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Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
(Formerly known as: Multiple Personality Disorder)
by Kimberly Gaines Eckert, M.A.,
Todd D. Burnett, M.Div.,
Mark R. McMinn, Ph.D.
I am five years old," Chris told her counselor as she scribbled haphazardly in her coloring book, "and I can't write, and I live with my mommy and daddy." Chris rocked back and forth in the fetal position and sang to herself as she worked on her coloring book.
However, Chris was not actually five years old and her name wasn't Chris. "Chris" was really Julie—a woman in her mid-thirties who had sought treatment for depression. Although "Chris" said she couldn't write, Julie had brought her own handwritten journal entries to previous sessions. While "Chris" told her counselor she lived with her mommy and daddy, Julie actually lived hours away from her parents and had not spoken to them for several years.
Why would a woman seek counseling and then speak these obvious untruths about herself? Was Julie maliciously lying to her counselor or pretending to be something she was not? Why would an adult speak and act like a young child? The answers to these are found in understanding the mysterious psychological disorder known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD).
Dissociation and DID
Imagine you have a friend who has just been through a painful and unwanted divorce. In the midst of her pain and confusion, your friend may distance herself from memories of her unfaithful husband. Perhaps she will avoid talking about him, refuse to answer his phone calls, or even discard pictures and memorabilia that remind her of a relationship that wounded her so deeply. All this reflects a basic coping strategy. In the middle of pain, we find ways to remove ourselves from it. If our hand gets too close to the candle flame, we pull it away. If a relationship becomes too frightening or threatening, we back away. If a memory hurts too much, we find ways of avoiding it.
As a very young child, Julie was the victim of traumatic and severe sexual and verbal abuse with no means of physical escape. What could Julie do at age five when the emotional pain of being sexually molested and the chaos of screaming parents was so overwhelming few adults could handle it, let alone a sensitive young child? In an effort to survive, Julie learned to submerge her memories deep within herself in order to separate from the horror of her situation. She tried to avoid her awful pain by discarding it and setting it aside as if she could avoid those memories for a lifetime.
This ability to mentally escape from a traumatic situation and store away all of one's thoughts and emotions regarding an event as though it did not happen is called dissociation. Dissociation involves splitting off or separating certain deeply unpleasant feelings, memories, and experiences because they are simply too painful to bear.
 'Chris' was one of those alters, the
part of Julie that carried the pain of
a frightened five-year-old who couldn't
yet read or write. Yet the real Julie did
not even know that 'Chris' existed.
Dissociation is a bit like normal forgetting and the better-known psychological defense mechanism of repression, but incredibly more pervasive and potentially problematic. Because dissociation is caused by horrible traumas, the memories are actively pushed out of the child's mind into a separate, hidden, split-off unconscious mental space.
As a short-term mechanism for coping with traumatic experiences, dissociation can work rather well because it allows the child to function normally, as though the trauma never happened. In this sense, dissociation worked for Julie. When faced with the trauma of severe sexual and physical abuse, dissociation allowed her to compartmentalize her threatening, destructive and emotionally painful feelings, thoughts and memories out of awareness so that she could continue living an outwardly normal life. Dissociation was a protective mechanism that helped ease the harsh reality of her traumatic events. But in another sense, Julie's dissociation was extremely costly. It ultimately led her to develop an entire set of alternative personalities, (called alters by mental health professionals). Each alter contained certain aspects of Julie's life experiences, but none of them were integrated into a comprehensive, complete self with a realistic understanding of herself, others and the world around her. Her split-off and unresolved memories were also at the root of her serious clinical depression.
Individuals with DID are generally dominated by at least two of these distinct and separate personalities, each one storing a different split off and isolated chunk of experience and emotional reactions. Since these alters are isolated and unknown from each other, they each lead to such different behavior and thought patterns that they seem to be entirely different people.
Because Julie's traumatic experiences continued through her childhood, she continued dissociating in order to establish a barrier against her threatening life situations. Her memories, feelings and thoughts regarding the abuse were so traumatic and painful that she was completely unable to remain consciously aware of them and to integrate them as part of her self. In time, her mind created many different personality states, each with its own independent way of relating to other people, and of perceiving, thinking and remembering.
"Chris" was one of those alters, the part of Julie that carried the pain of a frightened five-year-old who couldn't yet read or write. Yet the real Julie did not even know that "Chris" existed. It was as if Julie has been splintered into many pieces, each of which carried part of the puzzle that she and her counselor would ultimately need to put together. And each of these pieces had been put in a separate room and the door shut.
 Continued on Page Two
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