KItKat, I think within your description of that little girl I can point out and explain a bit . When I say "choice" ,I refer to our own personal way,from childhood on up, of reacting to our environment and making choices on how to fit into that environment while trying to save ourselves from emotional and physical pain . Even a child can decide how they feel best. Should they make themselves invisible, being so quiet as to limit family interaction, should they speak up and defend themselves (which they aren't really equipped to do) and possibly bring more attention to themselves , or should they react angrily and become a force so terrible that they are the feared ones. We've all read stories about little girls who were so abused they "learned" to disassociate themselves from their identity and pretend to be someone else,leading eventually to the very questionable "mental illness" of MPD. While ,certainly, these horribly abused little girls deserve to fantasize and become "in their minds" someone else ,they will still need the care and therapy necessary to overcome the reality of the real pain of their experiences. What I believe, and what others believe doesn't necessarily mean either of us is wrong, there are opinions favoring both sides of this issue as well as the issue of personality disorders actually being mental illnesses. In the pure sense, using psychosis as the standard, we can not include sociopathy/psychopath or MPD under this label. When I said CHOICE I certainly did not intend for it to be understood as literally as it was. The chemistry of the brain can be altered,as well, as is clearly demonstrated in neglected children ,those deprived of stimuli. Can we say these children genetically were predisposed not to develop normally,and while under the age of three can we say they chose to shut down? No ,it's all still unexplored territory yet with the newer mri's and other scanning techniques we can see areas of the brain that just do not develop normally in children with sensory deprivation. However this too can be countered with, was nutrition a factor, are neglected children less likely to take in nourishment? It goes on and on. But please understand my use of the word choice wasn't meant to be taken so literally.
Thanks for the "don't pick on sissi", and I wasn't being too nice , I was assuaging my attackers.
IMO
