Disorder Quote by Alice Jamieson
““The word is dissociate. There is no 'a' before the 'ss'. People invariably say dis-a-ssociate, which, if you're suffering Disso-ciative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder, can be irritating. People then want to know how many personalities I have and the answer is: I don't know. The first book about Multiple Personality Disorder to make an impact was Flora Rheta Schreiber's Sybil, published in 1973, which carries the subtitle: The True and Extraordinary Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Separate Personalities. Corbett H. Thigpen and Hervey M. Cleckley published the controversial The Three Faces of Eve much earlier in 1957, and Pete Townshend from The Who wrote the song 'Four Faces'. People seem to feel safe with numbers. The truth is more complicated. The kids emerged over time. Billy, the boisterous five-year-old, was at first the most dominant. But he slowly stood aside for JJ, the self-confident ten-year-old who appears when Alice is under stress and handles complicated situations like travelling on the Underground and meeting new people. The first entity to visit was the external voice of the Professor. But he had a choir of accomplices without names. So, how many actual alter personalities are there? I would say more than fifteen and less than thirty, a combination of protectors, persecutors and friends - my own family tree.””
About This Quote
The speaker critiques the common mispronunciation of 'dissociate' and uses personal experience with Dissociative Identity Disorder to illustrate the complexity of identity beyond simple numeric labels, highlighting how multiple alters develop and interact over time.
In simple terms: Mispronunciation reveals deeper misunderstandings of identity.
Identity is fluid and multifaceted.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- Therapeutic discussions
- Public education
- Media representation
- Self-reflection
- Support groups
Key Concepts
Practical Applications
- Clinical assessment of DID
- Educational content on mental health
Questions to Reflect On
- How does language shape our perception of mental health?
- What are the implications of reducing complex identities to numbers?
Some argue that labeling alters simplifies diagnosis, but this can erase individual experiences and reduce nuanced understanding.