Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as multiple personality disorder is a complex psychological disorder, which is difficult to diagnose and controversial. It is characterized by severe episodes of dissociation. Dissociative behavior can be divided into two categories: detachment and compartmentalization. Detachment is a voluntary or involuntary feeling or emotion that accompanies a sense of separation from normal associations or environment. Compartmentalization is a splitting off of the personality into separate parts where there is a lack of communication and consistency between each part. One key characteristic of dissociative identity disorder is that there has to be at least two distinct personality states. Many healthcare professionals believe dissociative identity disorder is a genuine disorder while other mental health professionals feel it is an off shoot of other mental illnesses and should be removed from the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and…
“…Alters in DID have “their own identities, involving a center of initiative and experience, they have a characteristic self-representation, which may be different from how the patient is generally seen or perceived, have their own autobiographic memory, and distinguish what they understand to be their own actions and experiences from those done and experienced by other alters, and they have a sense of ownership of their own experiences, actions, and thoughts, and may lack a sense of ownership of and a sense of responsibility for the action, experiences, and thoughts of other alters.”NIH
“Uneven learning: the child (with DID) knows how to complete a particular assignment quite well one day, doesn’t know how to do it the next day and then later when it has not been re-taught can successfully complete the task. Children might also be able to do math one day and the next day they might be totally unable to do the same math with no recollection that they have been able to do it the previous day.” NIH
Bobby’s digital self
Rob Goldstein is the alternate working on the interview with Harold Norse and he’s baffled: why does the Rob Goldstein on the tape refer to himself as illiterate?
Rob Goldstein can’t remember being illiterate just as he can’t remember
the interview.
We’ve (I) always thought Rob Goldstein lived with Harold Norse.
Bob was a travel agent and later a Licensed Psychiatric Technician
at a Freudian based long-term facility in New Haven.
Bob had to grasp the complex psycho-dynamics that emerge between staff
and patients in long-term in-patient analyses and report these interactions
in his charting and at staff meetings.
We were in our thirties when we moved to San Francisco and became
Rob Goldstein.
Rob Goldstein was the first openly gay Assistant Director of Physical Education at the Central YMCA in San Francisco.
He was under incredible stress at work and had started having panic attacks when his friends began to sicken and die from AIDS.
As a result, Bobby often came out to run or go dancing.
Bobby also liked to go to the café and write.
Bobby met Harold Norse at the Cafe Flore one day in March of 1984.
A few days later Bobby met with Norse again and showed him some hastily
written poems.
In June they met for coffee and Norse told Bobby about his vacant room
and need for a roommate.
Norse also told him that he would teach him how to write.
So, who moved in with Harold Norse? Who is the alternate on those tapes?
The only logical answer is Bobby.
Being a poet was Bobby’s dream but finding a parent was dearer.
31 is a bit old for a man to turn himself over to a mentor but not if he
has DID and can wipe out 15 years.
Bobby is always 16 and in the 1980’s he had none of Bob’s or Rob’s
memories or skills.
