June 25, 2010

Where Did I Put My Keys?

Posted in DID Education, DID/MPD, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Internal Communication, therapy, Therapy and Counseling, Therapy Homework Ideas, trauma therapist tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , at 7:46 pm by Kathy Broady


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Last night I lost my keys in the office.   It was a silly ordeal – they were hanging right where I last put them – but it took me awhile to remember where that was.

I had a little help finding them, and I am really thankful that Mr. Janitor Man was so very kind.  He was patient with me, looking everywhere with me while I retraced my steps of the evening.  We looked under couches, in between cushions, under pillows, through trash bins, in the fridge, in drawers, in cupboards, on shelves.  I knew they had to be there – after all, I had just locked myself IN the building.  I hadn’t gone anywhere because I needed my keys in order to unlock the door to get out of the building, so I knew they couldn’t be far.

But where were they?!

It took awhile, but I gradually got closer to the last place I left them, I remembered exactly where they were.

Success!!  There they were – right where I left them.

And thank you, Mr. Janitor Man for your patience with me.

In order to find them, I simply had to stop and think about where I was when I last remembered having them, and go from there.  My keys were just a few inches from that place.

Today, I had to wonder how my thought processes were the same – or different – from survivors with dissociative identity disorder (DID / MPD) who have to search for their lost keys.

A few weeks back, I was on the other side of this equation.

A DID survivor had lost her car keys for several days.  She had looked everywhere.  She had the feeling that they were still in the house, and remembered where She had last set them.  But the car keys were nowhere to be found.

To help her sort through the lost key issue, She and I had an entirely different process than I did with Mr. Janitor Man.

She had already re-traced her steps best She could.  It was clear the keys were not anywhere She thought they should be.

Because of the dissociative issues and system conflict in her life, there were several additional issues to consider:

  • Had anyone inside moved the keys after She put them on the table?
  • Were the insiders purposefully hiding the keys from her?
  • Was this an issue of self-sabotage, system conflict, or simple dissociation?
  • If She didn’t remember where the keys were put last, which insider did remember?
  • If someone inside remembered, were they going to tell her?
  • How long were the insiders going to keep this secret?  Did they think that was funny?
  • Were the keys sitting right there in plain sight, and was someone within her system purposefully blocking She’s vision?
  • Was She simply “not allowed” to see where the keys were?
  • Was someone inside hiding the car keys to keep her from driving?
  • Why did they not want her to be able to drive?
  • Was this a safety issue (to prevent some self-harm options that required a car)?
  • Was this a power and control issue (“we can do what we want, and She can’t stop us”)?
  • Were the insiders trying to sabotage and ruin She’s plans for the weekend?
  • Was this a system punishment of some sort?
  • Were the keys genuinely lost, and were all our questions about insider involvement way off track?

It became obvious that She didn’t know where the keys were.  There was no use wasting more time asking her to find them on her own.

Asking inside – asking the parts in She’s system – to tell her where they were wasn’t working either.  Everyone was quiet inside, and no one was willing to say where the keys were.

The only feeling that She got in response to the questions was that the keys were still in the house.  She had noticed She could feel a little rise in tension when She looked in the kitchen.  She was guessing the keys were there, but She still had no idea. She had looked everywhere in the kitchen – a few times – and still couldn’t find them.

She asked her insiders again, and again – and still no one would cooperate with a direct answer.  Where should She look in the kitchen? Should She keep looking in the kitchen?  Now what?

It was beginning to get clearer that either someone was hiding the keys on purpose from She. It was also becoming clear that others inside were feeling too scared of Key-Hider to tell She where the keys were.  The awkward silence was very telling.

We tried directly asking Key-Hider where the keys were.  The only response to that question was a bit cheeky.  “If I wanted the keys hidden from her, why would I tell you where they are?”   Oh ok.  Got that message loud and clear.  So Key-Hider wasn’t going to cooperate.

Hmmmmm.  Now what?

I asked She to go stand in the kitchen.  Since it appeared that the insiders didn’t feel like they could show She where the keys were – She was clearly not supposed to see the hiding spot – we didn’t go against that rule.  Instead, we respected that rule.  I asked She to close her eyes.  I spoke to the insiders through She.  They were, of course, listening behind her.  As a rule of thumb, when talking to any part of the DID system, expect that there will be others listening in the background, even if the part you are speaking with is not aware of anyone else being near.

I asked She to keep her eyes closed, and to put her hands out to feel around in the kitchen.  With DID, one part can be in charge of the most of the body, while someone else can gain control of the hands (or any other part of the body).  I reminded She that this was possible, and encouraged her to let someone pass through her to be in charge of the hands.

While She and her insiders were rummaging through kitchen areas, I continued to speak to the inside system.  I reminded them that She was not looking, that She could not see anything, and that they would not be breaking the rule of showing She where the keys were located, but I asked them to work together as a team.  Together, they were searching the kitchen for the car keys.

One of the things I mentioned to the Insiders was asking them if anyone else saw the Key-Hider hide the keys.  By this time it was clear that Key-Hider wasn’t being supportive of She.  Key-Hider was not going to say where the keys were hidden, and Key-Hider was acting more in direct opposition to She.  I asked for those who were willing to be kind and helpful to She to think about what they saw from behind the scenes, fully expecting that someone inside could have seen where Key-Hider put the keys.  I asked if any of the Helpers saw Key-Hider hide the keys, and if any of the Helpers could help She to find them.  I continued to remind She to keep her eyes closed, and to let the Helpers find the keys through her hands with their hands.

Within about fifty seconds, She giggled.  She could hear the keys, and once She was holding the keys, She was allowed to open her eyes.

After being missing for days, the keys were found!

She was thrilled, to say the least.

She mentioned that the most significant things I said were that She herself didn’t have to be told or shown where the keys were and that Key-Hider wasn’t put on the spot with demands for immediate answers or cooperation.  The idea that we could completely obey the rules, respect the opposition, and yet go around the rules by working with the other Insiders made a huge difference.  She said she would not have thought about asking her insiders for help, but it made all the difference.

So what’s the moral of the story?

  • If you are DID, remember that there are many others in there, and some of them will be on your side.
  • Even if you feel like others are against you, there will be some that will help you.
  • Using system communication, talking together, approaching problem-solving as a team will be more effective than you trying to work out issues alone.
  • Talk to each other!
  • Work together!

———-

By:

Kathy Broady LCSW

www.AbuseConsultants.com

www.SurvivorForum.com

Copyright © 2008-2010 Kathy Broady LCSW and Discussing Dissociation

June 20, 2010

Doubly Difficult Days for DID Survivors

Posted in Child Alters, Depression, DID Education, DID/MPD, Dissociative Identity Disorder, emotional pain, Family Members of Trauma Survivors, Introjects, Ritual Abuse, Self Injury, sexual abuse, therapy, Therapy and Counseling, Transference Issues, Trauma tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , at 2:19 pm by Kathy Broady


This weekend is often a difficult weekend for trauma survivors with dissociative identity disorder.  First, there is Father’s Day (for those of us living in the USA), and secondly, it’s the Summer Solstice.  Anytime the difficult days get stacked on top of each other, it’s going to make for a complicated time.

On days when the issues seem to surface in layers, what do you do to cope?
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(**This blog article is about difficult topics so it could be triggering – please pace yourself carefully and keep yourself safe.)
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Father’s Day has many of the same emotional complications as was written about on Mother’s Day.  The days proceeding are often full of painful memories, heartbreaking loss, fear, conflict, and upset.  The vast majority of DID survivors have had abusive fathers, so the idea of celebrating fathers typically stirs up great turmoil.

The first day of summer, like all season changes, has relevance to those who have experienced difference forms of Ritual Abuse (RA).  Many of the dark church organizations celebrate the seasonal changes and these so-called “celebrations” are full of trauma, abuse, gross activities, icky messes, scary events, etc.   Survivors of these ordeals are often flooded with flashbacks, emotional distress and internal conflict during the times of season changes.

When you put the two of these highly emotional events together, dissociative survivors experience a lot of overwhelm.  Some of the difficulties can include PTSD symptoms (nightmares, flashbacks, depersonalization, body memories, difficulties sleeping, irritability, feeling distant from others, etc.) and anxiety symptoms (panic attacks, excessive fears, heightened startle reflex, nausea, trembling, heart palpitations, headaches, obsessions, chest pain, etc), self-destructive thoughts, self-injury behaviors, suicidal ideation (pervasive thoughts about wanting to die), depression, tearfulness, or detached numbing.  It’s probably been a miserable weekend for a lot of DID survivors.

Fathers that participate in dark church rituals are often not the kind of fathers that you find written about in Hallmark Cards.  These are the kinds of fathers that prefer abusive activities, or that like sadistic pain, or have freaky and perverse sexual interests.  They are difficult men who have caused a lot of hurt and pain for a lot of people, especially for their children.

And yet, even so, there are nearly always those parts within the DID system that feel loyalty and a deep bonding with the father figure.  These parts are typically parts that have adopted some level of acceptance of the traumatic activities, and have long ago learned to tolerate the abuse or to even define it as anything but abuse.
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Father Introjects

DID survivors often manage abuse by their fathers by creating a father introject within the internal dissociative system.  Father introjects are internal system parts that remember the father so well that they look-feel-sound-act-appear to the others inside as the same as the actual father.  An internal introject may do the same kinds of abusive behaviors to the other parts of the system, recreating the same abusive patterns and feelings that the external father did.  Since the internal world is so real to DID survivors, it can feel like the father is still there, still controlling things, still making all the decisions, still threatening harm, still causing harm.

And in many ways this can be true.

It can be difficult to separate who the external father is from the internal father introject.  They can very much feel like mirror-images of each other, shadow replicas, and the child parts of the system will not be able to tell the difference between them.

But father introjects are NOT the actual father, no matter how much they may claim to be so. Father introjects actually belong to you.  They split from you, they came from your mind, and they originated with you.  They are actually part of you, and not part of the father.  They may have been taught by the father, but they are actually yours.

However, they will be powerful parts of the internal system though so their power and influence is not to be ignored or minimized.  It is more important to work with these parts, and reconnect their loyalty to the survivor person instead of to the father figure.   This is an absolutely crucial part of the DID therapy process, and if you haven’t yet gained a safe working relationship with your father introject, you will need to do so.
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Father Transference Issues

In the therapy process, male therapists will have many of the same kinds of transference issues regarding father issuesj as female therapists have with mother issues.  In fact, it is often difficult for some female dissociative survivors to work with male therapists because of the kinds of trauma, abuse, and controls associated with their father.  Male therapists often have to address transference issues of being seen as the abuser, controlling male, dominant owner, sexual pervert, etc.  So many trauma survivors have issues with men — and even more have issues with their fathers — that it makes being a male therapist for female trauma survivors particularly difficult.

Other female trauma survivors are so used to be led by men or connected to men, especially their father, that they feel more at ease with men and less comfortable with “neglectful, abandoning mothers”.   (Female therapists tend to get more of the abandonment transference issues, while male therapists tend to get more of the abuser-male dominance transference issues.)  The relationship between survivors and their parents will very often dictate which gender of therapist is a better fit for them.
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Typical Father Issues

Father issues are not easy to work through.  They often take years of time to sort out, and they are very painful.  Many survivors truly feel bonded to their fathers, even if some of their relationship involved sexual activities.  Sometimes feeling sexually connected to the father felt better than being emotionally abandoned by the mother.  When this is the case, there are numerous emotional complications to process during your healing.

Do you understand the role your father has played in your life?

Do you experience system switching, feelings of fear, or flashbacks when you are in the same room with your father?

What would your father do if you said no to him?

What would your father do if you chose a lifestyle very different from the one he chose for his life?

Are you allowed to live separately from him?  Have you been allowed to move away from his neighborhood?

How much control or influence does your father have over you life in the current day?

Are you safe when you are in the same room as your father?

Does your father still abuse you or any of your younger parts?  Does he still exert a level of sexual dominance over anyone in your system?

Would you be betraying your father if you refused to let him touch you in sexual ways?
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Remember This

If your father is an abuser, you can get distance and separation from him.

You don’t have to stay bonded to abusers.

You don’t have to stay connected to violent relationships.

You don’t have to be abused to be accepted.

You do not have to be sexual to be accepted.

All men are not abusers.

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By:

Kathy Broady LCSW

www.AbuseConsultants.com

www.SurvivorForum.com

Copyright © 2008-2010 Kathy Broady LCSW and Discussing Dissociation

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