This soe...what?!
The name Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) has been, only very recently, changed into Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) because thorough studies of this psychological disturbance started only a few years ago.

Dissociation means that there is a disturbance in the identity, memory or consciousness of a person. In short, the person becomes separated from reality. Unlike simple daydreaming, which is a common form of dissociation, some people dissociate from their identity; thus, the name dissociative identity disorder. It is the existence of two or more distinct personalities within a person.

What are the different types of personalities of a person diagnosed with DID? Are there signs and symptoms?
A multi (a person diagnosed with MPD/DID) always has a core personality, the original personality. It must be said that this is usually hiding in the deep recesses of the mind and that this hardly comes out from the safety found therein. The different personalities that take over are usually called alters, which is short for alter egos. They each have their own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self. This group of alters, including the core personality, forms what is known as a system. It functions as one, much like the way the different parts of the body function together, though not all are aware of the presence of others.

There are different types of alters, each having their own specific roles in partial fulfillment of the entire system’s over-all goal. The number and types of alters found in a system are different from multi to multi. Some systems may not have all of the types listed here while others may even have types that are unlisted.

There are generally three that are named according to their role.     

The most basic is the host. Usually unaware of having DID although having a feeling that something is wrong, most hosts are scared and depressed. This alter is the one responsible for controlling the body most of the time.     

The Internal Self-Helpers (ISH), on the other hand, do not take control of the body often. They manage the “internal affairs” of the system, regulating which personality takes over the body and such. They know a lot about each of the personalities in the system.     

Last but not the least, protectors are usually strong and angry personalities with the role of protecting the system from any kind of harm.

The rest of the personalities are named according to their characteristics.     

Littles, pre-teens and teens are the minors in the system. In a few words, they act their age although most posses a kind of fear not found in typical children.     

Adults, alters above 18 years of age, tend to be very individualistic. They may have talents other alters do not posses and even a sexual and racial orientation that is different from the physical body. For example, there may be an African-American male alter in the physical body of a Caucasian female.     

Aside from human alters, there also may be animal and inanimate alters. Inanimate alters are objects void of emotions and senses.


Most mutli’s have erratic mood swings because of the switching of the personality controlling the body. Switching is often triggered subconsciously by a sudden, seemingly threatening event or something the person’s mind equates to danger such as lighted candles, which are used in satanic child abuse rituals. This is the application of the reason for creating alters in the first place. Connected with switching, time loss happens when an alter or alters withhold the occurrence of events while the host was not in control of the physical body. This time loss can last from a few seconds to several years. Another sign is auditory hallucinations, also caused by the presence of alters. These speak with one another, the host or no one in particular while they are not in control of the body. Multi’s with this symptom take the saying “hearing voices in my head” literally and consider it normal.

How did a multi become a multi?
99% of multi’s have suffered severe and repeated abuse during their infancy or childhood and psychologists have attributed these abuses as the root cause of DID. It is said that the core personality could not handle the trauma and pain independently and so created an alter in order to help bear or block the otherwise inescapable abuse. This alter also could not survive the on-going afflictions alone and so another alter was created, so on and so forth. Alters were created in order to survive. According to these personalities, survival lies in the protection of the core personality and the host by blocking them from the trauma. This blocking is done physically as alters take over the body during the abuse and emotionally as they keep the reality of the abuse secret.

Remember that although more alters may be created at an older age, it is only during infancy or childhood that this disorder can actually start. The reason behind this is that only children have the capacity and flexibility to fuse reality and fantasy whereas 10-year-olds are already capable of separating the two. This fusion-capacity gives the core personality creative freedom in dissociating and forming a system to help him/herself survive the repeated trauma. With this in mind, the core personality is usually only an infant. It had created others to control the body and ultimately failed to mature as the physical body and host did. Without realizing its abnormality, the host alter grew and matured with the capability to create other alters.

Other sites... *made by survivors (of child abuse)
On DID:     

*MPD/DID Information Pages (http://home.att.net/~boyym/Main.html)     

*Shattered Selves (http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/8089/index.html)     

*Split Angels (http://www.splitangels.org)     

Soaring on Enchanted Wings: Soaring Stars/Tattered Hearts (http://enchantedwings.freeservers.com/mpd.html)     

About.com: Dissociation and Multiple Personalities (http://incestabuse.about.com/cs/didmpd)

Against Child Abuse:

         

Woman's World, Child Abuse Awareness, April (http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/9691/april.html)     

About.com: Child Abuse (http://incestabuse.about.com/cs/childabuse)

"What color are the tears that are shed for the children?"
"They are clear", He said... "and they fill the oceans."

© The Duchess