Fair enough, but try convincing her of that. You have to understand; from her point of view, it's not "The world will think I specifically am a freak" that has her worried, it's "I will feel like I'm a freak." It's her self-perception. And having psychologists doing basically everything short of poking her with a stick as if she were some kind of special case, she would certainly feel like a freak.pedrosorio wrote: You have a bit of a skewed view of what scientific publications are, don't you? It's not like they publish her name and pictures along with the study... Scientific journals != Tabloids
The weird thing is, though, that her shifts have rarely, if ever, happened in any public place. Obviously, it's not her who decides when the shifts take place, but her alternate personalities (we call them "alters" for short) that do. They have never actually come out in a public setting, likely because of the attention it would obviously draw. I suppose, from the alters' point of view, drawing attention to themselves would only cause others to become aware of my friend's disorder and try to cure it, therefore wiping them from existence. They have been active in public before (and a few of them are even able to mimic her convincingly enough that others don't notice), but they have never actively taken over in public. I remember my friend telling me she just plain couldn't recall her morning at school that day, and she likened it to being because it wasn't actually her whom was in control that morning. Even her parents didn't notice something might have been wrong with her until she was 17 (and she's had the disorder since before I met her at 14); which really is less a testament to how well her alters can mimic her and more a testament to how horrible her parents were (and they were, trust me, which is really probably the root of such a severe mental disorder to begin with), but I digress.pedrosorio wrote: Also, from what you describe, it seems her personality shifts manifest themselves in a rather dramatic way, that anyone in public can see, so if I had it and wanted privacy, I would definitely want it to be studied by professionals to have any hope for a cure, it's not like she can hide it easily the way she's now.
(Please note that I said her parents only "noticed something was wrong with her." They did not figure out that she has DID specifically, nor have they pursued any sort of cure. It was really just a case of her parents going, "Whoa, something seems off, here," and then shrugging it off. And of course my friend is not about to explain to her parents what's going on, nor ask them for their help.)
Also, with one exception, none of her alters really cause any sort of problems, so I guess my friend doesn't really see the point of why she should need to be cured. In fact, one alter seems to specifically exist as a stress-reliever; when my friend gets too emotional or overwhelmed, this specific alter seems to show up and let the host "rest", effectively taking over until my friend calms down. And another, from what I've gathered in conversation with this one specifically, seems to literally just be an age-regressed version of my friend herself, which was likely manifested as some kind of a safe haven. Only one of her alters actually seems to enjoy being mean and causing pain (emotionally at least), and honestly, she's the only alter I find myself afraid of. The scarier part is, she finds my fear amusing, and thus is actually more likely to take control when I'm around. My solution to this was basically to stop spending so much time with her so that this specific alter would feel less compelled to "come out." But I would still really prefer my friend see someone about this.
(And to those keeping track, yes, this is three different alters so far. Nobody ever said multiple personality disorders were limited to two personalities.)
Honestly, though, I've probably said way more than I myself feel comfortable with (and if it were up to my friend, she would've told me not to even bring up her disorder at all). So anyone who wants further details should probably PM me. I would feel slightly more comfortable doing that than broadcasting it over the whole Internet. (I know my saying that seems ironic considering the length of this post, but I suffer from a severe case of "Doesn't-know-when-to-shut-up-itis.")
