Identity Crisis

The Psychiatric Medical Community should sit up and take note...too many therapists / Doctors stay stuck in their own narrow thinking that won't allow them to consider this disorder is real. Medical science has proven over and over that the mind is capable of so much more than we can ever conceive in regards to surviving horrendous situations at all cost. Far too many children have been labeled with Bi-Polar Disorder, ADHD , ADD, to correspond with the therapist or psychiatrist's line of study and thus have been prescribed medications that would not and could not adequately "help" their behaviors and acting out. Hopefully, the medical community will begin to take a closer look at this disorder and find ways to help the thousands of children who are currently in residential treatment centers being misdiagnosed and consequently not receiving the "help" they truly need. Dr. Baer is to be highly commended, and Karen Overhill deserves our utmost thanks for sharing her story. Hopefullly, Anne Underwood's superbly written article will open the doors of understanding and encourage the medical community to look at this disorder to help other DID survivors
appropriately.

I truly admire Karen for her transparency and openness. Her story will help validate many others who endured horrendous, chronic, long term abuse and torture.
Because I am a support person to a very courageous person who has DID I have been in the postition to meet about 20 people over the past ten years who have this "disorder". I have also researched and educated myself on this topic. When I first realized that my adopted daughter had DID and then it was confirmed later by her therapist I did a great deal of self education on this topic to get at the truth of what was going on. I no longer see having alters as bizzare or unnatural. A child who is unprotected and lives in a severe abusive environment that includes torture will dissociate from their pain and memories so they can survive. Persons like Karen need our support, encouragement, and understanding. They have survived tremendous obstacles on their journey to wholeness.
There has been tremendous controvery as a backlash to the acceptance of this condition for several reasons. One reason is ignorace and lack of solid, balanced education on the subject of DID. The other reason is the backlash from people who are perpetrators themselves. of sexual, .emotional, and physical abuse and who do not want the truth to come out. The same people that organize pedophilic sex rings and human trafficing fight to keep these brave survivors from getting the validation they deserve. (It is not in their best interests for people to listen to and validate survivors of severe sexual abuse and torture.) It is now time to stand and support these survivors against these malicious people.
I believe that DID is an amazing phenomenom of the human mind and spirit.
Mel in Dallas

I find it incredibly disturbing because it's on the level of naively using LSD to treat schizophrenia, not the best throught out idea. Meth had made people run quicker since the 1960s, but I don't know from a pharmacological sense that its made anyone necessarily run any smarter. It's a bigger problem for rural America than we've seen in a long time - there's nothing comparable. May we someday sort out our idiotic drug laws in the U.S. to have drug crime penalties run concurrent with the true pharmacological values of drugs (pot's not a narcotic) instead or racially motivated, misguided laws that date to the early 20th Century. Shalom, JLK

Child abuse is VERY common - and always has been. We're just now, as a society, ready to deal with it, and in many cases, we go overboard and falsely accused adults are condemned. Acquiring alternate personalities is just one way children cope with being abused sexually, physically, and emotionally. Congratulations to Karen for being courageous enough to integrate her personalities... some MPD sufferers can never do that. And kudos to the doctor for sticking with it for all those years.

I know a lady that is MPD/ DID and she has over 50 alters. She is going through the healing process now. It is a difficult time for her and her family. She is amazingly strong and focused on getting through to become one. It was encouraging for her to read this story about Karen.

This story is just amazing. How can anyone not believe that this is real? We all know that we only use a small portion of our brains. Why do we think that our minds are not capable of protecting us from horrible physical and emotion abuse by creating alters? The mind is a very powerful thing and even the smartest scientist doesn't know what it is capable of. Karen's story is an amazing example of how powerful the mind really is.