Today we look back at Jo’s revelation in their twenties that they’d been a victim of Munchausen by proxy abuse: a moment that turned their world upside down. As Jo forges a path forward – reviewing their medical records and even confronting their childhood pediatrician – they discover how complex healing from this abuse truly is. Jo also opens up about their experiences with Dissociative Identity Disorder. We speak to Jo’s therapist, Angie, about their complicated system of coping mechanisms. We also bring in Jackie Rodriguez LMSW, QMHP-CS and peer support specialist Jade Miller to help us understand the deeply misunderstood and stigmatized condition of DID. *** Links/Resources: Jade Miler - https://www.peersupportformultiples.com/ Jackie Rodriguez, LMSW, QMHP-CS - Instagram Preorder Andrea's new book The Mother Next Door: Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy Click here to view our sponsors. Remember that using our codes helps advertisers know you’re listening and helps us keep making the show! Subscribe on YouTube where we have full episodes and lots of bonus content. Follow Andrea on Instagram for behind-the-scenes photos: @andreadunlop Buy Andrea's books here. To support the show, go to Patreon.com/NobodyShouldBelieveMe or subscribe on Apple Podcasts where you can get all episodes early and ad-free and access exclusive bonus content. For more information and resources on Munchausen by Proxy, please visit MunchausenSupport.com The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s MBP Practice Guidelines can be downloaded here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Todays episode includes descriptions of child abuse and may be difficult for some listeners.
Even for those of us who did not experience childhood trauma, memories of our younger years are pretty sparse, partially because for some of us who are hitting middle age, for example, these events took place many decades ago, but also because our brains store memories differently as very young children, which is why you cant remember, for example, being born.
And this is why we rely on our parents for the most part to be the historians of our childhood.
And this goes for our health history, too.
I, for example, have a thin white scar from the time I put a tooth through my upper lip after I jumped off the deck at age three.
But I dont actually remember it.
I do remember trying to catapult my friend off of a piece of plywood we found in the neighbors yard and putting a nail through my foot several years later.
Ah, the eighties.
But only my mom remembers taking me to the emergency room for my tennis shot.
But what if your childhood was almost nothing but these types of stories with large swaths of your time being spent in and out of the hospital for an illness or emergency?
And what if all at once, as an adult, you realized you couldnt trust anything you thought you knew?
People believe their eyes.
Thats something that is so central to this topic because we do believe the people that we love when theyre telling us something.
If we didnt, you could never make it through your day.
I'm Andrea Dunlop and this is nobody should believe me.
Did you know that I have a new book coming out, true Story.
And unlike my previous books, this one actually is a true story.
The mother next door medicine, deception and Munchausen by proxy, which I co authored with friend of the show detective Mike Weber, chronicles three of his most harrowing and impactful cases.
Longtime listeners of the show will have some familiarity with these cases, but I promise you will learn so much more about them, and you'll also just learn so much more about Detective Mike's journey in this arena, and also mine.
Doctor Mark Feldman, another friend of the show and an esteemed expert in all things Munchausen by proxy, read an early copy, and this is what he had to say about it, a truly vital, groundbreaking, and riveting contribution to the true crime literature on child abuse.