When Someone You Love Has Multiple Personalities

I have a very dear friend who has suffered unimaginable abuse. She has shared with me intimate details of her childhood and the things that she experienced. Not only did she go through sexual abuse but also ritual abuse. If you met her you would never believe that she survived the horrors that she went through as she is very outgoing and normal. Fortunately to survive such atrocities, she was able to split off into other personalities.

There is much skepticism about DID, which used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder. I have no doubt in it's existance. I have seen my friend split into different personalities. At first I found it scary. I asked her when she first confided in me if I needed to be afraid of her other personalities. She told me that I needn't be afraid as she and her other multiple personalities knew I was not a threat to her. I was witness to her splitting off several times and I was not afraid.

Her biggest fear, other than the obvious, was exposing her children to her disorder. I personally and many professionals believe that this is a gift not a disorder. Professionals now believe that if children do not have the ability to split off when being severely abused that they become sociopaths, psychotic, and or crazy. Many times they become abusers themselves. This is an ability that develops early in childhood. If you know a person who has multiple personalities it is most likely that they were abused before the age of three.

I do find it interesting though that women who have been raped often cannot remember what happened to them and that is also a form of disassociation. which is a form of splitting off. Even though the victim doesn't become another personality, they still mentally leave their body.