07/26/2022
Article

All That Glitters Isn’t Gold- Part Two: Where Is My Mind?


BY BETSY COLE
EDITED BY HEIDI HORNBACHER
ARTWORK BY LAURA CHALAND

How Dissociative Disorder is a trend in movies and is over dramatized. What’s the actual truth behind the disorder and how is it deeper and more complex than ever imagined?

The new trend in movies and television series is Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) or as it’s now known, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Whether it’s the outlandish work of Darren Aronofsky and M. Night Shyamalan or the lies of ‘Sybil’ and what happened to her and her warped relationship with her therapist. The work--and naivety--of Dr. Dorothy Otnow Lewis (one of the inspirations for Clarice, in the Silence of the Lambs) and how MPD or DID is responsible for behaviors within some murderers, especially those who have experienced mental, physical, or sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is often a genuine trigger DID and Dissociation. ‘Unbelievable’ with Toni Collette, Merrit Weaver, and Kaitlyn Denver tells the story of a girl who’s raped and isn’t believed because she has learnt a technique of Dissociation from a childhood of sexual abuse. In all DID, whether it’s through a different personality or just Dissociating from a traumatic situation, it’s protecting the mind from something damaging. But what if you can’t get over it?


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