Re:idea

Just my own personal experience.

I've seen two well known, skilled therapists for DID. The only diagnostic question I was ever asked was whether the voices were inside or outside my head. I've read Putnam, Ross and countless others. If questions were imbedded, I'd've of known.

Lots of people don't screen for DD, is what I suspect. In fact, sometimes I think people who DO believe in it are less likely to methodically screen. That's fine... I mean, no harm came to me because it took my therapist seven months to re"discover" I was DID. It certainly broke up the monotony of the session when the "aha" hit her. :)

The point, as this pertains to EMDR, is that if a group of therapists identify themselves as doing "ego state work" or working with DID, and they label some clients AS "DID"... it is helpful to know how they define and confirm and utilize those concepts. Esp if, as a client, one is interviewing therapists, or as a clincian, one is learning treatment methods, it'd be nice if everyone followed standard diagnostic procedures. Otherwise how do we know when someone says "I treat DID with 'x'." that that information is transferable? Of course, good methodology lends itself to research, too, and I know Shapiro rec'ds THAT.

When I asked my therapist if she had experience with DID, I didn't think to ask her how she diagnosed DID. I didn't ask her if she administered the SCID, etc. In other words, when she told me she worked with DID and cured DID, I took her at face value. Perhaps I should have "defined terms" better.

Someone said to me a few weeks ago "How silly, Sandra and Schmidt are scheduled to speak in the same time slot in Denver. They're both talking about ways to treat dissociation!" Are you both talking about that? I don't know. Define your terms, your methods of diagnosis, your treatment modalities...

To go back to the original question... if you are interviewing therapists, make them define THEIR terms. It's not enough that someone says they do ego state work or they treat DID. Pin them down.

Your money, your mind, your responsibility... worth being assertive and taking the time.

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