the Wanderers' online arguing blog

The ableism existed before the diagnosis did, gang. Ableism isn't strictly confined to the DSM, it's based on what society sees as 'crazy', which often has nothing to do with actual mental illness.

Plurality, often also called multiplicity, is "having more than one self in the mind and body" (Eve & Parry, 2021).

Plurality "is not a diagnosis" (Eve, et al., 2023) and is "a broader concept than DID" (Christensen, 2022).

Plurality is "a broad term, which encompasses a range of experiences" because "people have individual conceptualizations of what it means to be ‘more than one’" (Eve, et al., 2023).

Plurality is "a term coined to be more inclusive than only that of traumagenic multiplicity" (Christensen, 2022).

Not all people who experience plurality will identify as a 'plural' or 'multiple.' Plurality is a useful umbrella term for the experience of more-than-oneness "but not necessarily a term reflective of one's identity or self-expression" (Christensen, 2022).

"[N]ot everyone who identifies as multiple will want or require mental health intervention for the condition they experience" (Eve, et al., 2023).

The concept of non-traumagenic plurality does not hurt DID research. "[T]he research confirming DID as a trauma-based disorder is doing just that: confirming traumagenic DID, the disorder, not Plurality, the identity . . . Distinguishing between the two does not need to invalidate either" (Christensen, 2022).

The idea that plurality is inherently disordered is a product of Western culture. "Within Western linear frameworks . . . there has been an emphasis on the ‘healthy self’ being integrated and whole" (Eve & Parry, 2021). "In indigenous cultures, esp. shamanic societies, a polypsychism (i.e. many selves) prevails" (Scharfetter, 2008).

This man has been brought up in syscourse before. Truthfully we did not know of his existence prior to this, but upon learning of his supposed significance in Endogenic communities, I took the liberty of actually researching him. I was not able to find much about him, as it seems he is very much disregarded. My main sources of information were wikipedia and a single interview, I will link the pages at the end.

Who is Colin Ross?

Colin A. Ross, born July 14, 1950, is a Canadian psychiatrist, and was once the president of the International Society for the Stufy of Trauma and Dissociation. While this may make him sound like a respectable man, this is not the case.

His "controversies" (him being insane)

Colin Ross was judged heavily for his methods of treating patients with Dissociative Identity Disorder, which included recovering memories via hypnosis of Satanic ritual abuse.

This actually caused multiple patients to develop fake memories of Satanic abuse, to believe they had been impregnated by aliens, or other various paranormal things. Ross has since faced lawsuits for Medical Malpractice for these exact reasons.

He was seen appearing in a scientology video.

He also wrote on a conspiracy theory involving the CIA deliberately creating DID.

He also believed that a system created without any form of trauma was possible, hence why he is regarded as useful in Pro-Endo discussions.

However, forgive my bias here, I would not trust a man who claimed he could basically shoot beams of energy from his eyes with any knowledge of a mental illness.

I am not making that up. In 2008, Ross applied for the James Randi Educational Foundation's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, claiming that energy from his eyes could cause a speaker to sound a tone, no other form of input needed.

In 2010, he doubled down. He published experimental data that he claimed supported his hypothesis that the eyes can emit energy that can be captured and measured. He also claimed that his way of capturing this supposed energy was via a biofeedback machine attached to his laptop, and the laptop to an eye blink. He still claimed he could send energy beams out of his eyes and was working on modifying the software to ignore an eye blink. His theory has not been tested by the JREF.

Conclusion

To simply put it, this man is not someone to credit for anything of value. He has supported conspiracy theories and has caused more harm to systems under his care, and has not shown much, if any, remores for the systems he has harmed with his malpractice.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_A._Ross

Yes, totally, one of the most internationally renowned DID researchers, and a major reason why the dissociative disorders are recognised as real disorders cased by significant trauma today, and part of the reason why victims of child abuse aren't instantly disregarded in clinical settings, and part of the reason assessments for dissociative disorders exist at all - is "insane"

Because he.. ran a weird study for a paranormal scientific event, meant for studies that are weird.

If you actually believe the Gray Faction, the False Memory Syndrome, this horrible trauma denial that has no clinical backing whatsoever (we have personal experience with this, as we had to go into our country's legal system and discuss it with lawyers, which we're happy to provide proof of, it's a good old 100 page long court record, quite a bit more than a wikipedia article), then the only thing you are is so horrifically ableist that you believe childhood trauma and dissociative disorders do not exist at all. Because that's what you're referencing here.

The people that you are referencing utterly despise you, and do not believe you exist.

Oh no. A therapist used hypnosis on DID patients. A type of therapy that does have quite a lot of research around how well it works for survivors of complex childhood trauma.

Oh no. He had medical malpractice lawsuits. Did you know almost every single clinician has to deal with lawsuits at one point or another? He had one lawsuit (he took part in others, but wasn't the subject.) It was dismissed. Unlike Onno van der Hart's abuse case, one of the authors of the current Theory of Structural Dissociation, who lost his license because he actually did abuse his patients.

Oh no. He appeared in a Scientology video. An organisation that, while still horrific, has actually done a tiny bit of good by bringing awareness to psychiatric abuse, even if for the wrong reasons. (You're also going to need to be a lot more specific than "he appeared in a video", lol)

Oh no. Cult abuse exists. Military experiments exist. Our wife's entire family is still affected by the chemicals they were forced to work with during WW1 and WW2 and Vietnam and so many others, leading to lifelong chronic disabilities. Ever heard of torture? Dissociative protective responses? Brainwashing? Just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Yes, programmed responses happen, often under military and government guidance for various reasons. There's a lot more research on it than Ross', not to mention the amount of proof that governments actually tend to do some pretty awful shit.

Did you actually read what he said about endos? That non-traumagenic parts can exist? The same thing that Internal Family Systems uses? That appears throughout history under various different names in the Multiple Selves theory? Something that has a hell of a lot more supporting research on it than False Memory Syndrome?

^ By the way, Dr. Richard Loewenstein said similar. He's the head of the dissociative disorder group in the DSM-V-TR, and helped write the guidelines for treating DID, and did a multitude of other extremely important DID research

And yes. Ross had a scientific theory. He engaged in a scientific study. His scientific study supported his scientific findings. It was for a scientific paranormal challenge where your entry was meant to be 'insane' (oh hey, more ableism from you). You REALLY need to read more than just Wikipedia.

It sounds stupid. And nobody's saying his perfect. But the only people agreeing with you also happen to hate everything about you.

What are you expecting to find, him running an Instagram? No, and you won't with most older clinicians. They're more interested in studying and researching and doing their jobs. They already have a reputation. They don't need social media.

But he's done a hell of a lot more than "wikipedia" and a "single interview" and previously being head of the ISSTD. The literal first result when you google his name shows more than that.

And hey, here's his research,

You can even contact him yourself if you like, to tell him about your opinion of him

Your post is bullshit. What you're doing is denying the research that proves DID exists. What you're doing is siding with those who actually do abuse people, who cause the trauma that develops DID.

If you want to keep saying that DID doesn't come from trauma, then please, keep going.