various things I didn't emphasize in the essay ...

Thanks ! Yes, you are welcome to use the reproduce the essay. Since it is the balance that you found helpful, here are some additional notes on that aspect ...

I do give somewhat short shrift to the clinical view of Ross, Collins, Herman, and the some of the traumatic memory people who have more or less biological theories of how multiple personalities develop and are more inclined to accept incidence rates toward the higher end of the spectrum.

I think they do have worthwhile things to say about the condition because of their direct experience treating it, but I take some of their theories and statistics with a grain of salt. So in an essay about the nature of the condition, I am slighting them somewhat.

Also, I give no space to the multiple-worlds interpretations which my background and temperament lead me to assume are implausible in principle. For example, popular author Deepak Chopra talks about cases where someone shows an allergic or pseudoallergic reaction in one 'alter' and not another (a very unusual but not unknown phenomenon). He considers that great evidence that the 'alters' have different souls (in a sense) because it seems from his understanding that the same physical body can't have different immune systems, so there are actually two different inhabitants of the body triggering different immune reactions. My experience is very heavy on hypnosis and suggestion research, where I have seen immune responses triggered and suppressed by conditioned response and by suggestion, so while I find it a remarkable phenomenon, I consider it plausibly an aspect of highly involved role enactment by the same person.

kind regards,

Todd

Replies:

Re:various things I didn't emphasize in the essay ..., by Da Friendly Puter Tech, 04/19/03 What we assume about the procedures is important, by Todd, 04/19/03 Re:What we assume about the procedures is important, by smokey, 04/24/03

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