I did seek therapy -- or at least an ear to listen -- several
times... My first interaction with a therapist was disasterous...
It was a "group" for people with mentally ill family members. There
are no MPD support groups or MPD family support groups in my area,
or anywhere that I know of. So I tried this. Nobody else showed up
for the "group," and the therapist spent the entire time telling me
that my husband was transsexual, bipolar, and had attention deficit
disorder. And that he was lying about hearing voices, because if he
really heard voices, he was schizophrenic, too. I told her that
anti-psychotic meds hadn't worked at all, and that was when she
decided he'd just made it up. She also told me, repeatedly, that
there was no such thing as multiple personalities. Mind you, this
lady had never met my husband, and she was affiliated with a
hospital that originally put my husband on Risperdal and my mom
on "some kind of tranquilizer." It's kind of a backwards place,
here...

The second therapist I saw cut me off when I said, "MPD." She
<i>asked</i> if there was "mental illness" in my family! I mean, I
TOLD her! Hello! After that, she questioned absolutely everything
I said. She didn't believe a word I said to her at all. She
actually told me she didn't think I had minored in philosophy in
college as an undergrad! She had her PhD in philosophy, she told
me, so she should know. She also had a number of religious symbols
ALL over her office, and while I'm pretty comfortable with anybody
of any faith, I don't want HER faith to dominate MY session, which
it was. She was very pushy, and kept asking me leading questions.
I am pretty sure she diagnosed me "borderline," but she really
didn't ask me any of the right questions, and she didn't listen to a
word I said. She also told me, straight off that bat, that my
husband didn't have anything wrong with him, that he had left me for
another woman, because men do those sorts of things. Seriously!!!

I don't have the money, the insurance, or the sanity to try looking
again for awhile. These two women made me feel a thousand times
worse about my life than I had felt going in... Eventually, maybe
I'll try again... Maybe...

Oh, yes, and I was also told that there was nothing that could be
done for my "depression," because therapy wouldn't work, and they
couldn't give medication to a "single mother" of a young child
without being assured that somebody else would take care of the baby
if/when I freaked out on anti-depressants. (Funny how nobody seems
to think there's a <i>reason</i> for depression when one finds out
that one's husband is fighting for his life and his sanity twenty-
four hours a day, and that there's little to nothing I can do about
it, and that he left me alone with a young baby...)

It's a little bit difficult for me to trust therapists of any kind
at this point...

*sigh*

Maybe I'll get my MSW and be one of the "good ones."

*smile*

Love and peace,
~Carolyn*



--- In mpdspouses@yahoogroups.com, JNSWTHRT@... wrote:
>
> Hi Carolyn;
>
> Thanks for your writing and sharing. It takes courage to do so,
we know.
>
> I/we are the 'resident multiple' here it seems, at least by
default if
> nothing else. It is always helpful to hear 'the other side' of
the equation and
> hopefully vice versa.
>
> Question here; Have you had some 'good' treatment/therapy -
whatever process
> carries the most health - in resolving your own trauma issues from
your
> childhood? And - do you have the same 'good' treatment/therapy in
place regarding
> raising your child in the healthiest way possible given the
circumstances?
>
> Jen et al.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>