Dissociative Identity Disorder: Symtomatology Case File 2

We continue on a review of the symptomatology of dissociative identity disorder. Pseudonyms have been used for names.

​On several occasions, Wendy’s friends had encountered her, either in her college or at church, and had called her by name as they passed each other, but she would look right past them, not responding at all. When they had mentioned these incidents to her, she could not recall them and denied that she was ever present at that location, at the time.  Wendy has vague memories of a part of her that possessed an extraordinary creative ability, that had won her several artistic awards. Sometimes, she would be surprised how she had won a prize, or who did those drawings. She hears voices talking among themselves in her head, but assumed that it was all part of a normal thinking process with everyone. 

June had suicidal ideation. Once a month, in the early hours of the morning, while in a fugue state, she would drive her husband’s car out of the garage, for a couple of hours. Her husband, never discovered her absences.  She would ‘wake up’ and find herself at deserted spots, with all her medication next to her and a bottle of water. Shocked and crying,  she wandered how she got there and why she had brought her medicine with her.  It is not uncommon that during periods of unusual stress, a suicidal alter would take control and initiate an attempted suicide. 

Angie had been suffering from anorexia nervosa for several years. During a counselling session, an alter surfaced. She was fully aware that a part of her personality state had come out, beyond her control. It was the alter’s unexpected first appearance, and it distressed Angie. This was followed by an orientation of her dissociative state, and a further exploration of how it related to her eating disorder.

Alice just wanted to talk! All outward appearances indicated that she is a normal person. However, she had a niggling sensation that at times she cannot recall where she had been to or what she had done. No one had noticed her ‘forgetful’ memory. During her second interview, as we were chit-chatting about her early teen years, she suddenly stumbled over her words, and was seized with a fear that was abnormal. Her eyes looked past me, and when I enquired what was happening to her, she froze. She tried getting off her chair, but was unable to do so; seemingly riveted to the armchair. Within a minute or two, she was back to her normal self. But she had no memory of what took place earlier.

Hilary would be playing ‘hide and seek’ in a counselling session whenever a specific person’s name was mentioned. It appears that the name would trigger an alter to come forward, and she would dash behind a chair or sofa in fear. She’s not co-conscious with this particular personality state. 

“I have full control over Joy, and I get her to do anything I want. I know that Joy is a Christian now, but I am a Buddhist. I have no problems over her religion. I beat her husband because he called me a demon whenever I surface.” This may be typical of the language used by a violent personality state. To  surreptitiously conclude that such an alter is demonic, would be a huge mistake.  A demonic entity can be exorcised, but an alter cannot be cast out as it is part of the person’s memory system! There are other distinguishing differences between light and darkness in a dissociative person. I shall share more of that in another blog post.