Inside Karen’s Crowded Mind

I have mpd they call it dissociative disorder I loose time and was comforted to know that it happened and others kn0w what it is. I tried telling my therapist that i have different people in me and they want different things i just wanted to get them to agree. I felt like a five headed dragon with each head heading in a different direction. my therapist didn't beleive in it but knew something was wrong I was suicidal and confused.I sometimes describe myself like a snickers bar each peice of me is distinct,different ,and made up of totally different parts. they are in the same package but can exist without the other peices ie,caramel, chocolate, peanuts. its the best way i could describe it.

You can't begin tounderstand this unless you either have it or have an open mind and heart and care for someone who is struggling with this. Doubting one who is reaching out for help is the utimate stupidity of the menal health system. As if the pain, embarrassment, torchure and abuse these people have suffered isn't enough. Now the thought of being doubted, wow, who can we ever learn to trust enough to help us through. Let me just say something bold now, skip all the years of misdiagnosises, meds that drug you down, and useless therapy sessions costing you thousands and learn to tust someone close to you. Trust enough through love and if they love you they will love all of you. The only extra space rented in my head crowding me was my doctor. Thank God for my Husband. Don't ever give up! Love and merge,
Heather, Nevaeh and Abby

I found your article extremely informative and enlightening. I work with persons who have Mental Disabilities and Mental Health issues. I can hardly wait to read the book. I can't begin to understand the pain this woman has suffered throughout her life. Some people don't believe in God, and some christians don't believe in psychiatry or medical intervention. I can only thank God for people like Dr. Baer.

As a survivor of MPD I am glad to see this article and can relate to Karen as I had 8 alters but am now totally intergrated. I began seeing a wonderful dr in 1991 who as a christian helped me see that my illness was not demonic in nature but it was a spiritual journey as well as mental back to health. I suffered the loss of my husband thru divorcewho could not deal with my illness after 8 years of caring for me and the many times I tried to end my life. I am thankful to those who helped me and believed my stories of abuse and worked so hard to keep me safe from myself untill my recovery.

this is the way a fractured ego survives... not as uncommon as one would thintk though most cases aren't this dramatic... I would guess there are MORE not less cases. The degrees are varying, just like any other disorder. Some of those who are affected are functional and thought they may be diagnosed as "borderline", they may very well be affected by dissociative identity disorder.

this is the way a fractured ego survives... not as uncommon as one would thintk though most cases aren't this dramatic... I would guess there are MORE not less cases. The degrees are varying, just like any other disorder. Some of those who are affected are functional and thought they may be diagnosed as "borderline", they may very well be affected by dissociative identity disorder.

Oh my...someone is always ready to accept that we are possesed by demons but can't accept that those demons lived among us not in us. That is where our alters come from...I suffered for years with "lost time" before my doctor finally admitted that I had alters living my life when I couldn't stand to myself. 2whytbears@gmail.com

There are many reasons to why someone could drop out of pre-med, it does not mean they are stupid. Are you a doctor sebastian??

I have been lucky to have had a great childhood, grown up to be a strong confident woman. I do belive in MPD, becouse I see what the every day life brings us, and what we have to cope with. I see how I cope with dragedies and how my mind works as an adult, therefore, I can only immagine how a child has to cope with orrific abuses.

All these stories are shared with sympathetic therapists or other "survivors" who are recovering their own memories. "Inner children" or alters are created who remember the abuse, and the woman learns to speak in a baby voice and play the role of the terrified nine-year-old who was tied to the alter and raped. If facts get in the way of the memories (for example, a family member points out that the woman had regular pediatric exams throughout childhood, and her pediatrician never saw evidence of the constant rape and torture--moreover, she participated in sports and Girl Scouts without anyone noticing), details are added to explain the contradictions. Surely the family doctor was one of the abusers and helped to falsify records and conceal the abuse. Usually multiple neighbors, teachers, family friends, and professionals become linked to the story as part of the coven or pedophile ring or government project that is being imagined.
I once sat in a group of survivors, and one of the women was terribly distressed, because she had recently had sex with her boyfriend for the first time and had bled like a virgin. She was afraid the blood might mean that she had made up the stories of satanic cults and ritual abuse. The other women in the group reassured her that the blood probably meant she had unusual scarring internally as a result of all the abuse. Logic gets suspended entirely within these groups. The process very much resembles that seen in people who claim to have been abducted by UFO's.
Recovered memory therapy is a terrible hoax and malpractice that is still tolerated far too often within the mental health community. Most psychiatrists and psychologists who have received solid training in neurodevelopment and memory and psychology do not believe in the diagnosis, and the major professional organizations have issued cautionary statements about therapy that purports to uncover abuse memories. However, the quacks are still out there, and the myth continues. The sad irony is that women who initially embrace the process of memory recovery....out of hope that it will make them feel better (per the therapist's testimony) or because they enjoy the attention and sympathy it garners, or because they appreciate blaming something external for all of their problems.....typically get worse rather than better. They alienate family and friends because of their increasing self-absorption and focus on abuse, they cut off those who question the path of therapy, and they solidify ties with other women who are involved in the process of becoming victims.

This is so sad, but it does happen. If people would read a book like this they wouldn't so quick to judge. It just doesn't happen to the poor.Rich people can have it also.A lot of people that have this can not afford treatment.So don't be so quick to judge

I went to a psychiatrist who did not acknowledge MPD. I firmly believe that people who are depressed radically and/or traumatized consistently can escape in their minds, but I believe they are firmly aware of the escape mechanism. I do not believe in MPD. I'm not saying she was trying to get attention; however, I think that would be a good reason to invent these "personalities" and sustain that belief. Anyone can pretend to be a different person and have that ego emerge with a name. "Granted, they have to be good at it and intelligent enough to sustain it. I think the woman wanted help and peace, and this is a good way to get long term psychiatric care.

Another way of thinking about MPD--but less dramatic--is that there are clusters of traits, adaptatations to trauma,which do not function well in the work-a-day world, in relationships, etc. Unfortunately, early and persistant trauma and its adaptations/maladaptations are as difficult (or more) than other addictions or bad habits. If Dr Baer helped his patient understand her problem and begin w/ a new narrative that helps.

I don't care to assign blame as much as I feel the need to share how experiences such as this damage a person's mind and alters their destiny. I am so thankful that it is possible to discuss things like this nowadays. I survived my abuser and he is now in a place where he will never harm another boy or girl again. Why not heal the world by overcoming all the bullies, neglectful parents and aquaintainces? I didn't have hope as a child, I didn't have help. I was just some useless cripple that became a personal sex toy for a perverted, cruel individual. It does take a villiage, it should take a villiage.....unfortunately, most of the people in the villiage today could care less.

I myself was raped as a young child. I created an alter ego to this day that basically protects me when harm comes my way. It hurts and noone should have to go through this ordeal . I have spent the better part of my life in Law Enforcement protecting the innocent. I???m not ashamed of what I do but at times I feel so lost and hurt. I even find myself crying on surveillance runs. Now after 38 years I have found the courage to go after the person who did this to me. I don???t know where it will end but I know in my heart I???ll be the better person for it. I survived and so did Karen. It hurt???s but we make it. It burns but we go on. All we are looking for is our innocence that was taken. Although this can never happen, at least I can sleep at night knowing people sleep better because I risk my life to protect them. I know sounds crazy an even maniacal at times, but this is who I am and this is the world we live in.

God Bless you Karen

Silver Knight

How awfu do you have to be to make fun of someone's life. It seems to me some peopel on here have mental issues they themselves are not aware of. Everything that seems unreal is not made up, there are problems out there beyond humans reach.