Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) / Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a defense mechanism created in childhood while the brain is still developing. MPD/DID is a very real and legitimate disorder of the mind even though there still is conflict within the medical and psychological community. Although MPD/DID is not a physical illness, it is a disorder of the mind and just like any other form of "Illness" can and does affect the physical well being of the entire bod

As infants our minds are still developing and we're learning how to cope with life and how to react in different situations. And in the case of trauma or child abuse we all develop our own defense mechanism to cope.

Some children will react in a defensive manner such as screaming or fighting back and others may shy away and learn to be quiet and "good" so the abuse will stop. While others simply cannot cope with their surroundings because the abuse is just too horrendous and their only way of coping with "what the mind cannot handle" is to dissociate so they don't have to deal with their abuse. By the way, simply dissociating like this does not necessarily develop into MPD/DID!

But sometimes if the abuse continues in its severity, the mind can separate into "Parts" (fragments) and begin to use dissociation as his/her primary form of defense. The child's subconscious mind may begin to assign names, faces, chores, emotions and individual personalities to each "Part," and each one of these parts will usually stay fragmented from the rest of the subconscious mind, which is why there is so much confusion and loss of time.

These "Parts" are initially created to deal with some form of trauma that the rest of the mind is too fragile (anymore) to deal with or even simply to perform a certain task that others are not capable of. This fragmenting could continue on for as long as the trauma and/or abuse continue.

A person with MPD/DID will usually stroll through life feeling isolated with all of this confusion in their minds until something happens to trigger one or more of the alters. These triggers may not even, and usually do not occur until adulthood when the disorder is no longer needed for safety since the (now) adult is far away from danger and it is safe to finally deal with the mental issues from the past.

Please keep in mind that the creation of the alter personalities: the switching and the triggers are all automatic. Basically it all happens in the sub-conscious mind.

After all, the main goal of creating such a defense mechanism is to hide the truth from not only the rest of the subconscious but from society as well in order to be able to lead a half way normal life. Where the average individual seeks to grow, thrive, enjoy and better their lives, the multiples focus on life is "survival!"

More times than not, these episodes begin to surface when we are raising our own children! Since most multiples experience severe abuse beginning in early childhood or even infancy, our subconscious begins to recognize behaviors and episodes in our children that might trigger memories of our own childhood abuse.

This is when the survivor may begin to experience even more mental, and emotional disturbances and may begin to experience recovered memories simply because they are beginning to mirror their own childhood through their children.

I must stress here that multiples in general do not physically abuse their own, or other children! But the abusive caregivers (in my opinion) would be those who are struggling with depression and other mental issues and possibly even physical issues that might be making the individual stressed out and depressed.

Survivors who live with MPD/DID often feel "crazy," "out of place in society," "isolated," "disoriented," "confused due to so much memory loss and all of the turmoil within the brain," "animated" and "living in a daydream like state of mind"! All of the above mentioned is what makes this condition a "disorder" because it is affecting the quality of life. We appear quite normal on the outside and function very well in society, which is why I believe that this disorder has been in question for so long.

Survivors with MPD/DID are often thought of as hypochondria's, suffering with one ailment after another and never seeming to get to the bottom of what is causing the pains. This happens because each alter personality deals with their own issues and each alter carries his or her own memories of trauma or abuse and his or her physical body is reacting to memories (body memories) that were only experienced by that one alter, and indeed each alter really does have physical issues that other alters do not.

One example of this is the different prescriptions of eye wear (or glasses). When a multiple visits the eye doctor, the outcome of the exam lies solely on the alter personality who shows up for the appointment. There could also be various switching of the different alters during the exam as well which causes the exam to result in the wrong prescription.

Now you may be saying to yourself "Maybe that's it, I have MPD/DID," I was abused as a child, I'm starting to have recovered memories, I have a lot of memory loss and I have all of the other symptoms that have been mentioned here. So does that make me a multiple? No, of course not! There are a lot of other mental disorders that mimic every one of the symptoms above.

Every body experiences all of the same emotions and confusions at times, especially when dealing with traumatic situations in their lives. The difference is that someone who may be living with MPD/DID has had these symptoms for years and years and the quality of their lives have been so poor that they have struggled to function with everyday life for just as many years!

What makes a person a legitimate multiple is the creation of the alter personalities, who have their own distinct characteristics. An alter can be male or female or even an object as well, but no matter what that alter is, there is a reason, purpose and a function that he/she or even it was created for.

Each alter personality has their own unique handwriting! Some may need glasses, and even different prescriptions from one another where others may have 20/20 vision. There may be an alter personality or two with eating disorders, and the food preferences are just as unique amongst the rest.

The alter personalities have their own likes and dislikes and each acts and talks age appropriately (The age that they are on the "inside"). Some can paint, while some can sew and some can write beautiful poetry or stories, there may even be a decorator and even an architect. They even make the body feel the same size as they are on the inside.

The original person (the one who was born) is usually not present during the abuse in childhood, she/he will usually dissociate from traumatic experiences. This is usually the person who creates the first alter personality to experience the abuse while she/he (the original person) dissociates and becomes amnesiac to the event; and the alter personality as well.

Therefore while this created alter personality is present and aware of the abuse; time stands still for the original person causing her/him to "lose time." I might add also that because this is an automatic defense mechanism used to protect the body and mind, that new alter personalities can even be created in adult hood to experience adult trauma or even just to perform functions that the younger alter personalities are not capable of.

After a traumatic episode comes to an end the original person may or may not associate herself/himself back to the conscious mind but may (and probably will) stay amnesiac to the trauma or episode that had just occurred. If the trauma continues and the traumatized alter personality cannot take any more abuse, then another alter personality is created and the latest alter personality will retire or just not be present anymore; and may not even appear again until years later, at which time she/he may still be back in the past and does not even know that the body has grown up.

One or more of these alter personalities will become host personalities, who are the alters who "stay out" the majority of the time to take care of every day task's that other alters are not able to do because they have faced too much trauma or other reasons. When the body is faced with more traumatic episodes then the host will usually "go inside" to protect themselves from being tarnished with any negative memories. This procedure of going in and out of the sub-conscious mind causes the host to even lose time.

Usually the "original person" (The one who was born to the body) is extremely confused because she/he is the one that all of the other alter personalities are protecting. In fact in some cases the original person will simply die off and the mind is left with the surviving alter personalities who appear to function quite well in society whether the original is dead or not. These alter personalities usually remain the same age as when they experienced their abuse, which explains the reason for so many different ages of alter personalities.

An example of this is if the body was three years old, then the alter personality who was created to experience a certain traumatic episode could possibly remain three. However this alter could also experience more abuse for years sometimes, but when he/she cannot take anymore, then that is when the alter personality may stop growing.

After the alter personalities begin to be created, they switch in and out of consciousness, depending on the surroundings and what is happening at the moment. While one alter will "come forward" at mealtime, another may "switch in" during mealtime if there is any disturbances happening or even if the meal happens to be another alters favorite. In fact many alter personalities can switch in and out in a matter of seconds. With all of this switching going on in the mind, each alter personality is losing time as they disappear or "go back in" which is how a multiple losses so much time.

Of course with all of this missing time, each alter personality is left with confusion as they try to figure out where they are and how they got there. This type of mental activity is extremely exhausting and thirty minutes of continuous dissociating is equivalent to eight hours behind a desk with your head down (nonstop) working, such as paying bills. And then when you add the extra abuse to a mind that is already in turmoil, the depression deepens causing the victim even more agony and the body begins to take its toll as well.

Please keep in mind that there are no rules to being a Multiple, so what I am explaining here can be totally opposite from other multiples. Our systems are all created in different environments and lifestyles and with different traumatic experiences.

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