Read on TwitterI& #39;m not the one good with words so bare with me.
A thread.
We& #39;ve decided terms like & #39;faking& #39; and & #39;lying& #39; are inaccurate to what is being discussed. But we do think it is possible for people to misinterpret what they& #39;re experiencing, and that is a valid experience and something personal to our host, please hear us out. 2/
Note that weâre primarily concerned with disordered DID/OSDD systems with all of this, youâll see why. As a child and young teen, the host was *completely convinced* she had schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder. Sheâd done the research, looked at herself and figured this must 3/
have been what was happening. DEEP down she *knew* that there were boxes she wasnât ticking off, ways in which it didnât quite fit, but because of the symptoms that she figured *had* to be correlated to these two conditions, she tried to make it fit anyway. 4/
Hearing voices, visual distortions and âlosing touchâ with reality (going back into headspace and becoming aware of her surroundings); That *had* to be psychosis. Mood swings so sudden, severe and random that it was like she became a different person? That *had* to be bipolar 5/
disorder. She did tell people at this time that she believed she had these conditions, because they were all that made sense. No, she wasnât *lying* or *faking*, but she *was* misinterpreting. We were on antipsychotics at 14 and they did no good at all. Why? Because she was 6/
wrong about having schizophrenia (and bipolar). The symptoms she was experiencing were actually DID; so, her *experiences* were real and valid, but she got the wrong *label*. Because of that, she got the wrong treatment, and that ended up being detrimental to our health. 7/
But yâknow what? ITâS OKAY that she was wrong. She was doing the absolute best with the info she had. She wasnât a liar or dumb or evil or anything else. She was just wrong, and thatâs fine, because recognizing that allowed us to reach the point of being able to get the 8/
*right* label and therefore the *right* treatment. The issue isnât whether or not the experiences are real or valid. They are. The issue is whether or not the *labelling* of the experiences is accurate, *for medical reasons*. If someone is experiencing psychosis and believing 9/
it is actually DID, that can be dangerous. I am not interested in this for the sake of gatekeeping or community. I am concerned about people going through the same things we did. I have no idea who that may be, and Iâm not interested in knowing, nor saying âThese people are 10/
misinterpreting, and these arenât.â Itâs a conversation that can ONLY be had ABOUT yourself TO yourself, in a tone that is patient, understanding, kind and objective, and your findings arenât anyone elseâs business. But this as a phenomenon that occurs is important to discuss 11/
because it DOES happen, it happened to us, and these experiences are ALSO valid and important. The possibility that someone may be misinterpreting what their experiences mean â NOT misinterpreting WHAT they experience, but the CAUSE of it â doesnât mean that anyone who 12/
experiences any form of denial or non-traditional symptoms is in fact misinterpreting. The first step is validating your experiences; what happens to you happens to you â but the confusion comes around what it means and where it comes from. And if you do personally reflect in 13/
your own mind and come to find that what youâre experiencing may be something else, know that thatâs OKAY. Youâre not a liar, because you believed what you said. You dont NEED to be a system to be valid, do not put it on a pedestal as the only valid explanation of experiences 14/
Maybe itâs absolutely right for you; good, Iâm glad! But sometimes itâs not, and that is VALID and SO important to talk about too. Don& #39;t shut out our experiences and the experiences of those who will end up stuck if they realise they were wrong. 15/15
