Comments by Janet Maile

Showing 10 of 10 comments.

  • Thanks for your reply. I think therapy of all types as well as understanding of the human mind has changed considerably since I first saw mine in 1967. I understand why you talk of coming out of the shadows of the past, individualising or becoming autonomous, although I don’t think of myself that way. I see the negative influences of the past as being something that was imposed on me. It was not part of me, and had to be removed, like a wart on the skin.

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  • Thank you for reading the article. I agree that it can can be harmful to label people with various personality disorders or other diagnoses, but it helped me when I read about DPD, because it described the way I led my life and helped me to understand that my behaviour was a symptom of childhood abuse, and not inherent in my character.

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  • Thank you very much! I used the isolation and loneliness I suffered when I was young to the character of Hagan, who comes from a tribe of people who live without barriers of any sort. Second Genesis can be read purely for entertainment, but on a deeper level, it is about the way we have lost our sense of being connected – to each other, to nature, to the universe and beyond. I hope you enjoy it.

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  • I am not familiar with DSM, but I feel that people working in the psychiatric field have a need to see the world in a particular way, rather like my mother’s need to be with people who had problems, because she was unable to relate to people who were getting on with life successfully. That was her problem, but unfortunately she projected it on to me and my father.

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  • Thank you for your kind words in your last paragraph. I really want people to know that they were born perfect and just need to shake off all the negativity they have received, to become who they really are, rather than believing they are mentally sick.

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  • I agree that psychiatric diagnosis can be damaging – even more so when given out by lay people. My sisters have convinced themselves my father was suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome, based on a test they did online, filling in the answers he was likely to give! Although he was not a good father, near the end of his life he joined a church. When he died they all said how kind and helpful he was, so I think being with my mother must have affected him.

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  • Thank you for leaving a comment. I did indeed have a fear of being abandoned and would put up with anything rather than be alone. I hope my story will help therapists to treat their clients with greater understanding.

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