Home » Mind & Soul » Multiple Personality » Words Make Worlds

Words Make Worlds

© karenjoy

"Words Make Worlds." I saw this quote in the hallway of a hospital a few months ago while visiting my sister-in-law. She'd been there for weeks by that time, the victim of what seemed to us to be countless days of unnecessary suffering due to the negligence of a careless doctor. An undiagnosed ear infection had turned into meningitis and now she was in intensive care recovering from her second brain surgery as a result. We'd watched her go from the usual hopeful, upbeat and full of faith woman she is in the early stages of her illness and come out several months later discouraged and overwhelmed from the continual pain and side effects of the treatments, even to the point of a deep depression that left her on the brink of suicide.

In the midst of it all, we watched her carefully as a family in an attempt to shield her from the "well-meaning" words that people spoke to her throughout her ordeal, including the hospital staff, noting carefully the effects that each interchange had upon her. At first the effects of these "messages" were subtle, but we could still see their harmful effect upon her. "Perhaps you could wait a little longer before ringing for the nurse next time, dear. After all, you're not the only patient we have to attend to..." "Are you sure you really need your pain medicine now?" We'd come in and talk her through such hurtful remarks, knowing how humiliating and shaming they were for her, and do what we could to help encourage her through. Words can heal, too, and they should.

Other people didn't understand the family's refusal to allow visitors, thinking we were being overprotective, but we'd seen the exhausting effects some of the "words" spoken to her had on her "world," and at times it was far more harmful than good. She was simply too weak, even after being moved from intensive care, and just couldn't explain why she hadn't been taking the right vitamins, or hadn't gone to the doctor before she got an ear infection, or hadn't tried a different emergency room before it got "so bad." The messages were certainly well intended, but the "worlds" they were creating in her weakened state of mind were painful and unhelpful, and counterproductive to be sure. So again we did our best to use healing words to create some hope in her world, but it was a long and difficult battle, to say the least.

The copyright of the article Words Make Worlds in Multiple Personality is owned by karenjoy. Permission to republish Words Make Worlds in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.