Anybody know anything about how multiple personalities? http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277 harrypotterfan7 So, for my next novel, I want to write something about a girl with two or three personalities. My synopsis is something like this: "Grey Ratsel is fifteen years old. After years of living with her mum and stepdad for her entire life, and roughing it at the sketchy public school, her stepdad won the lotto. And of course the first thing he did with the money is get rid of Grey. So there she was at Brillig Boarding High in California. But little did she know, there was something she would learn from her stay at Brillig, and there was something that would change indefinitely." The book is called "Shades of Grey". Nice Title, right? The problem is, I don't actually know anything about Multiple Personalities so... Not good. If anybody know anything PLEASE let me know. Thanks! --J Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:30:00 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1142653 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1142653 Itzika I do know some things about multiple personalities. For one, it's not called multiple personalities anymore--it's called Dissociative Identity Disorder. For another, two or three alters is actually pretty low; the average is seven (six for one gender and eight for the other, not that I remember which is which). It's almost always the result of repeated sexual abuse, so your girl has some serious issues to deal with. And from what I know, at fifteen the alters would probably be inaccessible. At that age, she wouldn't be having blackouts or dissociative episodes where they took over. I'm not sure if they could still take over at that age to take traumatic memories (that's the purpose of alters--they take the bad memories so the original personality doesn't have to deal with them), but I don't think they would be taking over for any other reason. There are some books out there on DID, but honestly, at your age, I would not recommend reading them, as most of them will contain some graphic descriptions of child sexual abuse. If I'm being totally honest, I would recommend not writing something this sensitive until you're a little older. This is entirely unfair of me, as I was about your age when I got interested in DID, but my mom flipped out when she found out what I was reading and some of what I read made me extremely uncomfortable. So unless you're really ready to be reading some fairly horrific things, I would shelve this idea for a while. (If you really want to write this, I can PM you some titles that I'm pretty sure don't have such graphic scenes and we can go from there.) A note on the title: While Grey actually is a name, it's not a common one and it's going to seem like you named the character to fit the title. I would make Grey (or Gray) her last name and find something less obviously symbolic to use as her first name. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:11:07 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1142774 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1142774 vampyre_smiles There's also "healthy multiplicity", which is basically the non-disordered version of DID and is usually not caused by trauma sexual or otherwise. A disorder is only considered a disorder if it impairs the quality of one's life, or threatens the safety of oneself and those around one. (Or in this case, many?) I base characters off my alters, with their permission. I also use "alter" in a similar way to "friend" or "sibling" or "acquaintance". I am as much the others' alter as they are mine. I know less about actual DID than healthy multiple systems, aside from what is definitely different. But you can ask me about my experiences, and I might have some references I could dig up about DID/MPD from my intro psych course from high school that you could follow up on. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:59:01 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1143459 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1143459 Raksab Not every psychologist believes in Dissociative Identity Disorder. It's one of the most controversial listings in the DSM book (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), and some experts believe it's not a "real" mental illness. The symptoms, if they exist (aren't faked in all cases, that is), are extremely rare and may be diagnosed as something else, such as schizophrenia.* If you're going to research DID, I suggest you consult the DSM guide, as it is the definitive handbook on mental illness, at least in the United States. Naming and categorizing mental illness is tricky, and a lot of it depends on cultural context. (In some cultures, demonic possession is a treatable medical complaint. Some places, homosexuality is considered a mental disorder -- or worse. A couple hundred years ago, when slavery was legal, someone described slaves' "compulsive desire to escape" as a mental illness. Women in the 19th century used to get "hysterical paralysis." Nowadays people get PTSD, but no one heard of it fifty years ago. And so on...) * Schizophrenia properly is NOT multiple personalities, even though the word means "split mind." Schizo disorders usually mean you think in disordered fragments (thus the name), often with delusions, not necessarily hallucinating (although many patients do). It is really a sort of catchall term for a variety of symptoms that tend to cluster, but no patient will have all the symptoms; you just have several of them. That alone is not enough for diagnosis, since plenty of people are delusional or etc.; the symptoms must actually be having a bad effect on your life, or it's not a disease. Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:32:30 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1143560 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1143560 Itzika I have never heard of that. Do you know any resources on that that I could look up? Not that I doubt you--I just want to know more. Multiplicity in all forms interests me. Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:15:29 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1143831 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1143831 onesecondglance http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forum_comments/1128605 Pretty similar thread here. DID is not a nice, fun thing. Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:28:22 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1144054 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1144054 vampyre_smiles Well, <a href="http://healthymultiplicity.com/" rel="nofollow">here's a good start</a>. They have links to all sorts of blogs and resources. also if you Google healthy multiplicity, a few things should show up. Not certain if there has been much research on healthy multiples, but when I went to a psych counselor (for grief counseling after losing a family member, and general counseling) that was one of the things I brought up, we discussed, and then let it go because it wasn't an issue. Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:20:53 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1144403 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1144403 Lorata Um. Okay. I'm not going to get into this because I have answered that statement in so, so, so many forums and I'm tired of it, but no. That is not true. It can be not nice or fun, but it can also be extremely fulfilling and not traumatic at all. But I'm tired of talking about it. People can search the forums if they want. Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:50:35 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1146229 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1146229 Lorata If you don't know anything about multiplicity, please don't write about it. At least not without doing extensive -- and I mean <em>extensive</em> research. It makes those of us who have it very, very tired to see the same old cliches all over the place. There are multiple threads in the forums about this, mostly with the same people trying to give the same information again and again. I suggest you start there. Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:52:15 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1146230 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1146230 Lorata No, no, no, and no. Just. Search the other forums. Check the healthy multiplicity links below. Do some more reading that's not from the DSM. There are many kinds of multiplicity, and sexual-based trauma with blackout periods is only one facet of an incredibly complex experience. Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:53:25 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1146231 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1146231 onesecondglance You just said above that DID is not the same as what you refer to as "healthy mulitplicity". So we are not talking about the same thing. And DID is *not* a nice, fun thing. Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:24:29 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1146575 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1146575 Itzika Okay. I plan to. I actually didnt do my reading in the dsm--I did it in memoirs of people who have did. Obviously, since they fit the did profile, they didn't look too far into healthy multiplicity. So I had never heard of it. I am going to look up that version. That's why I asked for resources. You dont need to get hostile. For the record, was anything I said wrong <em>about DID?</em> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 06:23:39 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1152778 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1152778 Harlow I say this, as someone that works in Mental Health, and I tell this to everyone who is getting ready to write in a mental disorder of this magnitude. I generally advise against it. Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:54:11 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1153610 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1153610 Lorata Yeah, but the OP is not talking about DID. Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:55:04 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1153799 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1153799 Itzika Actually, they are. As far as we can tell, they're talking about all forms of multiplicity, which includes both healthy multiplicity and DID. They said they know nothing, which would indicate they don't know about either. So information about both is helpful. Also, the layman's guide on the list above seems to be down. Does anyone have any alternate recommendations? (Yeah, I know, google it. I'm generally wary of googling anything more controversial than the lifespan of a spider.) Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:43:51 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1154368 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/50277?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1154368