# Multiplicity



## S O L A R I S (Dec 24, 2009)

I've bought this book today, and gone through half of it already. I guess I was looking for some form of "self-help' book to "get to know myself better". Lately, Ive been thinking alot about my personality at work, and how it changes when I am at home, and further changes in other situations. They seem and are vastly different. Again with DP, we seem like we are acting all the time, almost chameleons of some sort. Maybe by understanding the various layers of our personality we can reconcile conflicts and stop dissociating all together? Thats the theory afterall, if anything the book suggests it can empower you to handle stress better

This is not to be confused with DID, which is a seperate entity all by itself. But the books mentions it, and touches on memory formation, emotional association, and how our personalities develop through time. Part 1 is more informational, Ill start reading through part 2 which has exercises on uncovering your personality/ies. Its an easy read, so you can read it at a bookstore and not necessarily buy it if you dont want to. Ive attached a few links below.

If anything worth mentioning comes in Part2 of the book, I'll keep you posted!

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-new-science-of-personality/6hz49j0
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2008_03_wed.shtml


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## S O L A R I S (Dec 24, 2009)

Note: This book is sort of pseudo sciency, so take it with a grain of salt


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## Futurama91 (Sep 25, 2007)

That sounds really interesting. Have you taken the Myers-Briggs Personality Test? You can find it for free online. It can be very revealing.


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## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

I have been rather indulgent book-wise this month but I can't wait to get a hold of this one. 
I remember reading an article by Rita Carter in New Scientist (Perspectives: The flip side to multiple personalities)quite a while back and being rather taken with it.

Really got me interested.









Have you come across "The Myth of Sanity" by Martha Stout? It is all about dissociation, from trancing out while driving to D.I.D. (DP isn't mentioned much, as she is more concerned with dissociative fugue states etc.) Dead interesting.


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## DRyan (Jan 19, 2008)

S O L A R I S said:


> Lately, Ive been thinking alot about my personality at work, and how it changes when I am at home, and further changes in other situations. They seem and are vastly different. Again with DP, we seem like we are acting all the time, almost chameleons of some sort. Maybe by understanding the various layers of our personality we can reconcile conflicts and stop dissociating all together? Thats the theory afterall, if anything the book suggests it can empower you to handle stress better


I think self-conscious thoughts and a lack of self/hidden self are central to that inconsistent personality. Once you get rid of those self-conscious thoughts with logical thought and recognition, it becomes easier to stop pretending. Your ego starts to come back and in that you gain an 'identity'. For me, I cared too much about what others thought so I became a chameleon to whatever I thought would please, and as a result I wasn't sure which things were 'real' and which were just my pathetic attempt to be someone else.


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## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

DRyan said:


> I cared too much about what others thought so I became a chameleon to whatever I thought would please, and as a result I wasn't sure which things were 'real' and which were just my pathetic attempt to be someone else.


Same here. I used to be much too eager to please.


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## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

Book arrived today








I decided to start with part one after all but was tickled to be offered alternatives. I am really enjoying the tone of Multiplicity. 
The concept so far makes an awful lot of sense. If what Carter suggests is correct (and it sounds very plausible), the notion that we are singular beings - that there is only one personality per each must be incorrect. That's a relief. LOL 
Back to the book now..


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## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

Hi again

So I have had a play with part 2 of the book - basically fun with personality testing. Instead of filling in your personality attributes just once you do one for each of your inner voice(s)/personalities/ego-states: The one who is constantly critiquing your surroundings, the one heckling your own behaviour, learned behaviours that develop into something more. Patterns in your brain.

Ego states neatly explain why we all have such contradictory traits, why we are sometimes at odds with ourselves or do things "unlike us"

Part 2 starts off with a recommendation not to do any of the exercises if you have a dissociative disorder. I took the warning with a pinch of salt as soon as the main worry seemed to be regarding MPD/DID and fugue states, where memories go missing: The different ego-states which together make up our personality as a whole aren't sharing their memories. DP on the other hand involves some memory issues, but they are mainly fears rather than actual impairment. There is no memory loss although I'd say retrieval can be a Sisyphean task. So (short story long) I disregarded the recommendation.

Me, I am one of those who gets loud, interfering inner voices constantly battling it out in here, trying to beat each other into submission. That would then be different ego-states not getting the team work vibe.

The desired result of the exercises in part 2 of Multiplicity is to become aware of/conscious of your ego-states and get to know yourselves. Get the teamwork going









As far as memory goes if different ego-states do the driving depending on situation memories are then specific to particular ego-states too. You'd always be able to retrieve them no matter which one of you is currently doing the conscious stuff. It would be easier though, when the one of yourselves who made the memory was on the outside. You're ~primed for the memory then. So I am guessing having a closer knit family of ego-states could be beneficial for memory retrieval.

I have read a fair bit about dissociation and the ego-state bits are always a high-light. So eventhough the theoretical part of the book wasn't very long I was pleased to finally learn something about the healthy mind


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## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

Looks like there is more stuff coming out suggesting ego-states (or whatever you prefer to call them) aren't necessarily a sign of ill mental health:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Multiple-Personality-Psychology-Research-Progress/dp/1608767833/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1


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## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

Same but more densely written:
http://www.amazon.com/Subpersonalities-People-Inside-John-Rowan/dp/0415043298
Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us by John Rowan


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## S O L A R I S (Dec 24, 2009)

Ooo pancake! I am like way way way behind on all my reading! I havent even finished multiplicity yet lol. I love your book references though, I agree that ego states are very intruiging.

I have a new sort of topic of interest that you might like. Below is a link to an article
http://missionhillspt.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/quantum-physics-math-spiritual-dissonance-truth-and-ego/

Lately I have been really intruiged about this whole idea of Quantum mechanics and how we perceive the world. I have not dived deep into it, and I cannot explain it since its very complex, but if you have the time and will then this can be an interesting topic. it seems somewhat 'out there'

I will go to the bookstore this weekend and see if I find any book regarding this topic. Will update you if i find something worthwhile


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## pancake (Nov 26, 2009)

S O L A R I S said:


> Lately I have been really intruiged about this whole idea of Quantum mechanics and how we perceive the world. I have not dived deep into it, and I cannot explain it since its very complex, but if you have the time and will then this can be an interesting topic. it seems somewhat 'out there'
> 
> I will go to the bookstore this weekend and see if I find any book regarding this topic. Will update you if i find something worthwhile


Stephen Hawking's Universe in a Nutshell maybe? Accessible and goes into quantum mechanics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Universe_in_a_Nutshell

I am way fascinated with consciousness still.. just can't get over how our minds work. I am on another Rita Carter at the moment - Consciousness: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Consciousness-Rita-Carter/dp/030435600X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2. Mind blowing but too early to report I guess. I am reading that one dead slowly.


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