Multiple Personality Disorder, Is There Really Such A Thing?

Lee

Lee

Senior Member
Location
Chatham, Ontario
A few weeks ago I got an email that made me feel like giving up on forums as the email was totally undeserved, unexpected and was followed by 2 others which I am not sure if they were sent from the same person.

When you get an email that says you must do reparation for the past and includes the line "Justice is mine sayeth the Lord" This was followed by hundreds, no exaggeration, Hundreds of posts from a forum that existed 19 years ago. Greatly redacted, parts missing, it was crazy.

I have to admit it scared me as this person knows where I live, and it starts going through your mind all these shootings from people with an imaginary grudge.

In the past it has been an occasional on and off again email friendship? And there were times that I wondered about her character but passed it off as quirky behavior. menopause, or recently, senility.

Two other emails, in addition to name calling, suggested she was going to publish all this nonsense to the web.

I have kept all this and if it continues will go to the police. Would the police even take this seriously?

Your thoughts, do you believe in Multiple Personality Disorder?
 

Lee said:
A few weeks ago I got an email that made me feel like giving up on forums as the email was totally undeserved, unexpected and was followed by 2 others which I am not sure if they were sent from the same person.

When you get an email that says you must do reparation for the past and includes the line "Justice is mine sayeth the Lord" This was followed by hundreds, no exaggeration, Hundreds of posts from a forum that existed 19 years ago. Greatly redacted, parts missing, it was crazy.

I have to admit it scared me as this person knows where I live, and it starts going through your mind all these shootings from people with an imaginary grudge.

In the past it has been an occasional on and off again email friendship? And there were times that I wondered about her character but passed it off as quirky behavior. menopause, or recently, senility.

Two other emails, in addition to name calling, suggested she was going to publish all this nonsense to the web.

I have kept all this and if it continues will go to the police. Would the police even take this seriously?

Your thoughts, do you believe in Multiple Personality Disorder?
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I could have written what you did. Almost exactly as you described. I too saved the very lewd, scandalous, libelous stuff...and if he ever rears his ugly head again, I will go to the police and he will be charged with harassment...and a restraining order WILL be issued. If he ever shows up at our door , I have a 22 rifle ( I wouldn't load it ) and point it right at his head...I hope he's not armed. I really doubt that will happen but we were frightened by him and it ruined many a fine day.
Ours happened about 10 years ago. Nothing has happened since...so we have let it go on down the river...but are still prepared. If it were to be happening today, it would REALLY be a nightmare with all the crazies, doing really crazy and dangerous things. There is truly Multiple Personality Disorder, and there is Schizophrenia, Psychopaths, Sociopaths, and your normal next door neighbor. 😨
 
Is this addressed to Sam, Charlene or Jack and the Bean Stalk? The question is what personality do you show today?
 
Actually the official diagnosis these days is Dissociative Disorder and like so many other mental health issues it is not an all or nothing thing: People can dissociate in degrees, its a 'spectrum'.

The behavior (dissociating, compartmentalizing memories and the associated feelings) most often occurs as a result of severe, prolonged childhood trauma tho a severe enough one time assault can result in it to some degree. When people reach adulthood, however, it can cause problems in their relationships and work lives, tho some people with the disorder can be high functioning. i have in my life known both people with full memory blocks between personalities, and people whose issues focus on one or two very specific things.

One person i'm very close to was sexually abused in Children's Home between ages of 5 and 7, the perpetrator burned her long johns in the furnace in the basement, where the assault took place, because they were blood stained. He said if she told anyone about what had happened to her and her long johns he would throw the kittens he had used to lure her down there into the furnace as well. When she refused to explain to the staff upstairs what had happened to her underclothes she received a spanking for 'losing' them.

What she consciously remembers is that she was blamed for something not her fault, even tho she will talk about the perpetrator 'fault' in the matter she can not bring herself to talk about how the blood got on the Long Johns. She's quite intelligent, but it's like that's a door in her memory she has sealed up, because even anyone who has seen any of the fictionalized accounts could figure out from what she does say, what happened to her.

It happened to at least one of her sisters as well, and while she doesn't know details she will actually say that sister was sexually abused, but won't acknowledge she herself was--and i've known her for decades. The lingering effects are that she 1) she often seeks to blame others for anything that 'goes wrong' before anyone can blame her, often for things that no one would assign blame for anyway. She can do this quite angrily but minutes later is oblivious to how she railed at someone, 2) She also has a tendency to lose it over small inconveniences when there is a 'service person' (receptionist, cashier, stocker, mechanic) that makes an easy target for venting her pent up frustrations, and once again forgets she does it--is clueless why such workers try to avoid her when she walks in an office or store.
 
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Feywon, you seem well informed on this subject. What I do not understand is that you say the person can be oblivious as to the behavior. How then can the person in my post hang on to something from almost 20 years ago, change, omit and send it on without knowing they are doing it. She had to know she did it as she sent further emails after owning up to it.
 
Lee said:
A few weeks ago I got an email that made me feel like giving up on forums as the email was totally undeserved, unexpected and was followed by 2 others which I am not sure if they were sent from the same person.

When you get an email that says you must do reparation for the past and includes the line "Justice is mine sayeth the Lord" This was followed by hundreds, no exaggeration, Hundreds of posts from a forum that existed 19 years ago. Greatly redacted, parts missing, it was crazy.

I have to admit it scared me as this person knows where I live, and it starts going through your mind all these shootings from people with an imaginary grudge.

In the past it has been an occasional on and off again email friendship? And there were times that I wondered about her character but passed it off as quirky behavior. menopause, or recently, senility.

Two other emails, in addition to name calling, suggested she was going to publish all this nonsense to the web.

I have kept all this and if it continues will go to the police. Would the police even take this seriously?

Your thoughts, do you believe in Multiple Personality Disorder?
Click to expand...
Personally i would insist the police take a formal report, stating you want it on record just in rare case this person follows thru with ANY of their threats. i would also let the person know that you are saving, (hopefully printing out) their threatening emails and making a report.

While not sure this person is has 'multiple personalities' (we all let different aspects of ourselves take the lead in different situations, but we have a fairly good ongoing narrative of lives and are aware of behaving differently with some people than with others), odds are good they have some sort of mental health issue. That, HOWEVER, in no way excuses their behavior or should absolve them of consequences for even harassing you, much less threatening or following thru on the threats.

i would also make sure that any of my family who could conceivably cross paths with her be alerted that she is not to be trusted, they should not engage with her, plead an appointment and put distance between themselves and her.
 
Lee said:
Feywon, you seem well informed on this subject. What I do not understand is that you say the person can be oblivious as to the behavior. How then can the person in my post hang on to something from almost 20 years ago, change, omit and send it on without knowing they are doing it. She had to know she did it as she sent further emails after owning up to it.
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i just responded more directly to your OP. Don't think this person bothering you is a multiple, but do think they have some mental health issues. Most with Mental Health issues are not physically violent, some are verbally abusive of others and every so often you get one that is physically assaultive. But it is better not to take chances and to remember that as i said in my direct response to your OP, mental health issues do not excuse unacceptable behavior. Sometimes explains it, but doesn't excuse it.
 
@Lee To answer your question a true multiple, fully dissociative person is in a different state of mind when doing some things than when they are being 'normal'. When not in the angry, threatening Personality a person could be unaware of what they did in another, but what they did could have been very detailed and methodical.

i have seen someone 'switch' personalities and be clearly genuinely perplexed and stressed out about the situation they find themselves in.
 
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Alligatorob said:
I want to, certainly makes for great stories!
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i really had to laugh, i've got some doozies. LOL! i have known 3 people in very personal ways and one neighbor who was Dissociative. (All of them manifested highly individually, with varying degrees of separation between the 'personalities'.) Thankfully i'm down to just having one of them still alive and in my life--again thankfully at a distance so i can be careful in how i deal with her.
 
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Aunt Bea said:
I’m not sure about multiple personalities but some folks are able to hide their true colors.

I wouldn’t rise to the bait but I would save the emails and report them to the authorities without warning if the problem continues or escalates.
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Personally i would have already reported to police, for one thing Lee may not be their only target and if multiple people have report more likely they will be taken seriously, and also 'just in case' this person DOES anything physical there's a paper trail of mental state.
Keep in mind the legal definition of 'insanity' (which won't get you off the hook, just remanded to psychiatric care) is whether the person knows what they did was morally and/or legally 'wrong', NOT whether they have some rationalization for it.
 
Lee said:
When you get an email that says you must do reparation for the past and includes the line "Justice is mine sayeth the Lord" This was followed by hundreds, no exaggeration, Hundreds of posts from a forum that existed 19 years ago. Greatly redacted, parts missing, it was crazy.
Click to expand...
Wow that is scary.
I do believe that multiple personalities happen. When I did foster care there was one girl with at least 4 personalities -- there was a normal one, and a very mature competent sensible one, and a scary one, and a much younger timid little preschooler personality.
It was so frustrating once when starting at a new school and several teachers didn't think she needed her IEP that allowed her to have a note card while taking tests. I couldn't violate the child's privacy by telling them that the kid that showed up on test day might not be the same one that had learned the material.
It was also bewildering for me before I found out, competent-kid would assure me her friend's mom had agreed to bring her home after a sleepover, then normal-kid would call me at work and wonder why I hadn't picked her up yet. One of her could do her homework just fine, then another would basically require me teaching her the whole thing in order for her to do her homework. A funny time after I'd found out about them was when scary-kid was blocking the doorway preventing me from leaving a room and arguing with me and said she hated me and so I asked if I could speak to someone who liked me and she replied 'We ALL hate you!'. Parenting books just don't prepare a mom for that! ha ha
 
There's a documentary coming to Netflix in a few weeks about Billy Milligan who used multiple-personality disorder as a defense back in the '70s for a series of rapes, kidnappings, and robberies. He claimed to have 24 personalities living inside him, and said he was under the influence of two personalities, a Yugoslavian named Ragen and a 19-year-old lesbian named Adalana, when he committed the crimes.

He was acquitted of the crimes and instead of going to prison, spent 10 years in mental institutions.

 
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Dissociative identity disorder, formally known as MPD is one of the hardest diagnoses to prove.
There are so many other things it could be.

I am not sure who this person is to you, but she sounds like she is after attention.
She also sounds very malicious, if I was in your position, I would totally ignore her, do not respond to her baiting.
The fact that she has stated that she will post this online is enough to prove extortion to the police and let them handle it.
 
HoneyNut said:
Wow that is scary.
I do believe that multiple personalities happen. When I did foster care there was one girl with at least 4 personalities -- there was a normal one, and a very mature competent sensible one, and a scary one, and a much younger timid little preschooler personality.
It was so frustrating once when starting at a new school and several teachers didn't think she needed her IEP that allowed her to have a note card while taking tests. I couldn't violate the child's privacy by telling them that the kid that showed up on test day might not be the same one that had learned the material.
It was also bewildering for me before I found out, competent-kid would assure me her friend's mom had agreed to bring her home after a sleepover, then normal-kid would call me at work and wonder why I hadn't picked her up yet. One of her could do her homework just fine, then another would basically require me teaching her the whole thing in order for her to do her homework. A funny time after I'd found out about them was when scary-kid was blocking the doorway preventing me from leaving a room and arguing with me and said she hated me and so I asked if I could speak to someone who liked me and she replied 'We ALL hate you!'. Parenting books just don't prepare a mom for that! ha ha
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Few things can prepare one for the bizarre reality of it.

And, yeah, that sounds like a fairly typical case. Usually there is one personality, rarely the original/host one, who is aware of all the others and Can exert some control, tho others sometimes have some awareness of some others but not necessarily of all. And they usually perceive each other as distinct individuals despite sharing a body.
 
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I knew someone who may have had at least one other personality. I'd known him as a teenager and while we all considered him a little 'different', he wasn't showing any signs of multiple personalities, or even serious mental issues. We lost touch but I encountered him again many years later when we were both in our forties. By then his mental issues were obvious, and he had become a bit of a hermit, but I saw him often enough to discover sometimes I was talking to a person who was deaf-mute and sometimes I wasn't.
 
I am not a shrink but I know my ex wife had multiple personalities. I had to deal with all of them. :oops:
I will add never point an unloaded or loaded firearm for that matter at anyone as a scare tactic. If you brandish it you must be prepared to use it. If in doubt don't whip it out. A split second of indecision can get you killed. That is why carrying or having a firearm for self defense must be a well thought out decision. Just my opinion. Use these words at your own risk.
 
oldpanightowl said:
I am not a shrink but I know my ex wife had multiple personalities. I had to deal with all of them. :oops:
I will add never point an unloaded or loaded firearm for that matter at anyone as a scare tactic. If you brandish it you must be prepared to use it. If in doubt don't whip it out. A split second of indecision can get you killed. That is why carrying or having a firearm for self defense must be a well thought out decision. Just my opinion. Use these words at your own risk.
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Regarding you first sentence, i know how difficult that can be. My 3rd hubby was somewhat dissociative. When he wouldn't be honest with his shrink (who asked for a joint session at one point that clued me in) about his issues/symptoms, i was done. You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

i have to ask if the 2nd paragraph is in anyway related to the 1st? i totally agree with every word because i grew up with both parents hunting and training from Dad: "Treat every gun as if it is loaded. Don't point it at someone unless you intend and have the will to use it." i just wonder because my #3 hubby once stood in our walk in closet pointing a gun at his head first then at me as i approached and talked him into lowering it and took it away from him. Told him he was lucky the kids were at school (tho due home shortly) or i would have shouted for one of them to call 911 and he'd be on his way to psych ward for evaluation and observation. (1992 or so, pre pervasive cell phones). So i couldn't monitor him and make the call. My gut said i had focus my attention on him to resolve the issue before the kids got home.
 

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