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The International Society for the Study of Dissociation
ISSD NEWS, Volume 16, Number 2, June 1998
Christine Comstock, PhD, Editor

President's Message
Marlene Hunter, MD FCFP(C)
(Pages 1 and 5)

Since I assumed the presidency in November, life has seemed to be one long response to the media. I think it is important for you to know what is happening and how I have responded.

My first response was to a dreadful program that aired November 30,1997, on "60 Minutes" — an extremely prejudiced presentation on multiple personality disorder. I immediately faxed my response to producer Don Hewitt, but received no reply. Twelve days later I faxed, then mailed another letter to CBS:

The International Society for the Study of Dissociation is very disappointed (but unfortunately not surprised) that you, and CBS, have not responded in any way to our grave concerns which were faxed to you more than two weeks ago. ...

Interestingly, I received a phone call from him, 20 minutes after I had sent the fax. He was at first patronizing, then defensive, but finally agreed in principle that the other side of the picture should be shown. Needless to say, nothing more has happened. However, I believe that they aired some of the mail-in responses on a subsequent program.

Next, a long court case in Vancouver, British Columbia, was thrown out of court on a technicality after two convictions. In the case, a teacher had been accused by two women, former students, of molesting them at school. There were three articles in the Saturday edition of the Vancouver Sun about this case, one was reasonably balanced and the other two were typical FMS diatribes that made me furious. I sat down and sent off the following to the Vancouver Sun which, I am pleased to report, printed it promptly on their op-ed page:

It is time to speak up on behalf of therapist — my colleagues in Canada and the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, England, The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Cuba, Turkey who are engaged in the difficult battle of helping abuse survivors, men and women, put their lives back together again.

Therapists are not interested in creating more problems for our patients/clients; we want to help them get well, as fast as possible, knowing that it usually takes years. Therapists know: that memory is essentially malleable; that any memory discussed during therapy is completely emotionally-laden and, therefore, impossibly biased; that litigation in such cases is unwise; and that corroboration is crucial. ...

A study published in 1994 recorded the results of interviews of women admitted more than 20 years earlier to an American hospital's emergency room and diagnosed at the time as suffering from sexual abuse. A huge majority of the women remembered neither the admission nor the abuse. ...

Dr. Elizabeth Loftus of the University of Washington, an expert witness at the Michael Kliman trial, is a reputable researcher in the field of memory; she admits that she has never actually worked with traumatic memory, but rather with simulated trauma. "Simulated" cannot possibly equate actual trauma. ...

The research into dissociative disorders, in aggregate, is elegant, sophisticated, clear science that has led to a huge body of literature. At our most recent annual meeting in Montreal, the scientific program featured ... presentations [which] were not somebody's abstract theories, but good hard replicable studies.

A few words about treatment:

Have there been misaccusations, especially of family members? Yes. I find it hard, however, to believe that a person brought up in a caring, nurturing home is going to turn around and accuse his/her parents of abusing them. Something has gone wrong for that person; exploring that "something" is what therapy is all about. ...

Have there been cases of mismanagement and poor therapy? Again, of course there have, although I believe that most of them have been the result of well-intentioned but not very well-trained therapists rather than vindictive radical feminists.

Many of us began working with adult survivors of child abuse many years ago, long before there was any training, research or literature. We struggled through, with our patients, as best we could and learned as we went. I don't know any of us who have "built a rich career" from this work.

The courtroom is not the consulting room and the two should be kept separate. Give credit to the men and women who work with some very emotionally compromised patients and give credit also to the patients themselves. It's a hell of a journey.

Hard on the heels of that, there was an editorial in the Toronto Globe and Mail about the British Psychiatric Association's paper on recovered memories, which also made reference to the Vancouver case. I sent a letter to the editor the next day in which I wrote:

The research literature on dissociation is extensive, and the research itself is elegant, highly sophisticated, clear science. There is excellent evidence of the neuro/physio/cognitive dissociative process. It is not in the realm of imagination or fairy tales. We strongly disagree with the statements in the British Psychiatric report.

Therapists who have worked in this thorny field for years, and the patients/clients who have brought their confusing problems to us, deserve better recognition. We're not out to take anybody to court; we just want people to get well.

I had asked for an acknowledgment of the receipt of this faxed letter and when none came, I eventually made several frustrating phone calls culminating in an unrewarding conversation with a very acrimonious lady who told me that they couldn't print every letter that came in. I pointed out that I had not insisted that they print my letter, I just wanted to know that it had been received and perhaps as president of ISSD, my response would have been worth printing. As far as I know, the letter was never published.

Finally and most recently, The New Yorker had a long article called "The Politics of Hysteria" in the April 6 issue that was, again, bizarrely unbalanced and without any reference citations for what the author, Joan Acocella, was stating as apparent fact. Here is my response — one of several from ISSD members:

As President of The International Society for the Study of Dissociation, I wish to respond in the strongest possible terms to "The Politics of Hysteria" by Joan Acocella . . .

This lengthy, unbalanced and misleading article does great discredit to your readers, who are intelligent and deserve intelligent and well-documented articles, and to your publication which has such an image for clear and unbiased reporting. We would have expected better — much better — from you.

Of course there have been many changes in the treatment approaches to the Dissociative Disorders as we have learned more and more through good, solid research and clinical experience. The very change in nomenclature itself — which she attributes to being "hygienically renamed" — reflects the realization that "Multiple Personality Disorder" misrepresented the essential dissociative nature of these disorders. Why the descriers of therapy insist on retaining a name that imposes a mistaken image on patients who are struggling through their past histories in a determination to be well, is a mystery.

Nowhere in this diatribe does Acocella refer to the elegant and sophisticated science which is guiding us through therapeutic pitfalls which await any clinician engaged m problems of emerging awareness of the human condition. Of course our techniques have been modified according to our growing knowledge; does she feel they should have remained static?

We believe that Acocella's article deserves a specific rebuttal, similar in length but, one hopes, much better researched and much less melodramatic. There are many experienced researchers/clinicians in the field — not only in the United States but in many other countries — who are highly qualified to write such an article. We await your response to this suggestion with considerable interest.

I'm sure this barrage of antagonistic reporting is not over. We'll keep responding and it will help if you respond also — the more letters, faxes and e-mail they get demanding that they present balanced coverage, the easier it will be to get out our message.

Copyright © 1998 by ISSD NEWS. All rights reserved.
Permission granted to Linda J. Hill, LCSW, BCD (Louisville, KY) to post on this web page.

ISSD NEWS
60 Revere Drive, Suite 500
Northbrook, IL 60062
Phone: 847/480-0899
Fax: 847/480-9282
E-mail: issd@issd.org

Marlene Hunter, MD FCFP(C)
4188 Rose Crescent
West Vancouver, BC V7V 2N8
Canada
Phone: 604/925-1919
Fax: 604/926-5914

International Society for the Study of Dissociation Web site

Membership Brochure - Should you have any questions regarding membership in ISSD, please contact the International office by email: issd@issd.org or phone 847/480-9080. 

Treatment Guidelines: Glossary of DID-Specific Terminology and References

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