h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I really enjoyed this one

And so did I

Me too

...and me....

hehe

two nits: "the differences between schizophrenia and MPS are rather different." C'mon - that makes no sense...
And I thought it was Multiple Personality _Disorder_ I guess this must be a political correctness difference. Or maybe my mistake.

Now - I'll go back to reading that book which tries to encourage people to develop split personalities...

very intresting a frend of mine is currently suffering from paranoia and the most common way to diagnosed is as a deppressive then as you sow other symtoms they change the description

I remember it being called MPD also, but I think MPS is the more common term/acronym now. It was discovered that people whose multiple personalities work together (or who has integrated two or more of their personalities) could live a productive, full, and reasonably happy life. After that discovery, it seemed overly harsh to label as such people as having a "mental disorder." You can call it political correctness if you like. I call it only fair.

Livzy,
Piece of advice:
Not only is your posting here not startingly original, but if you knew anyone who had MPD you would realize it is in poor taste.

So how *do* you develop a split personality from the comfort of your own living room?

Generally speaking, there is no comfortable way to develop a split personality. It is the result of horrible abuse and/or incredible personal tragedy. That's why it's not very funny to joke about it.

Well, according to the book, by setting six options for what to do and letting the dice choose between them. Entry on the author's here: http://www.h2g2.com/A454079.

Which naturally means that the entire book is in exceptionally bad taste, I guess. Ahh well.

There's a difference between allowing chance to rule your decisions through a conscious decision (i.e. Diceman), and being unable to control your own mind, regardless of desire. The difference between comedy and tragedy. Imagine how frustrating it would be to hear someone else speaking with your own mouth, saying things opposite of what you consciously believe.
If the diceman books are in poor taste it is for their own reasons, not because of a personality disorder.

> "Imagine how frustrating it would be to hear someone else speaking with your own mouth, saying things opposite of what you consciously believe."

This, as I understand it, never happens in MPS - there is only one personality active at any one time - no trapped in a body controlled by another type stuff.
But what does happen on occasion is that the dominant personality is made aware of what they did or said previously and, as you say this is meant to be frustrating (and scary, upsetting, dirtying... depending).

I'm also told that some (rare) people with MPS have some measure of control over the switch. Or maybe I'm wrong...

My tongue was firmly in my cheek re:diceman - but MPS is mentioned in the book, and is regarded by the lead character as a desirable thing and an aspiration. *shrug*

I didn't remember that epsiode in the book, but he (the author) was dreaming of some "movie" disease, the kind that Jim Carey might come down with.
Because there are so many variations in what does happen in MPD, it is very difficult to say something never happens. I can tell you I personally knew someone who had MPD who many times was aware an alter was in control and could hear and see what they were doing... and got very upset about it.
Often, through great mental effort this person could also manipulate "who" was in control at certain times, but it was certainly not an easy or enjoyable process. I do not think this ability is rare for someone who has had MPD for a period of time.

An aspiration?!? So how did the guy go about it?

This was a really great article. There's so much confusion about psychiatric illnesses... everyone's an armchair psychologist, right? A lot of what people think they know about things like schizophrenia, multiple personalities, depression, bipolar disorder, etc. are truth and prejudice jumbled together... if more people were aware of what has currently been discovered through scientific research, they could be so much less suspicious and afraid of those who suffer such things.

Kudos to the author!

...........out a bit.....

No offence meant to anyone

Just trying to lighten the mood

OK???????

It's great to read that so many people started thinking about this subject after reading my article!! Although I tried to make it much clearer, I now read that there still is a lot of confusion about the matters schizophrenia and mps/dis!! That's not really a surprise to me, as it are both rather "magical" and odd-like diseases where one can be very curious and speculative about. My guess is, that anyone can write down the effects of the diseases quite clear and clinical, but no-one can really write down what it is like to suffer from it.
The mind (psyche) works in mysterious ways, and when you suffer from it, then still, you can't really get what it is all about...that's why it makes the matters so "magical" and mysterious..
For the ones who really want to know what it is to suffer from either one of those diseases: I hope you never get just a little bit in touch with it. For those who suffer from one of the diseases: I hope you can find a thread, a life line to get a hold on, that can keep you in touch with reality, so you can fight against that "magical", mystical world you live in!

And for Livzy: it's great that you try to lighten the mood! Humour is a great therapy, even if you aren't suffering from anything!