the Oprah show on the Mom with 20 Personalities
I'm sure lots of you out there saw the episode of Oprah on Wednesday 10/6 with "One Mom, 20 Personalities"--
let me start off by saying, I am NOT an Oprah fan. I don't think she is some guru or deserves some award for all her great service to mankind just because she stands up and talks in front of an audience. She's nice and all, and done some nice things, but, she's just a person like the rest of us, and I'm not into celebrity worship.
But I am glad she finally did another show on DID, and I do feel like she did a decent job. Back in the early 90's when she interviewed Truddi Chase, author of When Rabbit Howls, we were back in college-and were intrigued that there was someone like us on tv. We already had an idea that "that" (multiple personalities) was what was going on with us, and when we saw Truddi on tv, we just somehow knew. Of course, having at least 6 of us watching at one time... that should have been a dead give away, right? ;-p
After 20 years Oprah has decided to give it another go. I thought she treated Kim Noble with a good deal of respect. Unfortunately, in 20 years, Oprah STILL hasn't learned to pronounce the word dissociation. Huge pet peeve. Its DISSOCIATION, folks. DISSOCIATION. IT ISN'T HARD. Its NOT diss-uh-sociation. Its dissociation. It isn't a difficult word. I figured Oprah could manage it, but apparently not. I am glad she did manage to point out that MPD is now called DID. It was a relief that the producer seemed to understand that the alters are real people (i THINK she got it, anyway)-- when she interviewed them, she called them by name, and wanted to talk to them. That was good to see. I was hoping Oprah would NOT do the #1 thing that the people with DID that I know HATE. Its the #1 question people with DID don't like: "So who am I talking to NOW?" If you make a list of "don't say this to people with DID"-- that is ALWAYS on there. People don't realize it I guess, but its just rude.
Anyway. So Oprah has a message board for people to respond to the show, and I have noticed that quite a few of my messages I've tried to put up have either 1)not shown up because they didn't get approved or 2)been deleted. Interesting. Apparently, you need to have a more "victim" minded mentality to post there, make sure people know you are suffering, and also NOT point out websites where people can get help. Interesting, considering that there are MANY people with DID who are surviving and not just suffering (although of course, there ARE many people who are suffering because they don't get the help they need) and that there are so few places available for people with DID to get help. One would think that someplace like Oprah's website would a)welcome suggestions from people with DID who are surviving/thriving and living functionally with DID, and b)welcome suggestions of websites, therapists, bulletin boards where the people who are posting there who are having problems could get the help they need.
So... yah. Nice try though, Oprah. I guess.
/endrant
Kim/Patricia Noble did a great job being on the show however, and was VERY courageous.
We would LOVE to get on the Oprah show some day and show her what the life of someone with DID is like, beyond just sittinging in a chair and talking. The kids think it would be really funny to have cameras follow us around all day to work, hanging out with the kiddos, going to therapy (now THERE would be a real eye-opening experience for the world-- DID therapy!!), if we didn't have to keep our DID a secret from our family we would totally go for it.
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