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Synopsis
Janet's brain felt foggy and numb. She imagined herself kneeling on a great frozen lake, and she pressed her face against the ice, trying to see through the cloudy surface to the open water below. She knew it must be freezing, but her body didn't feel cold. In fact, she didn't feel any physical sensation at all, just an internal panic.
Janet didn't understand these feelings. She just knew that in her frightening daydreams, she was lost above the ice and the knowledge that could save her was trapped in the dark water below. Soon, Janet was forgetting things, missing school, and losing sleep. She'd find notes that she'd written to herself but couldn't remember writing. They said things like, "Janet! Help Me!" and "Who are you?" Scariest of all, she began hearing voices in her head that did not sound like her own. When she imagined herself looking down through that barren ice, she thought she saw a little girl looking back at her. Janet was sure the little girl's name was Sara....
Have you ever daydreamed, "lost track of time" when you were having fun, or "tuned out" when your parents were scolding you? If so, you were experiencing dissociation. Janet's dissociation, however, is much more severe. She is suffering from dissociative identity disorder. Different parts of her personality have become so separate that they are beginning to seem like different people. A dissociative disorder like Janet's requires medical intervention.
Janet's story, and stories like hers, can teach us a lot about how our minds work and how they can be treated. Read Drug Therapy and Dissociative Disorders and learn more about these psychiatric disorders and the help available for people like Janet.
Cathi I. White - Children's Literature
Dissociate means to separate or remove from something. Dissociative disorders are caused by situations that are stressful or traumatic. There are four main types of dissociative disorders. Nathan had dissociative amnesia. He had been in a very traumatic flood when he was ten. Afterward, he experienced nightmares. He refused to take baths or showers. However, he did not remember anything about the flood. Joan, a mother with dissociative fugue, was afraid of taking care of her new daughter. She found herself on several occasions leaving her daughter alone in the house at night. She would awake outside of her house, not remembering ever leaving. Janet could hear a little girl's voice from underneath the ice calling her. She was trapped and needed help. But the voice was only in Janet's head because she suffered from dissociative identity disorder. Marion was at a dance, dancing with a boy. She saw herself dancing but could not feel any movement. She was watching herself from a distance in the same room. Marion was experiencing a depersonalization disorder. All of these disorders are curable and can be treated with medicine and psychotherapy. Read more about this fascinating disorder in this informative, easy to understand book. It is part of the series, "Psychiatric Disorders: Drugs and Psychology for the Mind and Body." 2004, Mason Crest Publishers, Ages 12 up.