My “Day I Left Pennsylvania” led me to some archived website posts (before blogs were invented) I had written many years ago. I’m re-posting them now. Bear in mind that most of the content in this series is over 5 years old. I have left the content more or less intact. I have removed some links and added some others — but that’s it. Enjoy!
Hollywood has used the idea of “multiple personality disorder” as a plot device in movies such as “Cape Fear” and “Identity.” MPD is a general term for, I believe, a form of schizophrenia with amnesiatic barriers. Carl Jung did a lot of work with schizophrenia and also a lot of work within himself with respect to his own inner multiplicity.
At it’s core, mental pluralism (or pluralism of the mind, whatever you want to call it) essentially says that we have an assortment of different personality “shards” or “voices” in our mind. Each individual shard is a different aspect of ourselves, and represents a different way we view the world. Think of it as an inner republic — each voice would be a separate advisor on a different aspect of your life. It lacks the amnesiatic barriers of the sensationalized ”Multiple Personality Disorder”, though, so this is not considered a pathology.
Part of utilizing mental pluralism in treatment is acknowledging and even personifying these voices — that is, giving each of them their own identity and granting them their sovereignty within your mindscape. While it sounds a little crazy, think about this: An unnamed voice in your personality will “sound” and appear to be exactly the same as any other unnamed voice; But if you can somehow identify those voices separately from one another, then you can profit from being able to hear them individually. Read the rest of this entry »
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