Entry tags:
A Crash Course on Multi History, via Books on MPD/DID
I've had a couple requests on this, so here it is, a recommended list of DID books (or DID-ish books) that I wish all multiples would read, even if they're on the opposite end of the multi spectrum.
Why? Because a lot of multiples on the Internet only use Internet sources... and overwhelmingly, they use sources from just the past five to ten years (if you can get a proper source date on them at all). What your teacher used to tell you is true: those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it. Online plurals are constantly reinventing the wheel, and nogoodniks will take advantage of people's ignorance to claim patent falsehood.
A lot of people don't read these books because a lot of them are terrible. I won't pretend otherwise. They are boring, depressing, infuriating, or factually incorrect. But I'm not recommending these books for pleasure or even teaching what they intend, most of the time. You're not here to see yourself reflected in literature; you're here to learn your history and where all these trends and counter-trends online came from in the first place. It will make some effective bullshit-repellent. (And if you want the works that I have found more helpful personally, skip down to Part Three.)
Optional books are listed as BONUS ROUNDs. You don't have to read them, but if you're feeling up to it, go for it! I've also put them in a general recommended reading order, and tried to stick with books that are easy to find. (And if they aren't, I offer my own copies.)
PART ONE: THE "CLASSICS"
There were multi cases in the 1700s and 1800s, but sadly I don't know a lot about them, and they're hard to find. So we're skipping ahead to the 70s, with the books that helped form the core of multi tropes in pop culture (and sadly, also among therapists), for a good while, leading to the backlash. Florid descriptions of abuse abound!
( First, the Classics. )
PART TWO: THE BACKLASH (and the backlash against the backlash)
This section, I promise, will cure you of any fears that non-DID multiples had anything to do with people disbelieving in multiplicity; the backlash was overwhelmingly about abuse and repressed memory. As rates of diagnosed multiples suddenly skyrocketed, the mental health folks were in a bind. Had they truly missed a ton of horrifically abused multiples all these years? Were they overdiagnosing us? Also, we tended to have incredibly creepy, enmeshed relationships with our therapists, who were reparenting us, using drugs to help our recall, and selling books they wrote about us. We had become a status symbol. Backlash was inevitable.
( Read more... )
PART THREE: MULTIPLES SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
Okay, I feel parts 1 and 2 pretty much cover the multi history stuff most folks on the Internet don't bother with. Those are the bits I cared most about. But continuing onward, plurals were moving online and speaking for themselves by the mid-90s (with Usenet groups like alt.support.dissociation). So here are some other things, overlapping with and progressing from the backlash period, which I myself hope to read and learn from (but in many cases haven't gotten to yet; I'll note those with the word 'UNREAD').
( Read more... )
Why? Because a lot of multiples on the Internet only use Internet sources... and overwhelmingly, they use sources from just the past five to ten years (if you can get a proper source date on them at all). What your teacher used to tell you is true: those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it. Online plurals are constantly reinventing the wheel, and nogoodniks will take advantage of people's ignorance to claim patent falsehood.
A lot of people don't read these books because a lot of them are terrible. I won't pretend otherwise. They are boring, depressing, infuriating, or factually incorrect. But I'm not recommending these books for pleasure or even teaching what they intend, most of the time. You're not here to see yourself reflected in literature; you're here to learn your history and where all these trends and counter-trends online came from in the first place. It will make some effective bullshit-repellent. (And if you want the works that I have found more helpful personally, skip down to Part Three.)
Optional books are listed as BONUS ROUNDs. You don't have to read them, but if you're feeling up to it, go for it! I've also put them in a general recommended reading order, and tried to stick with books that are easy to find. (And if they aren't, I offer my own copies.)
PART ONE: THE "CLASSICS"
There were multi cases in the 1700s and 1800s, but sadly I don't know a lot about them, and they're hard to find. So we're skipping ahead to the 70s, with the books that helped form the core of multi tropes in pop culture (and sadly, also among therapists), for a good while, leading to the backlash. Florid descriptions of abuse abound!
( First, the Classics. )
PART TWO: THE BACKLASH (and the backlash against the backlash)
This section, I promise, will cure you of any fears that non-DID multiples had anything to do with people disbelieving in multiplicity; the backlash was overwhelmingly about abuse and repressed memory. As rates of diagnosed multiples suddenly skyrocketed, the mental health folks were in a bind. Had they truly missed a ton of horrifically abused multiples all these years? Were they overdiagnosing us? Also, we tended to have incredibly creepy, enmeshed relationships with our therapists, who were reparenting us, using drugs to help our recall, and selling books they wrote about us. We had become a status symbol. Backlash was inevitable.
( Read more... )
PART THREE: MULTIPLES SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
Okay, I feel parts 1 and 2 pretty much cover the multi history stuff most folks on the Internet don't bother with. Those are the bits I cared most about. But continuing onward, plurals were moving online and speaking for themselves by the mid-90s (with Usenet groups like alt.support.dissociation). So here are some other things, overlapping with and progressing from the backlash period, which I myself hope to read and learn from (but in many cases haven't gotten to yet; I'll note those with the word 'UNREAD').
( Read more... )