My mom was always kind of messed up. She was isolated and she had depression for most of my life. About 16-18 years ago she joined a new age religion called 'Eckankar' so that she could soul travel to other places. I don't remember the detail exactly, but around that time she met a man on the phone and fell in love with him. They talked on the phone twice, and he sent her flowers once. After that, she was convinced that he visited her in her head/dreams. For awhile she was convinced that he would come and get her and they'd ride off into the sunset, then it turned out that he was in a mental hospital with multiple personality disorder. She spent years thinking that he would recover, but every time she got hopeful it turned out that he was lying to her. He manifests new alters all the time (maybe once a month) and she has to get to know them all over again. He was her friend (sort of) and it took years before she decided that she'd had enough of him (again, sort of). I actually commited her to the psyche ward of our local hospital early on-- The first time he had a break down, she got scared and was convinced that he was hurting her. She had to do certain things in order over and over again to calm him down. I few years ago (maybe..5 years), she tried to get him exorcised by another Eckist during one of those retreats. She came back saying that it had worked for a few days, but he was replaced by 'the devil' who was much nastier than her old headmate (she calls him Adam). He eventually came back. She talks to him out loud all the time whenever she thinks no one can hear. She also believes that he can make her body hurt when he's upset (usually her knees, she has arthritis), she thought that he was turning her sleep apnea machine off during the night with psychic powers, it turned out that it had a malfunction but she explained that way by saying that he broke it in the first place. Now she believes that he's making it hard for her to walk (she's in her early 70s). She spends most of the day playing bejeweled for hours and hours because it calms him down. I've been trying to convince her for years to do something about him, but we don't talk about it anymore. She is absolutely convinced that he's real and there's nothing she can do about him. She invited him into her head 18 years ago and hasn't been able to revoke the invitation. My mom was always interested in mental disorders, she did a bunch of research prior to Adam coming into her life. She was always trying to figure out what her own mother suffered from. I think she might listen if I presented her with a possible diagnosis. She's getting so tired of having him around. I'm sorry if this was hard to understand, I'm very willing to answer questions. I didn't include everything here because there's so much.
so basically, what I'm getting from this: your mom met a guy, he had DID, now she thinks he's in her head? am I wrong? I...struggled to follow the story. also, are you suggesting you want to tell her you think she has DID?
Heh, welcome to my life. Sorry, I'll try to clarify. This all started when she interacted with a real person a long time ago, but all the stuff about him having DID/Soul projection powers didn't come out until she was talking to him exclusively in dreams/her own head. I don't think what she has is DID? She doesn't black out and he doesn't suddenly take over or speak through her. She experiences the character and his alters as a voice in her head with a fully fleshed personalities. Mom thinks that A.) he's a real person with supernatural powers and B.) there's nothing she can do to get him to leave her head because she doesn't have those powers. No medical diagnosis really fit her symptoms. Both schizophrenia and DID don't work like that as far as I know. If I could come up with something though, it might motivate her to get treatment? Then he could be an illness instead of a real person that she has no control over. It's a cross between hinduism/buddhism and a little bit of catholicism and 1960s psychology. The main temple is in Minnesota. Mom was actively going to church meetups and study groups for awhile, but that has fallen by the wayside in recent years.
hmmm. so all the stuff about him having DID/soul projection powers is probably made up by her own mind, then.... it could be general psychosis, because all this sounds like a delusion or hallucination or both, imo. it certainly doesn't sound like DID but perhaps OSDD, of some kind? either way, I can see how coming up with something that she could actually have could motivate her to get treatment, assuming you can get her to believe that it is that thing and not being caused by a real person.
