Columns May 29, 2008 at 4:00 am

Something to Talk About

Comments

1
K. Graves is proud of being someone who defends Schizophrenics and then gets the definition of their own condition wrong, apparently. Schizophrenia does not involve "multiple personalities" and anyone with a modicum of psychological education knows that... much less someone actually suffering from it.
2
The fact that "multiple personalities" was put in quotes in K. Graves' comment leads me to believe that he is referring to what other people think and say about schizophrenia. It's a popular misconception that schizophrenia is synonymous with "multiple personality disorder." I think this may have been K. Graves' implication. It's harmful to those who actually live with the disorder for others to toss around jokes and incorrect definitions about it.

That said, Dan never used the term "multiple personalities" in his advice to Right Handed Man, so K. Graves clearly isn't quoting him specifically and may just be getting the disorder wrong.
3
Dan said, "Only schizophrenics experience performance anxiety when they jerk it." He was using the word as if it were synonymous with "multiple personalities", to make a joke.

That's why K. Graves mentioned multiple personalities, because Dan used the word "schizophrenics" as if it were the same thing.
4
Dan isn't wrong; untreated Schizophrenics will often have hallucinations, &/or sometimes fear that they are being watched; by aliens, the government, etc. Thinking the alien government lizards are watching you wank would induce far more performance anxiety than a "multiple personality" in your own body would, so there's little reason to assume that Dan was misrepresenting schizophrenia as being equivalent to MPD.
Inaccurate? No. Insensitive? Just like always. We wouldn't read him otherwise.

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