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Sheri J. Storm believes that recovered-memory therapy led to her diagnosis of multiple personality disorder. In this memoir, she describes the role that art and writing played in her therapy. The accompanying image gallery depicts several examples of the artwork created by Storm while in therapy.
While in therapy, I was assigned homework that included art therapy and journaling. Two kinds of journaling were prescribed: “regular” journaling about my experiences, and “automatic writing” using my left hand (I normally write with my right hand). My psychiatrist explained that if I supplied my left hand with a writing utensil and relaxed, it would tap my subconscious—giving “people inside” permission to come out to release their own images, memories, feelings and messages.
This article was originally published with the title Brain Stains.
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9 Comments
Add CommentSHERI,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'M SORRY THIS HAPPENED TO YOU! I NEVER THOUGHT THAT M.P.D./ OR NOW D.I.D. COULD BECOME A DX. FROM A THERAPIST PLANTING IT IN YOUR HEAD. AS FOR FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME I THINK THERE'S TWO SIDES OF THIS.
ONE OF COURSE BEING HOW YOU DESCRIBED IT BUT I DO BELIEVE PEOPLE HAVE MEMORY'S THAT THEY REFUSE TO BELIEVE AND JUST SAY IT'S A FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME WHEN REALLY IT'S TRUE. I HAVE D.I.D. AND ONE OF MY OTHERS (ALTERS) HAS REMEMBERED THAT I WAS PART OF A CULT AND WAS ABUSED AND MADE TO ABUSE OTHERS DURING SESSIONS WITH THIS CULT GROUP. MY THERAPIST SAY'S IT HAS TO BE FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME BECAUSE THIS KINDA STUFF DOESN'T HAPPEN. AT FIRST I AGREED WITH HER BECAUSE I DIDN'T THINK I COULD BE APART OF ALL THIS AND NOT REMEMBER BUT LATER AFTER YEARS OF THERAPY AND INVESTIGATION I FOUND OUT THAT THIS WAS TRUE AND NOT FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME. I THINK BY YOUR ARTICLE BEING POSTED THAT PEOPLE SHOULD BE WARNED THAT YES FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME DOES HAPPEN BUT THAT IT'S RARE. PEOPLE SHOULDN'T BELIEVE THAT ALL THERE MEMORY'S THAT ARE BAD ARE FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME. I THINK FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME GIVES PEOPLE AN OUT FOR DEALING WITH EVENTS THAT ARE TRUE, JUST BECAUSE THEY THINK THERE FALSE AND THEN IN LATER LIFE THEY FIND IT TO BE TRUE ONLY TO HAVE TO START THERAPY AGAIN!!!!!
I BELIEVED MY THERAPIST ABOUT MY MEMORYS BEING FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME AND SPENT YEARS PUTTING MYSELF DOWN FOR MAKING UP SUCH HORRIBLE STUFF AND THINKING WHAT KIND OF PERSON AM I TO MAKE UP ALL THIS STUFF IN MY HEAD, I THOUGHT I WAS TRULLY CRAZY FOR DOING SUCH A THING AND I ENDED THERAPY BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME EXCEPT
ME MAKING STUFF UP, ONLY TO FIND OUT YEARS LATER AFTER FEELING LIKE A CRAZY PERSON THAT THESE MEMORY'S WERE ALL TRUE. THE PERSON WHO RAN THIS CULT WAS ARRESTED AND HE CONFESSED TO THE POLICE AFTER BEING IN JAIL FOR AWHILE ALL THE PEOPLE HE ABUSED AND MADE TO ABUSE OTHERS, I WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE HE MENTIONED. SO NOW I'M BACK IN THERAPY TRYING TO DEAL WITH ALL THIS WHEN I FEEL LIKE IF MY THERAPIST BELIEVED ME IN THE BEGINNING AND NOT CALLED MY MEMORY'S FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME, I COULD HAVE GOTTEN THRU THIS YEARS AGO AND NOT BE WERE I AM TODAY!!!!!
SO I REALLY THINK FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME IS A TWO SIDED THING AND PEOPLE SHOULD BE CAREFUL AS WHAT TO BELIEVE. I ALSO THINK PEOPLE SHOULD BE TREATED ON THE MEMORY'S THEY REMEMBER WHETHER THERE TRUE OR NOT BECAUSE IF A PERSON BELIEVES SOMETHING HAPPENED TO THEM THEY NEED TO DEAL WITH THOSE FEELING RATHER THAN JUST SAYING IT'S A FALSE MEMORY SO I DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT, ALL I HAVE TO DO IS FORGET ABOUT IT AND THEN IT BITES THEM SQUARE IN THE ASS LATER1
HOPE I MADE SINCE OF ALL THIS,
KATHRYN
It is very possible that Sheri was only a victim of a bad psychiatrist. It is also possible that she suffered trauma as a child and her therapist created an environment where she may never know the truth. There is no "False Memory Syndrome" recognized by any respected mental health expert, and it is not listed in any medical or psychiatric journal as a valid diagnosis. However, many people have remembered in therapy (and outside of therapy) that they were sexually abused as children, and their cases have been proven through abuser confessions and other damning evidence. Dissociative Amnesia (repressed memory) is a valid diagnosis which has been proven to exist through years of studies and research. It is also listed as a valid diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSad that this seems to happen. I just hope that it doesn't discount those that do suffer from MPD that did not have it "created" by a therapist but instead by themselves to survive. Stories like this tend to discount or negate true diagnoses that others have, and that's unfortunate. I have MPD and I never allowed hypnosis or these types of therapies to enter my life until I knew more about what I was facing and why...unfortunately there is always disbelief with any mental illness, even depression. Makes it harder to find good treatment options.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisObviously i take everything you have shared here as very serious, I certainly believe it goes on, and can only hope that you have taken back your life, and i wish you well
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMeg
Hi Sheri,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm a licensed therapist and was diagnosed with DID NOS which basically means that I had alters but never lost track of time. It was horribly frightening to have a therapist tell me that and very hard to digest. Fortunately I was able to work out a way to integrate my alters by having lots of therapy and coming to an agreement with them not to try and do away with them as long as they would let me run the show and run all their emotions through me. It sure sounds crazy doesn't it so I don't run around telling lots of people about it. One thing I learned about myself that I think is really important to share is that this was a way that I created of dealing with a very emotionally abusive childhood and there wasn't anyone who was going to figure out how to take it apart except me. The best I could do was look for a therapist that I thought was a good person and just ask them to give input into whatever material I brought into session. That way I could tell how a good person would respond and weigh that against all the biased, ugly, mean, cruel input I got in the past and modify my responses to adapt to what I thought was normal or hoped was anyway. My experience of rerouting my wiring was like having a broken leg that healed badly and needed to be broken again and reset. And then after I did that and got that break all healed up again I discovered that there was another break that had healed badly and needed to be broken and reset. This went on for several years till I got to the point where I understood enough about who I was to come to that agreement I talked about before. I was highly motivated to succeed in getting through it all because I didn't want to be ruled by states of mind and behavior I couldn't grow out of. I hated every minute of it but now finally I have me.
I wish all of you the best of luck in your struggles to get whereever you are going.
I met this remarkable woman at R-MC all i have to say to her,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thissheri your doing ok go home and have a chocolate bar.
This article sounds suspiciously like FMSF disinfo to me. MPD/DID isn't "created" in adulthood. It's the result of early severe trauma. What is this sad story doing in a journal like this? Surely, it should have formed the nucleus of a balanced and informative discussion of this contentious subject. As it stands, it's misleading and muddled and, above all, sad.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou could not possibly know how welcome and appreciated your kind words of advice were/are HP Writer. Thank you. :0)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHello Sheri,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am French and I am very interested in your testimony. In France, this problem of false memories syndrome during a recovered memory therapy is growing and growing, and I am very afraid to think that it could be followed here by this Multiple Personnality Syndrome.
As you know, I wrote articles to inform french people about this "craze" and to prevent them as well as I can. but, here I feel a little bite alone to study this problem and speak about it.
I thank you very much for your courage and your lucidity!
I wish you the best. Thank you!