Noetic Nuance

[elodieunderglass]

on the validity of recognizing emotions

[thoseinterrupted]

Prove, as best you can, that DID exists. Use your best evidence and strongest research (personal anecdotes and experiences don't count as evidence)

Physical Differences Between Alters

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8888853http://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/28/science/probing-the-enigma-of-multiple-personality.html?pagewanted=all&src=pmhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2333357http://www.psyn-journal.com/article/S0925-4927(07)00003-0/abstract

Neurological Differences Between Alters

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0039279http://www.mendeley.com/research/functional-magnetic-resonance-imaging-personality-switches-woman-dissociative-identity-disorder/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2225470

Structural Brain Differences in Those with DID

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=96513

Arguments Against the Sociocognitive Model of DID

http://www.copingwithdissociation.com/Dell_2006_ANewModelofDID1.pdfhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735899000732http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/pro/30/4/341/http://www.cme.psychiatryonline.org/data/Journals/AJP/3677/832.pdf

Places in Which DID has been Studied

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010440X99901207 (Turkey)http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=174176 (the Netherlands)http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0213-61632006000300005 (Northern Ireland)http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/2001/04000/Prevalence_of_Dissociative_Disorders_among.7.aspx (Germany)http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/00048679809073868 (Australia)

India (Chiku et al., 1989) (Chaturvedi et al., 2009) (Gupta, 2005), Switzerland (Modestin, 1992), Turkey (Tukun et a.l, 1998), the Netherlands (Draijer et al., 1993) (Van der Hart et al., 2008), China (Xiao et al., 2006), the United Kingdom (Silberman et al., 1985) (Shelley, 2006) (Putnam et al., 1995), New Zealand (Barker-Collo, 2008), Norway (Knudsen et al., 1995), Israel (Somer et al., 2006) (Ginzburg et al., 2010), and Canada (Ross et al., 1991) (Horen et al., 1995). Dissociative symptoms have also been recorded in Sweden (Svedin, 2006), though Dissociative Identity Disorder was mentioned, not specified.

Here’s research that specifically compares rates of DID in Canada and China. http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:19042308 The idea is that since the Chinese public has very little information on DID, they shouldn’t have as many people who fit the criteria and can be diagnosed with the disorder if DID follows the sociocognitive model.

Children with DID

http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1997-07342-006http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856709648218http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/014521349390006Q

Evidence for Tenant of DID: Repressed Memories (Confirmation of Abuse)

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/pro/30/4/341/http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/1994/08000/Confirmation-of-Childhood-Abuse-in-Child-and.7.aspxhttp://blogs.brown.edu/recoveredmemory/http://news.yahoo.com/siblings-discover-dads-scout-abuse-remember-own-153124952.htmlhttp://pages.uoregon.edu/dynamic/jjf/whatabout.html

As well, I’d like to ask that you search for “One Brains, Two Selves.” The PDF can’t be linked to, but the study is very much so a worthwhile read.

If there’s anything in particular that you find objectionable about DID, please, do speak up. Otherwise, I’ll assume that you’ve either come to view DID as valid or harbour a bias against the disorder (which, as we all know, would be terribly unscientific of you; emotions and feelings, after all, don’t count as evidence).

[ouch-that-hurts]

Two visualization exercises for dealing w negative thoughts

the friend method: pretend you are saying the thing to a good friend. would you say the thing to a good friend? then don't say it to yourself.

the child method: pretend you are saying it to a child. maybe yourself as a child. someone said those negative things to you at some point, probably when you were a child - so doing this can help you reach the place where the harm happened and realize no one should have said the thing.

[peacefulwarrioring]

[divintrix]

[sweetleaves-deactivated20180201]

“If you have no other reason to live, live out of spite.”

[iamthereluctantoptimist-deactiv]

“The truth of a thing is the feel of it, not the think of it.”

— Stanley Kubrick (via apiecealisa)

[isitjustmebutamicrazy]

How to spot & help someone dissociating.

To better understand how to respond to someone who has dissociated, it is helpful to know what dissociation looks like and how to assist someone in that state. The following responses are examples of dissociation[1]:

Staring vacantly into the distance,

Spacing out or being uninvolved with the present,

Being unable to focus, concentrate, and respond to instructions, and/or

Being unable to speak.

After being triggered into a dissociative state, an individual may seem confused or vague and ask questions such as:  “Where was I?” “What did I say?” or “What just happened?” Some survivors only discover as adults that they dissociate under stressful circumstances.

To support survivors who have been triggered and ensure that they do not leave when they are feeling disoriented or embarrassed, it is best to:

Orient survivors to the present by reminding them where they are and what was happening when they began to have trouble staying present.

Encourage slow breathing (inhale to the count of four and exhale to the count of six), and if possible, do this sitting up with their feet flat on the floor.

Remind survivors to keep their eyes open and to look around the room.

Encourage survivors to notice physical sensations (e.g., the feeling of their back on the chair and their feet touching the floor, or sensation of air on their face).

As survivors become more oriented and responsive:

Do not touch them.

Offer verbal reassurance in a calm voice.

Avoid asking complicated questions or giving complex instructions. Instead, ask simple questions to try to connect with the person (e.g., “Are you with me?” “Are you following me?” “Can you stay present with me?”)

Allow them the necessary time and space to regain their equilibrium (a quiet room may be helpful).

Normalize the experience. If the survivor has disclosed abuse prior to this incident, let him/her know that some settings may trigger flashbacks or emotional responses, but it is best not to ask for details of past abuse that may have contributed to being triggered. If prior abuse has not been disclosed, frame the normalizing comments in terms of anxiety that many people feel when in stressful situations.

Ask if someone else can help such a friend whom you can call.

The more we can de-mystify the manifestations of abuse and understand the mind and body’s response to trauma, the more we can assist survivors in their recovery.

[inkskinned]

the thing is, somebody cares. i know your best friend seems really busy all the time and is shit at texting but she still loves you and she talks to you more than she talks to anyone else and you’re the only breath of calm she has on this planet. the boy in your science class loves seeing what music you’re listening to on your headphones - he has the same taste and wishes he had the nerve to ask you about it. your english teacher loves the insight you have on your papers. somebody cares. the person who lives down the street from you notices when you are sick because they don’t see you stomping your way to the schoolbus - it’s how they know it’s time to get their breakfast ready. somebody is looking for you at the party, even if they don’t know they’re really looking for you - but when you don’t show up, some part of them is disappointed. somebody is looking for you in the library, in the spot where you eat lunch, in front of that one step you always seem to trip on. i know your parents are a complicated mess and there’s drama between your friends and your love life is sort of shaped like a constant question and everybody seems all caught up in their own lives and their own happiness and nobody really notices: but somebody always does. every face in your dreams is someone you have met, and that means that you are in a million’s stranger’s heads. they see you when they go to bed. and somebody cares. somebody still thinks about you even though you were just a person with a nice outfit or good eyeliner or a great smile or because you were having one of those moments that are so charmingly human in nature or because they regret not asking if you needed help when you fell or because they wonder what you were thinking about or drawing or writing or just because you’re alive, and that makes you fascinating. somebody cares. when you were on break from work and saw a dog hanging his head out of the car and suddenly broke into a smile: there was a girl in the back of that car, and I was her, and I still think about you, and i hope you get more chances to smile like that. and there is you, sitting here reading this, and by some small extension, meeting me, and i am telling you, I care. somebody always does. i promise. i promise. you are loved.

[birds-and-the-enbys-moved]

Fuck I needed this

[imagineagreatadventure]

I just thought this set of tweets was really important.

[scaronhiatus]

So I found this and for the most part- I really like the way it shows just how many things go into how ‘bad’ someone’s PTSD/trauma symptoms might be. That it isn’t always about the type of trauma (Something we hear a lot about in the inbox ‘it was only ___________’)

How being blamed and how social support (or lack of it) can play a big role.

How things like freezing at the time can make it worse. (We also get a lot of ‘but I didn’t fight back, how can I call it trauma…. well, because freezing is a response to trauma- that’s why.)  Or memory loss.

I dislike the ‘Will’ one- I understand what they’re talking about but it could definitely be worded better. ( Some people have a fear of getting better because they don’t know what that’s like, or they’re super suspicious of the idea of getting better. That isn’t quite the same thing as ‘wanting to stay sick’ and too many outsiders try and say that of survivors who aren’t healing on their time line.)

[sepulchritude]

there’s no such thing as a stupid reason not to kill yourself.

your school sells cookies on thursdays? your favorite band is coming out with a new album? you’re still saving up for that tattoo? there’s still five sodas in your fridge and it’d be a shame to let them go to waste? you want to see the season finale of that show you love? keep living.

your reasons don’t have to be big, if they mean anything to you then they’re good reasons.

[led-sbian]

Yes! Just make something to look forward to

[collectivized-apiary-deactivate]

Okay but this is honestly true.

One of the closest times I came to committing suicide was when I was home alone for the weekend a few years ago. The reason I didn’t?

No one else was there to feed the cat until Monday. 

That’s it. That’s all that saved me. 

[the44thpilot]

See, this is such good advice, because it can put you in the frame of mind that you need to be in to combat depression. Even things that seem little, like, “My plant will die if I don’t water it,” or “I’m the only one that takes out the trash, anyways” are examples of how you’re needed and valuable, even appreciated.

There are people out there that need you and love you. Stay alive friend, because it is so worth it.

[indigoelevendesign]

You are enough! 

It was about time I did some lettering with my coloured pencils.

Request 3/11 of New Requests April 2015

Requested by jackieprice711

17.4.2015

[pleatedjeans]

via

[noeticnuance]

This is what empathy looks like. So much love for this little one! <3

[lora-mathis]

you ask what I have done with my life. why I am 22 with so many unfinished selves. so many futures I could not commit to. but you don’t know how much of my time has been spent keeping myself alive.

I Think I’m Doing Great, Lora Mathis (via weltenwellen)

[theinternetactivist-deactivated]

no one is ever too busy for you. that’s a lie. you make time for what you want

[inkskinned]

my dearest: this is just categorically untrue and very negative in a relationship of any kind. you, as a person, should have your own life outside of your partner/friend group. when you have class, when you have work, when you have to take time for yourself: do you love them less? of course not. this is absurd. we are people stuck in a world where we don’t always control our own time. we have to make money and call our parents and clean the house and go to practice. we have lives. if your partner ever tells you to drop everything and come to them (outside of an emergency/important situation): they are being the unfair one. yes. we make time for what we want. but we don’t want only one thing - and we shouldn’t. if your partner says that they are the only priority in your life, they are not acknowledging you as a person. if they take from you your right to sleep, to personal time, to being a human and having a moment to breathe: they are not treating you how you should be treated.

so what does this mean? it means if your best friend didn’t text you back instantly, you’re still best friends. it means that your partner is just running for groceries and will call you back as soon as they see the voicemail. it means you don’t have to be anxious that your friend can never make it to dinner with you - she loves you, her schedule is just wild (i know because i’m that friend and i feel guilty every time and honestly wish i could make it). 

please stop spreading this, it makes me sad because it enables really toxic behavior in relationships (”i am the only thing you should care about”) and it also probably is very triggering for people with any degree of mental illness because most of us already think we are a burden. 

my love: please don’t worry. even when we want to, sometimes we can’t find the time for things - i have seen people give up their very passions (particularly art) because they can’t fit it in… it’s not a choice many make willingly. but we think of you and we miss you and we wish we could be there for you. sometimes work or school or ourselves has to come first. we will get there when we can, i promise. 

[iwaslostsoi]

[conceptualsolitude]

concept: it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, i’m enough, i’m enough, i’m enough