including television, mainstream media, and society in general—gives us the ability to think independently and to tolerate the withdrawal of approval or ridicule that is often the reaction to doing so.

INTEREST IN CONTROVERSIAL/FORBIDDEN AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE
Many DIDs have teams of parts that are used to research psychic phenomena. These psychic skills are exploited in a variety of contexts including military and intelligence work. It was eye-opening for me to see the seriousness with which this research is pursued covertly while being overtly ridiculed in conventional academic settings.

ABILITY TO DISCERN DISINFORMATION
Quality disinformation must contain a high degree of truth or it will be rejected outright. The goal of disinformation is to present pieces of the truth in a way that leads to the wrong conclusions. The other purpose is obfuscation in general. There is an overwhelming amount of disinformation on the internet and in our media. Who would have guessed that when Orwell’s “Ministry of Truth” finally arrived we would embrace it as “Wikipedia”.

COURAGE TO FOLLOW THE CLIENT’S LEAD
Abandoning their clients’ experience in order to preserve their (the therapist’s) comfortable view of the world is the same dynamic survivors experience at a societal level. Survivors want—and need—to be believed. No-one is afraid of the dark itself, they are afraid of what might be in the dark. Survivors know what is in the dark. They want to tell their therapists; they want to leave the scenes behind; they want to end the dissociation. They want—and need—to know it is over. It is essential that therapists do not let them down. This takes courage as well as expertise.

APPRECIATION OF LIFE’S ABSURD MOMENTS IN ORDER TO DEFEND AGAINST CYNICISM AND THE NEED TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING
One of my teachers had a story that I heard him tell often. It was a true story he read in the newspaper about a man who had given up and climbed a bridge preparing to jump. A crowd formed in anticipation of the spectacle and the police were called who, in their best manner tried to negotiate with and talk the man down. Getting nowhere, running out of ideas and becoming increasingly frustrated, one of the officers pulled his gun and threatened to shoot the man unless he came down. The man climbed down. It is important to understand that not everything can be understood.

ABILITY TO PERSEVERE IN THE FACE OF SOCIETAL DENIAL
Judith Herman named it in Trauma and Recovery: “The study of psychological trauma has repeatedly led into realms of the unthinkable and foundered on fundamental questions of belief.” There will be polarization occurring in society as more and more information comes out and more survivors come forward. There will be attempts to discredit survivors and to misinform and censor content for those seeking information but to no avail. There are too many survivors and they will continue to speak their truth in an ever increasing chorus.

A BELIEF SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS FOR EXISTENCE OF THE SPIRITUAL
Most DID systems contain spiritual guides or transcendents capable of guiding the work of healing. DID survivors benefit from therapists who are comfortable with these realities. The transcendents, by their very nature, are beyond the reach of programming/conditioning and remain untouched by mind control techniques much as the Sun does not cease to exist simply because a cloud moves in front or the earth revolves.

BELIEF THAT LIFE HAS MEANING
In enduring or bearing witness to the desecration of every value the belief that life has meaning frames the ability to go forward rather than fall into despair. What I have noticed both for myself and the therapists I work with is that when we are willing to know, and not turn away from darkness, a corresponding light enters our life to help balance and navigate it.

KNOWLEDGE

UNDERSTANDING OF SYSTEMS THINKING
Systems theory addresses the whole, including the relationships of the parts of the whole to each other. It does not simply focus on the individual parts in isolation. The concept of wholeness, the integrative process, is the essence of all psychological growth—not just Dissociative Identity Disorder alone. The word “therapy” derives from the Greek word therapeia meaning “to heal”; the word “heal” from the Old English word hælan meaning “whole”. “Integrate” derives from Latin, integrare, to make whole, from integer, complete.

UNDERSTANDING OF UNCONSCIOUS PROCESS
In terms of unconscious process there is an important distinction to make between repression and dissociation. Traditionally, therapists received training in which experience not consciously available was seen to be a kind of primitive unconscious regulated largely by primary process thinking and regression. (Repressive model) Contrast this with concealed experience and memory systems (DID) that are coconscious, where parallel states are existing with a variety of levels of development, some more healthy or competent than the presenting personality! Knowing the subtleties of unconscious perception, and how they are named, informs the therapist and empowers the client.

UNDERSTANDING OF SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE
Consciously unacceptable material is camouflaged in symbolism. As it is metabolized, dissociated information will become more representational and less symbolic. When information is transmitted symbolically the degree of symbolism used will depend on the tolerance of the system for the material being depicted. When the information needs to be defended against, the defending alter will either not be present or will filter the 4 information symbolically. As integration takes place there is less need for symbolism and both dreams and artwork become more representational.

UNDERSTANDING OF THE TRUE ETIOLOGY OF DID

Complex DID systems are not simply a response to trauma and stress—even horrific trauma such as ritual abuse, though it does have a role to play. Nor is it caused iatrogenically by well-meaning therapists attempting to treat trauma survivors as Wikipedia would have us believe. DID is mind control, intentionally practiced and requiring a great deal of effort and conditioning over a period of many years. To develop an elaborate DID system is to endure an ongoing medical procedure throughout childhood, one that requires clinical settings with access to extensive equipment and pharmaceuticals.

At the turn of the century there were indeed cases of “split personality.” These cases were observed by Pierre Janet in Paris; Breuer and Freud in Vienna; F.W.H. Myers in London; and Morton Prince in Boston. These initial cases were found to be the result of trauma in childhood but rarely produced more than a few alter states and often just one. Childhood incest does not lead to elaborate DID systems.

Modern DID bears no resemblance to these early, primitive cases but is instead the outcome of a century of covert research on these dissociative states and their successful creation and exploitation.

This statement has caused the most discussion yet is critical in understanding the true causes of present-day Dissociative Identity Disorder. So what is Mind Control Programming? I use the concepts programming and mind control interchangeably. All DID systems are the result of mind control and programming techniques. I want to clarify this statement; it is very important and has serious implications. The mind does indeed dissociate naturally both in normative contexts (selective attention) and in response to trauma—but dissociative states do not self-organize into elaborate systems with the levels of complexity that we are seeing today—that is something that requires interference from without. Modern cases of DID demonstrate hierarchy and are structured to meet a variety of demands. This is never random, or entirely a response to trauma, though trauma is used to create and maintain the compartmentalization in DID. These parallel conscious states, each exhibiting their own conditioning, are what we call alters.

That DID is manufactured in its present form needs to be acknowledged in order to understand features of DID that would not otherwise make sense and also to account for the politics of this diagnosis with its troublesome implications regarding our world. Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), is the result of a century of covert research on these naturally occurring capacities of the mind. This is where our field truly “leads into realms of the unthinkable and founders on fundamental questions of disbelief.”

Throughout history, exploitation and control of some members of society by others is a continual theme. This control can be subtle, as with the manipulation of peoples’ belief systems through propaganda and religious dogma, or more direct and heavy-handed as with threats of persecution or violence. One of the simplest means of control is to maintain the powerlessness that comes with basic poverty/indebtedness or the lack of access to quality education. A key dynamic with the more overt forms of control is that when people are oppressed—they resist. Advanced forms of control address this fundamental dynamic by developing forms of exploitation that remain largely outside of conscious awareness both for selected individuals (DID) and the larger society (control of the public is achieved through propaganda and the manufacture of consent, an increasingly serious threat with the concentration of media).

Mind control evolved from two main foundations:

1)  The Soviet discovery of conditioned reflexes (Pavlov 1903) and continued research within the field of behavioral psychology.

2)  Advances in understanding the creation of parallel dissociative states with independent memory systems and control mechanisms utilizing research in hypnosis and trauma-based splitting of conscious processes.

UNDERSTANDING THAT EFFORTS TO CREATE DID IN CHILDREN WERE NOT SIMPLY EXCESSES OF THE COLD WAR IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY
Disturbing as it is, we must acknowledge the ongoing nature of these activities. Clients are sensitive to any backing away by the therapist and are reluctant to fully disclose when they fear they won’t be believed. Clearly, people who would torture children, for any perceived agenda, are sociopathic. What they are after is a type of power that is outside legal or ethical constraints and better described as organized crime, no matter the context in which it is framed.

UNDERSTANDING ISSUES RELATING TO ALTERS
Over-identifying with the innocent child alters and avoiding the mean and destructive ones maintains division and conflict within the system. Developing a fascination with certain alters, or with the process of switching itself, is another way to become triangulated into the system; there is no reason to encourage switching— most alter systems can be accessed while keeping a sense of co-consciousness with the normative section. DIDs can parallel process to an extraordinary degree and this ability can be utilized to integrate without losing stability.

AWARENESS OF BLENDING VS. SWITCHING
Many clients and therapists expect a more dramatic presentation (switching with lost time) and miss important system shifts because the client remains co-conscious. When an alter, or programming is behind, alongside or blended with the front system, the changing quality of consciousness may present more subtly. Most alter movement taking place in a therapist’s office (unless the client is severely destabilized) involves blending with no loss of time.

DISCERNMENT REGARDING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STABILITY AND INTEGRATION
The front/normative section is designed to be free from interference and highly functioning as long as the covert aspects of the system remain unknown and there is compliance with the demands of the programmers/handlers. Programming is designed to maintain stability through compartmentalization. Paradoxically, it is the more effective therapists, who begin to make inroads into the deeper structures, who find themselves inadvertently destabilizing their clients. This “success” can trigger programming. (Dissociated trauma scenes and conditioned self-destructive behavior.) Overt stability is not the same as integration.

UNDERSTANDING OF DEEPER STRUCTURES OF DID
While allowing for some variation, most programming follows standard protocols. The front/normative section is designed to be free from interference and highly functioning as long as the covert aspects of the system remain unknown and there is compliance with the demands of the programmers/handlers. Many therapists deal with leaking or triggered trauma scenes related to sexual abuse and ritual abuse without ever getting to the deeper structures and teams involved in covert activities or the programming responsible for it. The trauma scenes act like a mine field keeping these deeper structures and parts hidden and compartmentalized.

RECOGNITION OF THE DOUBLE-BIND IN MIND CONTROL
As with all double-binds the only way out is to acknowledge the bind and transcend it. There is no way to resolve the situation if it is accepted as presented. The basic feature of false choice programs is: “I stay safe and comply with programming/training or I resist and trigger trauma scenes.” It is not either/or; alters should be made aware that both sides of the dilemma are manipulated and all parts of self can come to the present and be free of the demands.

UNDERSTANDING THE NEED TO WORK “FROM THE OUTSIDE IN”
Trauma programming is layered. A good visual image to illustrate this concept is the children’s game of Mikado or “pick-up-sticks”—the outermost sticks must be removed before attempting to move underlying ones. When working to dismantle programming any interference encountered must be dealt with before proceeding. Not to do so is like pulling a stick from the middle of the pile and activating multiple layers of conditioned responses at once—something guaranteed to stop any further progress and destabilize the client.

UNDERSTANDING THAT EMOTIONAL CATHARSIS IS NOT NECESSARY FOR INITIAL MEMORY WORK
There are two basic forms of memory: explicit memory and implicit memory. Explicit memory is what most people are referring to when they talk about memory; it records consciously available information about past experiences. Implicit memory is information that is not consciously available and was encoded outside of conscious awareness. Abreaction and triggering can be understood in terms of implicit memory. The sense of self and self-control that accompanies explicit memory is lost when a trauma memory is an implicit recollection. The difference between these two forms of memory must be acknowledged to understand the basis of trauma programming.

AWARENESS OF POSSIBLE SURVIVOR CONTACT AND SABOTAGE BY HANDLERS
All survivors are monitored internally via programming that is designed to force compliance or initiate reporting to programmers/handlers in the event of non-compliance. Of greater concern and missed by many therapists is that survivors are also often contacted and sabotaged by the people in their present life—even survivors well along in their recovery; this includes people (often family in generational cults) known to the survivor as well as unknown handlers able to access alters outside the awareness of the normative personalities.

A CLOSING STATEMENT FROM BRIAN:
The chance to share this information with you is my pebble in the pond—maybe reaching you on the far shore. Don’t doubt that there are many survivors whose voices have been heard, and many therapists who know the truth about what is going on in the world; all of us working quietly (or out-loud) to make healing possible for each other and to create the world we know is possible.

Brian Moss, MA, MFT is a Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervisor of the American Association of Marriage & Family Therapy. He lives in the Seattle area and consults widely, specializing in working in partnership with DID clients and their therapists.
http://ritualabuse.us/research/did/interview-with-brian-moss-qualities-and-information-useful-for-a-therapist-and-a-client-working-with-dissociative-identity-disorder-did/

Twenty-Two Faces on Dr. Phil Friday, January 11, 2013

Twenty-Two Faces – Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities Judy Byington MSW, LCSW, ret.

Twenty-Two Faces documents how the only known survivor-intended-victim of a modern-day human sacrifice ceremony six year-old Jenny Hill, overcomes multiplicity resulting from brainwashing, her perpetrators having subjected the child to insidious mind-control techniques culled from Nazi Germany. As is the case for thousands of children across the globe unfortunate enough to be born into families still practicing these aberrant religious rites…. Eventually with help of a psychologist: she takes charge of her divided mind by facing alter personalities and their traumatic repressed memories, overcomes family-society rejection, confronts and forgives abusers, showing an ability of the human spirit to overcome against all odds, profound emotional shock and miraculously healing from severe childhood trauma. Tate Publishing May, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-1620240328  http://22faces.com/

A Brief History of Trauma as it Relates to Multiple Personalities and Ritual Abuse Judy Byington, MSW, LCSW, ret.

Multiple Personalities generally result from child abuse, where Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is more commonly found in adults who have undergone extreme stress. The underlying problem in both adults and children subjected to prolonged trauma is Dissociation, a disconnect from life events that ranges from excessive daydreaming to Post Traumatic Stress to Multiple Personalities. http://22faces.com/a-brief-history-of-trauma-as-it-relates-to-multiple-personalities-and-satanic-ritual-abuse-judy-byington-msw-lcsw-ret-3/

Guest Post by Judy Byington, author of “22 Faces” Tracee Gleichner June 21, 2012 Judy Byington, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., ret, has dedicated her life to humanizing and raising public awareness about the little known effects of ritual abuse and mind-control programming that tragically cause formation of multiple personalities in children….

A Utah woman claims she underwent mind-control, survived a human sacrifice ceremony, witnessed another child’s homicide and was not alone in her allegations of ritual abuse according to her newly released biography, Twenty-Two Faces: Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities (Tate Publishing, Oklahoma).  http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/printFriendly/281191

Kim Noble – Mom with Over 20 Different Personalities on Anderson Cooper – Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Kim Noble – Mom with Over 20 Different Personalities on Anderson Cooper – Wednesday, January 2, 2013

DAYTIME EXCLUSIVE: Mom with Over 20 Different Personalities: A mom living with over 20 personalities, including a man, a teenage boy, and a bulimic, breaks her silence about her struggle. http://www.andersoncooper.com/episodes/carmen-electra-jorge-cruise-2013-resolution-solutions-best-3-moves-to-lose-your-belly-fat-for-good-exclusive-a-mom-with-over-20-personalities/

Kim Noble is a woman who, from the age of 14 years, spent 20 years in and out of hospital until she made contact with Dr Valerie Sinason and Dr Rob Hale at the Tavistock and Portman Clinics.  In 1995 she began therapy and was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (originally named multiple personality disorder). D.I.D is a creative way to cope with unbearable pain. The main personality splits into several parts with dissociative or amnesic barriers between them. It used to be a controversial disorder but Kim has had extensive tests over 2 years by leading psychology professor at UCL, John Morton, who has established there is no memory between the personalities.  http://www.kimnoble.com/

Evaluation of the Evidence for the Trauma and Fantasy Models of Dissociation

Evaluation of the Evidence for the Trauma and Fantasy Models of Dissociation

“there is strong empirical support for the hypothesis that trauma causes dissociation, and that dissociation remains related to trauma history when fantasy proneness is controlled. We find little support for the hypothesis that the dissociation–trauma relationship is due to fantasy proneness or confabulated memories of trauma.”

Constance J. Dalenberg, Bethany L. Brand, David H. Gleaves, Martin J. Dorahy, Richard J. Loewenstein, Etzel Cardeña, Paul A. Frewen, Eve B. Carlson, and David Spiegel Psychological Bulletin Online First Publication, March 12, 2012. doi: 10.1037/a0027447

The relationship between a reported history of trauma and dissociative symptoms has been explained in 2 conflicting ways. Pathological dissociation has been conceptualized as a response to antecedent traumatic stress and/or severe psychological adversity. Others have proposed that dissociation makes individuals prone to fantasy, thereby engendering confabulated memories of trauma. We examine data related to a series of 8 contrasting predictions based on the trauma model and the fantasy model of dissociation. In keeping with the trauma model, the relationship between trauma and dissociation was consistent and moderate in strength, and remained significant when objective measures of trauma were used. Dissociation was temporally related to trauma and trauma treatment, and was predictive of trauma history when fantasy proneness was controlled. Dissociation was not reliably associated with suggestibility, nor was there evidence for the fantasy model prediction of greater inaccuracy of recovered memory. Instead, dissociation was positively related to a history of trauma memory recovery and negatively related to the more general measures of narrative cohesion. Research also supports the trauma theory of dissociation as a regulatory response to fear or other extreme emotion with measurable biological correlates. We conclude, on the basis of evidence related to these 8 predictions, that there is strong empirical support for the hypothesis that trauma causes dissociation, and that dissociation remains related to trauma history when fantasy proneness is controlled. We find little support for the hypothesis that the dissociation–trauma relationship is due to fantasy proneness or confabulated memories of trauma.
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/221695375_Evaluation_of_the_evidence_for_the_trauma_and_fantasy_models_of_dissociation

Survivorship Webinar: Trauma Treatment by Judy Byington author of 22 Faces

Saturday, November 17
12:00 noon Pacific Time
Presenter: Judy Byington, MSW, LCSW, ret.
Topic: Trauma Treatment

Judy Byington, MSW, LCSW, ret presents a historical perspective on the growth of the Dissociate Identity Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress diagnoses, showing underlying causes using her twenty year research with over fifty ritually abused victims while writing the biography “Twenty-Two Faces: Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities.”

Byington tracks the ever-present phenomenon of denial as to recognition of dissociation; explains birth of alter personalities within a traumatized child’s developing brain in order to cope with ongoing trauma; shows how alternative thinking patterns function to protect the core personality and encourages survivors and practitioners to re-evaluate their treatment modalities to better confront, cope and heal from trauma so as to lead more productive lives.

Judy Byington, MSW, LCSW, ret, has dedicated her life to humanizing and raising public awareness about the little-known effects of ritual abuse and mind-control programming that tragically cause formation of multiple personalities in children. The CEO of the Trauma Research Center; retired therapist; Supervisor, Alberta Canada Mental Health and Director, Provo Utah Family Counseling Center is Author of the newly-released biography, Twenty-Two Faces: Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities (Tate Publishing: Oklahoma).

REGISTRATION
Registration closes Thursday evening November 15th , 2012

To reserve a space in the webinar, e-mail shamai@survivorship.org  and give this information:

1. Your name
2. The webinar you wish to attend: “Trauma Treatment”
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You will receive a confirmation email immediately and an invitation link and instructions after the registration closes

COST
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If you wish to pay by check please send it to: Survivorship, Family Justice Center, 470 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612.

PAST WEBINARS
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Complete details on all our webinars are at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html

Ritual Abuse Conference Podcasts, EMDR for DID RA/MC clients

Smart-Talks Podcast Blog

This is a collection of talks given at the annual SMART conference in Connecticut. Speakers present to tell their stories of their experiences with ritual abuse and/or mind control, their experiences treating patients with such backgrounds, or to raise awareness of the various issues surrounding recovery from ritual abuse/mind control of efforts made to raise awareness with the general public of this issue.
http://smart-talkspodcastblog.blogspot.com/

The 2012 EMDRIA Conference “EMDR & Attachment: Healing Developmental Trauma” October 4th – 7th in Washington, D.C., at the Crystal Gateway Marriott.

Session 434 – Treating Dissociation, Ritual Abuse and Mind Control from an Attachment Perspective  Carolyn Settle, MSW, LCSW; Soozi Bolte, LPC, LISAC

Using EMDR as an integrative therapeutic approach from an attachment and developmental trauma lens, this presentation will give practical strategies for treating clients with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) symptoms who have experienced Ritual Abuse and Mind Control (RA/MC).  Infant disorganized attachment is an important precursor to adult dissociation and perhaps even more of a predictor of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) than severe trauma alone (van der Kolk). RA/MC programming will be explained so the clinician understands the layers of complexity in treating these dissociative symptoms and ego states. http://www.emdriaconference.com/

Mexico Drug War: Dozens Of Bodies Left On Monterrey Highway, Dissociative Identity Disorder Overview

Mexico Drug War: Dozens Of Bodies Left On Monterrey Highway
By PORFIRIO IBARRA RAMIREZ 05/13/12

MONTERREY, Mexico — Forty-nine decapitated and mutilated bodies were found Sunday dumped on a highway connecting the northern Mexican metropolis of Monterrey to the U.S. border in what appears to be the latest blow in an escalating war of intimidation among drug gangs.

Mexico’s organized crime groups often abandon multiple bodies in public places as warnings to their rivals, and authorities said at least a few of the recent victims had tattoos of the Santa Muerte cult popular among drug traffickers. But Nuevo Leon state Attorney General Adrian de la Garza said he did not rule out the possibility that the victims were U.S.-bound migrants.

The bodies of the 43 men and six women were found in the town of San Juan on the non-toll highway to the border city of Reynosa at about 4 a.m. (5 a.m. EDT; 0900 GMT), forcing police and troops to close off the highway. Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene said at a news conference that a banner left at the site bore a message with the Zetas drug cartel taking responsibility for the massacre. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/13/monterrey-drug-war-bodies-highway_n_1512811.html

Dissociative Identity Disorder Overview http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9URiwU98VPo

Correlations between dissociation, DID and child abuse in different parts of the world

Epidemiology of Dissociative Disorders: An Overview
Epidemiology Research International
Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID 404538, 8 pages
doi:10.1155/2011/404538
Vedat Sar  Department of Psychiatry, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, 34390 Capa, Istanbul,  Turkey

excerpts:

….screening studies using diagnostic tools designed to assess dissociative disorders yielded lifetime prevalence rates around 10% in clinical populations and in the community. Special populations such as psychiatric emergency ward applicants, drug addicts, and women in prostitution demonstrated the highest rates. Data derived from epidemiological studies also support clinical findings about the relationship between childhood adverse experiences and dissociative disorders.

….  Data collected in diverse geographic locations such as North America [2], Puerto Rico [3], Western Europe [4], Turkey [5], and Australia [6] underline the consistency in clinical symptoms of dissociative disorders. These clinical case series have also documented that dissociative patients report highest frequencies of childhood psychological trauma among all psychiatric disorders. Childhood sexual (57.1%–90.2%), emotional (57.1%), and physical (62.9%–82.4%) abuse and neglect (62.9%) are among them.

….Two studies in North America demonstrated that 13.0–20.7 % of psychiatric inpatients had a dissociative disorder [22, 23]. Studies on dissociative disorders in Istanbul, Turkey, yielded a prevalence slightly above 10% among psychiatric inpatients and outpatients [8, 24, 25]. Although still considerable, these rates were lower in the Netherlands [26], Germany [18], and Switzerland [27] among inpatients, that is, between 4.3%–8.0%. A Finnish study [28] reported higher rates for psychiatric outpatients (14.0%) and inpatients (21.0%). Emergency admissions of a university psychiatric clinic in Istanbul, Turkey yielded the highest rate in the country:  35.7% [29]. In a study from Zurich, Switzerland, among severely impaired psychiatric outpatients, prevalence of all dissociative disorders were 25.0% [30].

….Overall, the prevalence of dissociative disorders in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric settings seems to be around 10%, while approximately half of them (5%) has DID, the most severe type of dissociative disorders.

…. A screening study on a representative sample…in Manitoba, Canada, using the DDIS yielded 11.2% prevalence for all DSM-III-R dissociative disorders [36]. Two large-scale studies were conducted in the general population of Sivas City, Turkey, supported these findings gathered in North America.  The first one was conducted on a representative sample of 994 participants from both genders [37]. Approximately 3/4 of the probands dropped-out who were selected for a second and third diagnostic interview due to their elevated DES scores. Despite of this high loss in data, 0.4% of the original sample was diagnosed as having clinically confirmed DID.  The second study in Sivas City, Turkey was conducted on a representative female sample of 648 participants in the same city using a structured diagnostic interview, that is, the DDIS [38]. The overall prevalence of dissociative disorders was 18.3%.  1.1% of the population had DID. However, the largest group was DDNOS (8.3%). Conditions based primarily on the presence of distinct personality states (i.e., DID and DDNOS-1) built up a prevalence of 5.2% for chronic complex dissociative disorders.

….In a recent North American study conducted in the community (New York,…the prevalence was 8.6% for all DSM-IV dissociative disorders observed in the past year [39]….A further study [42] documented that 6.3% of the general population suffered from three or more frequently occurring dissociative symptoms possibly representing a dissociative disorder. In The Netherlands, 378 subjects from a non-clinical population were screened using the dissociation questionnaire (DIS-Q), a self-rating scale of European origin [43, 44]. 2.1% of the participants had a score above the cutoff point (score of 2.5), and 0.5 % had a score comparable to those of patients with dissociative disorders (scores of 3.0 or higher).

….Among consecutive inpatients admitted to a dependency treatment unit of a large state mental hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, the lifetime prevalence of DSM-IV dissociative disorders was 17.2% [45].  These rates were   9.0% for alcohol dependency only [46] and 26.0% for patients with chemical dependency [47]. Those rates were between 15.0% and 39.0% [48–50] for patients with chemical dependency in North America.

….In Germany, a screening study was conducted on 51 male criminal offenders admitted to a medicolegal institution by the court so as to understand diminished or lack of responsibility for the offence due to psychiatric disorder, including a large group of persons with substance-use disorders [56]. Using the SCID-D, a high prevalence of dissociative symptoms and disorders (23.5%), mostly DDNOS, was demonstrated. 22.6% of the group had a DES score 20.0 or higher. In Turkey [57], 26.8% of 108 male prisoners in a regular correctional center had a DES score 20 or above. This rate was 18.5% for DES scores 30 or above which is known to be the cut-off level for chronic dissociative disorders [58]. Nevertheless, according to the SCID-D, 15.7% of the subjects had a dissociative disorder, that is, either DDNOS or dissociative amnesia. Exotic dancers and women in prostitution have also been demonstrated as risk groups for dissociative disorders [52–55, 59]. This seem to be due to the highly traumatic background of the probands.

….Epidemiological studies also documented the relationship between dissociative disorders and childhood trauma, an association clinicians and researchers are familiar with [32, 71, 72].  A screening study conducted on consecutively admitted psychiatric outpatients yielded elevated rates for sexual (27.8%), physical (50.0%,), and emotional (72.2%) abuse and neglect (83.3%) among dissociative patients in comparison to nondissociative controls [24]. In the inpatient psychiatric unit of the same institution, these rates were 58.8%, 82.4%, 70.6%, and   58.8%, respectively [25]. Apparently, patients with childhood sexual and/or physical abuse were hospitalized more readily pointing to a more crisis-prone and severe general condition. On the other hand, dissociative outpatients and dissociative subjects identified in non-clinical settings report emotional abuse and neglect predominantly [24, 38]. Nevertheless, in a Turkish study in the community, subjects with dissociative or conversion disorder (somatic dissociation) reported significantly higher levels of childhood traumata than the remaining participants [38, 69]. In a case series and also in the community, conversion disorder patients with a concurrent dissociative disorder reported childhood traumata more frequently than those without.
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/eri/2011/404538/

When the Devil Knocks – Storyville – One woman’s gripping struggle with multiple personality

When the Devil Knocks – Storyville – One woman’s gripping struggle with multiple personality is captured on camera as she goes public with her private therapy tapes.
http://www.knowledge.ca/program/when-the-devil-knocks

When the Devil Knocks is the intimate story of a woman suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality. The film premiered at the 2010 Vancouver International Film Festival and will have its World Broadcast Premiere on CBC News Network’s The Passionate Eye on Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 10 pm ET/PT. http://whenthedevilknocks.com/