Why do we know so little about Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Why do we know so little about Dissociative Identity Disorder?  What are we doing in the medical field to help survivors of horrid abuses from early childhood trauma through our adult lives?  What are the answers?  I watch TV programs, read books, and seem to get more information from fiction than real life.  Do we not believe?

[raccoonlady]

I din't belive until I was diagnosed with it and still I didn't want to belive.

[whodunnit]

Hi,

I share your frustration although my current diagnosis is bp2.

Frankly any experienced psychiatrost will tell you they actually know very little about our brains as yet. What they have is very useful but it is a fraction of what they, and we, need to know.

Most of what is done on psychology and psychiatry is simply experimental with any methods giving good results being copied time and again. Otherwise they have nothing to go on you see.

The problem with this approach of course is if they say 100 of us have depression therefore we can all be treated in the way several with depression have succesfully been treated then we are all supposed to respond exactly the same as those documented cases.

As we all know here, this is nothing like the truth as some will respond to med A, some to med B, some to therapy and some to nothing that is tried. But they habg on to those sterotyped treatment paths as they achieve some success. No help at all to so many of us as I am firmly of the view every case of depression and related illnesses is unique and comprised of way more components than the docs will be able to pick up on.

So I share your frustration but have to tolerate the human beings slowness in advancing in this field. The stigma etc certainly has much to do with the amount of resources not put into this area in preference to, say, cancer. Soomeone prioritises and it's usually political decisions based on whose relatives have what illness as far as I can see.

Mental illness? Near the bottom of the list. They don't get it so we get little help comparitively.

In a perfect world....