hausboy
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Joined: 9/5/2010
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I contemplated whether or not to respond to this thread but I found it very moving....so I'm typing away.
First- my heart just aches for that little boy and those who love and care about him. The damage is not only to him, but those who love him and can't help him any further. Sexual abuse doesn't damage just one life--it damages the lives of those around them as well.
Sadly, it is not an unusual event today--one of the "effects" of meth is a hyper-sexuality, and many meth houses are strewn with porn & such. (I've encountered more than one--and hope to never see one again.) Professionals (healthcare workers, medics, police etc.) are trained that if we encounter meth houses that have children living in them, to exercise especially careful and sensitive "handling" of these children because quite often, children found living in meth homes are sexually (and usually also physically) abused at a higher rate.
The postings here on MPD and dissociative disorder really strike a chord too. I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse--the first time I experienced flashbacks of it was in my early 20's. What I experienced for the months to follow, was described by my therapist as a form of dissociative behavior. I was petrified that I was schizophrenic and/or had MPD....and the only thing that really saved me was talking to other survivors who could at least help validate what I was going through. During this time, I met a number of people who were living with a range of emotional disorders including those discussed on this thread. It was eye-opening to me. I hope I never go through it again, and it did change my viewpoint on MPD.
My ex-wife has a schizophrenic father (and likely, a schizophrenic brother too based on his behavior) and as a result, I tried to learn as much as I could about the disease. A few years ago (I think it was 2005 or 6?) an acquaintance of mine, who I knew from my Gay AA meetings, started acting weirder and weirder. He was schizophrenic--an intelligent, gentle, articulate and soft-spoken man -- and his erratic behavior was starting to frighten us. We thought he had either started using illegal drugs again....or was off his meds.
He became belligerent towards members of the AA group, and he was told that while we loved him and cared about him, he could not come to the group on nights when he was feeling violent. The moderator made him promise. He did. And breaking an AA rule, the moderator called his mother (whom he lived with) --she told her that she had already put in an emergency order with the police to get him help, and force him to take his medications.
The next Thursday, he didn't show up at the AA meeting. To our horror, we turned on the news that night. As soon as they described the suspect, we all knew who it was. Before we could grab the phone to dial the police to give them his address, his face and name were all over the news. Instead of coming to the AA meeting, he went on a shooting spree, killing five people--two of them, the police officers who were coming to take him to the hospital.
The weeks to follow were a roller coaster of emotions. I mourned the lost lives....but I also mourned for our friend and his mother, who was beyond consoling at what had happened--she felt responsible for it all. The media portrayed him as a monster--there were so many false accusations made about him it was equally as sickening. When I went to work, I had to listen to my colleagues talk about how much they wanted "this monster" to rot in hell. I finally spoke up--that "monster" was already in hell, and if they forced him to take his meds, he will be absolutely horrified when he is told what he did--he will live in that hell forever. It caused a terrible rift at work--how dare I sympathize with what they called a non-human. But he is not a monster. He is a very sick man who had no control over his disease, and it ultimately ended with tragic results. He is spending the rest of his life locked up--he was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial.
I forget if it was dateline or 48 hours...one of those shows made it into a headline story. The cameras came from everywhere, all wanting to hear about what an evil, vile person he is. My friends and I refused to be interviewed--we saw first-hand how any time the media interviewed someone who provided a view of him that wasn't "satan", they edited the interview and took things out of context. We tried to explain what he was really like, but the TV shows cared only about ratings, not enlightening the public about what schizophrenia is. (or isn't!)
Through my job, I arranged for a crisis team to come to the AA meeting, and they gave us a brief in-service on schizophrenia, what's it like, and why patients stop taking their meds....followed by a debriefing and resources to get additional support. The event changed forever how I viewed schizophrenia, and changed my views on the death penalty, among other things. I never thought I would ever have compassion for a convicted murderer...esp. one who killed cops...and yet, there I sat with my friends, feeling the conflicted emotions.
Thank you for sharing that old thread from Arpig. It brought back a lot of these emotions. Mental illness is so misunderstood and it just seems like most of our society has so little patience or compassion for illness that is not obvious or physical. I have a profound respect for those who fight the daily battles with this terrible disease, and tremendous respect for those like Arpig, who have the courage to share their experiences with others.
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RE: Multiple Personality Disorder - 
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