I try to explain to people about MPD often, because I feel it’s so misunderstood as a mental illness. I find it’s really more of a coping mechanism.
As an example, Schizophrenia is completely different, having characteristics that some compare to “split personality” (which is faulty) that includes hallucinations and delusions. Bipolar disorder is from a chemical imbalance and other factors and can be treated with a careful balance of medications. How do you treat Dissociation?
MPD is a survival skill in which the mind fragments, usually at a very young age, and it creates a way to escape horrible pain or despair.
My treatments were a mixture of things. I took medication during the really hard times, but mostly for side issues like panic attacks and blackouts (PTSD). The hospital visits kept me safe but in no way did they help me progress with treatment, they simply helped me stay well enough to enter the real world again and therapy.
Most of my visits set me back a bit, but not all of them. Truly the people I met while in the hospital helped me deal with my struggles more than any medication could have done.
Therapy got me talking about the deeper things and as I progressed through that, new things came out. I think this is typical though. That’s where you have to really pace yourself or have a therapist that can do that for you. Processing the memories is a huge step and once you learn your timing it will help you tons.
DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) helped me learn the basics and social skills that, during my inner turmoil as a child, I was unable to grasp and learn like my friends of the same age. All of these things combined helped me to find peace.
I try to recommend different treatment options to others that ask me because we’re all very different people and we have very different needs. That is the biggest issue with people seeking help…they feel so helpless to everything around them and this puts them in a position where they tend to not choose the BEST things for help but instead the FASTER ways for help.
The best advice I have is to take your time and work on refocusing yourself on healing, not being “fixed”. That is one mistake I made for a long time (and the people around me) that later in my treatment was a learned thing.
You are battered and bruised and need care but you might walk out with scars from the past. It doesn’t make you less beautiful or less of a person, it just reflects where you’ve been and you can work from that foundation, you really can. I have had to continually refocus on self-love during this time of trial and struggle. It has done more for me, and I no longer feel selfish for it.
There is a way to care about YOU and still share that care with those around you.