Have a disorder? Build a web site - Part Three: Dissociative Disorders

Leonard Holmes, Ph.D.                      http://mentalhealth.about.com

Welcome to part three of the series on consumer sites in mental health. In past articles we discussed the stigma surrounding mental disorders, and we explored sites covering Depression and Eating Disorders.   There seems to be less stigma among the wired computer-literate generation than in the general population. Much of the web is autobiographical, and many people's biography includes a diagnosis. These sites are conceived to help others. There is information to help fellow consumers/patients, information for friends and family members, and information for the general public.

In this series the best of these sites are featured on The Mining Company. As always, you will have the assistance of your guide as we explore the sites, but you will also be free to explore them yourself.

Dissociative Disorders

Multiple Personality Disorder was once considered extremely rare. It has been diagnosed much more frequently in recent years, and this increase is controversial. The term Dissociative Identity Disorder is now the "officially sanctioned" term in the United States. The disorder is actually a part of a dissociative continuum, and childhood trauma or abuse is generally believed to be an important factor in its development.

Mental health professionals are divided on many issues concerning dissociative disorders. Some professionals believe these disorders are over-diagnosed, while others believe that they are under-diagnosed. There is probably some truth in both views. The meaning of "recovered memories" are also controversial. There is an emerging consensus that these memories can contain both accurate and inaccurate elements.

In addition to the consumer sites listed here, professionals and professional organizations (such as the ISSD) have sites on the web. A future article will focus on these sites.

The Voices of Kind Discussion Forums (no longer online) were designed as a virtual community for childhood abuse survivors, significant others, and health professionals. This is similar to an electronic support and discussion group. Lisa Varhola invested a great deal of time and effort in making this a reality. She acknowledged her own dissociative history and the site was professionally constructed with slick graphics.

Time Passages, the host site, was an ambitious project which was not uniformly supported by professionals working with dissociative disorders. There were concerns about contamination from shared memories, and "triggering" from exposure to the trauma of others. Similar concerns are sometimes voiced for face-to-face support groups in this population. Portions of the site require passwords because of some of these concerns.

Tesserae is a beautifully rendered site which is not for the faint of heart. It is one woman's story of her history of abuse (including ritual abuse) and healing. It is actually a story told by the personality system of a woman with dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder). Be warned that there are images which might trigger you if you are an abuse survivor; but anyone else should definitely visit this hauntingly beautiful site to catch a glimpse of this system from the inside out.

A similar site, Firewheel Vortex!, has a totally different look. Bob King describes himself as "a strange and variable person" and his site reflect this. It is also a home for SurvivorShip: An International Forum on Survival of Ritual Abuse, Torture and Mind Control and The Ritual Abuse and Healing Home Page.

Divided Hearts (no longer Online) began as the home to a pair of IRC chat channels for persons with dissociative disorders. The site moved from server-to-server when it was actively being developed.  When the site was Online it has some interesting content that it not available at other sites.

Many of these sites have links to child-related pages, so that alternate personalities who express themselves as children ("child alters" or "littles") have fun and safe places to surf to.

These sites are among the most creative of consumer mental health sites. Some of the content mirrors the underlying disorder - full of disorganization and inconsistency. They will continue to be controversial, providing support for persons in need, but risking the criticism of those who see them as contaminating the memories of others.

Don't miss these other features on issues related to dissociative disorders:

• The Debate over Recovered Memories: A $5.8 million award sparks renewed interest in the discussion of recovered memories and false memories.
• Guest Column from the Memory Wars: A patient who attended a controversial treatment program speaks out.
• Pros and Cons of Support Groups for Trauma Survivors. Part 1: Real life and Online groups both have advantages and disadvantages.
• Pros and Cons of Support Groups for Trauma Survivors. Part 2: An interview with Lisa Varhola about her experiences with online support groups.
• The U.S. Government files Charges Against Therapists: Should all Therapists worry about this?
• New Research on Recovered Memories: A new Dutch study documents that memory for abuse can be lost and then recovered.
• Corroboration of Child Abuse Memories: Elizabeth Bowman, M.D. reviews the literature on recovered memories which have been corroborated.
• Reliability and Suggestibility of Child Abuse Memories - Part I
  A look at the literature on hypnosis and memory and the implications for recovered memories.
• Reliability and Suggestibility of Child Abuse Memories - Part 2
  Further information on these issues

Join in as we talk about these issues on the Discussion Board

Next week: Bipolar Disorder
Mental Health Resources Bookstore

Graphic used by permission of Tesserae

Leonard Holmes, Ph.D.                      http://mentalhealth.about.com

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