DID 101

Hey guys I am trying to write a DID 101 pamphlet thing to help people understand DID better.

I have been cutting and pasting things from other sites and I will order it and edit it when after I have collected things to add to it.

Is there anything that people feel I should add to it? or take out?



DID 101

Dissociation is the disruption of the normal integrative processes of consciousness, perception, memory, and identity that define selfhood.
Dissociative identity disorder is increasingly understood as a complex and chronic post traumatic psychopathology closely related to severe, particularly early, child abuse. Children who have been maltreated or abused are at risk for experiencing a host of mental health problems, including dissociative identity disorder.[34] This condition manifests with an emergence of 2 or more personality states including auditory hallucinations, severe depression and suicidality, phobic anxiety, somatization, substance abuse, and borderline features that partially or fully predominate the psychologic function of the individual for a period.
The deleterious effects of childhood abusive experiences on growth and development have been well documented and are associated with various later mental health problems. Diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder is not usually made until adulthood, long after the extreme maltreatment thought to engender the condition has occurred. Therefore, although the most common cause of the disorder is agreed to be early, ongoing, extreme physical and/or sexual abuse, accounts of such abuse are usually provided retrospectively by the patient and lack objective verification. Researchers have shown that, in many instances, borderline personality disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood may be traced to childhood abuse.
The existence of significant dissociative psychopathology related to physical and sexual abuse experienced in childhood was known to clinicians in the last century. However, only recently have modern mental health practitioners begun to appreciate implications of this forgotten linkage.
Clinical and research reports indicate that a history of physical and sexual abuse in childhood is more common among adults who develop major mental illness than previously suspected. Dissociation has also been linked specifically to childhood physical neglect in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Various degrees of dissociative disorders are recognized, ranging from passive disengagement and withdrawal from the active environment to multiple personality disorder (MPD), a severe dissociative disorder characterized by disturbances in both identity and memory and best understood as a posttraumatic, adaptive dissociative response to the fear and pain of overwhelming trauma, most commonly abuse. Fully expressed MPD is not often diagnosed as such in the pediatric population; however, other forms of dissociative disorders are not uncommon, as described in this article.


I have heard Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) described as a “create your own disorder” disorder, so it can manifest in many ways.
A little DID humor
Why oh Why Can't I Win?
For whatever reason, whenever I walk into the bedroom, I get my SO's protector alt, who tries to engage me in a fight to get rid of me. We have a dog. He was also abused (my therapist would have a field day with this information). When I come into the room, he growls at me. Lovely.... no matter when I go in, someone growls at me.
And some nights, both of them start..... Hmmm.... maybe he's multiple too. Yes folks, it's Dissociative Dog! I can just see it now..... when I come into the room, his protector alt comes out and growls at me. I think it's a Pit Bull, but I can't find his helpful alt to ask him. Lately, his puppy alt has also been active.
Of course we're now faced with a really difficult problem, in reference to therapy. My SO's therapist lets the dog come along, but he doesn't seem to be getting any benefit from it. Might be the language barrier. His diagnosis list must be longer than hers by now; neurosis, halitosis, MPD, and hallucinations. I know he can hear the refrigerator talking to him, because he sits near it and watches. And how in the world are we going to pay for *another* family member in therapy? Blue Cross refuses to cover him as my child, even though the therapist accepts it.
What Is Dissociation?

Dissociation is a mental process which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. During the period of time when a person is dissociating, certain information is not associated with other information as it normally would be. For example, during a traumatic experience, a person may dissociate the memory of the place and circumstances of the trauma from his ongoing memory, resulting in a temporary mental escape from the fear and pain of the trauma and, in some cases, a memory gap surrounding the experience. Because this process can produce changes in memory, people who frequently dissociate often find their senses of personal history and identity are affected.

Most clinicians believe that dissociation exists on a continuum of severity. This continuum reflects a wide range of experiences and/or symptoms. At one end are mild dissociative experiences common to most people, such as daydreaming, highway hypnosis, or "getting lost" in a book or movie, all of which involve "losing touch" with conscious awareness of one's immediate surroundings. At the other extreme is complex, chronic dissociation, such as in cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder (MPD) and other Dissociative Disorders, which may result in serious impairment or inability to function. Some people with DID(MPD)/DD can hold highly responsible jobs, contributing to society in a variety of professions, the arts, and public service. To co-workers, neighbors, and others with whom they interact daily, they apparently function normally.

There is a great deal of overlap of symptoms and experiences among the various Dissociative Disorders, including DID (MPD). For the sake of clarity, this brochure will refer to DID(MPD)/DD as a collective term. Individuals should seek help from qualified mental health providers to answer questions about their own particular circumstances and diagnoses.

How Does DID(MPD)/DD Develop?

When faced with overwhelmingly traumatic situations from which there is no physical escape, a child may resort to "going away" in his or her head. This ability is typically used by children as an extremely effective defense against acute physical and emotional pain, or anxious anticipation of that pain. By this dissociative process, thoughts, feelings, memories, and perceptions of the traumatic experiences can be separated off psychologically, allowing the child to function as if the trauma had not occurred.

DID(MPD)/DD is often referred to as a highly creative survival technique, because it allows individuals enduring "hopeless" circumstances to preserve some areas of healthy functioning. Over time, however, for a child who has been repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted, defensive dissociation becomes reinforced and conditioned. Because the dissociative escape is so effective, children who are very practiced at it may automatically use it whenever they feel threatened or anxious -- even if the anxiety-producing situation is not abusive.

Often, even after the traumatic circumstances are long past, the left-over pattern of defensive dissociation remains. Chronic defensive dissociation may lead to serious dysfunction in work, social, and daily activities. Repeated dissociation may result in a series of separate entities, or mental states, which may eventually take on identities of their own. These entities may become the internal "personality states," of a DID(MPD) system. Changing between these states of consciousness is described as "switching."

What Are The Symptoms Of DID(MPD)/DD?

People with DID(MPD) may experience any of the following: depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, sleep disorders (insomnia, night terrors, and sleep walking), panic attacks and phobias (flashbacks, reactions to stimuli or "triggers"), alcohol and drug abuse, compulsions and rituals, psychotic-like symptoms (including auditory and visual hallucinations), and eating disorders. In addition, individuals with DID(MPD)/DD can experience headaches, amnesias, time loss, trances, and "out of body experiences." Some people with DID(MPD)/DD have a tendency toward self-persecution, self-sabotage, and even violence (both self-inflicted and outwardly directed).

Who Gets DID(MPD)/DD?

The vast majority (as many as 98 to 99%) of individuals who develop DID(MPD)/DD have documented histories of repetitive, overwhelming, and often life-threatening trauma at a sensitive developmental stage of childhood (usually before the age of nine), and they may possess an inherited biological predisposition for dissociation. In our culture the most frequent precursor to DID(MPD)/DD is extreme physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in childhood, but survivors of other kinds of trauma in childhood (such as natural disasters, invasive medical procedures, war, and torture) have also reacted by developing DID(MPD)/DD.

Current research shows that DID(MPD) may affect 1% of the general population and perhaps as many as 5-20% of people in psychiatric hospitals, many of whom have received other diagnoses. The incidence rates are even higher among sexual abuse survivors and individuals with chemical dependencies. These statistics put DID(MPD)/DD in the same category as schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety, as one of the four major mental health problems today.

Most current literature shows that DID(MPD)/DD is recognized primarily among females. The latest research, however, indicates that the disorders may be equally prevalent (but less frequently diagnosed) among the male population. Men with DID(MPD)/DD are most likely to be in treatment for other mental illnesses, for drug and alcohol abuse, or incarcerated.

Why Are Dissociative Disorders Often Misdiagnosed?

DID(MPD)/DD survivors often spend years living with misdiagnoses, consequently floundering within the mental health system. They change from therapist to therapist and from medication to medication, getting treatment for symptoms but making little or no actual progress. Research has documented that on average, people with DID(MPD)/DD have spent seven years in the mental health system prior to accurate diagnosis.

This is common, because the list of symptoms that cause a person with DID(MPD)/DD to seek treatment is very similar to those of many other psychiatric diagnoses. In fact, many people who are diagnosed with DID(MPD)/DD also have secondary diagnoses of depression, anxiety, or panic disorders.

Do People Actually Have Multiple Personalities?

Yes, and no. One of the reasons for the decision by the psychiatric community to change the disorder's name from Multiple Personality Disorder to Dissociative Identity Disorder is that "multiple personalities" is somewhat of a misleading term. A person diagnosed with DID(MPD) has within her two or more entities, or personality states, each with its own independent way of relating, perceiving, thinking and remembering about herself and her life. If two or more of these entities take control of the person's behavior at a given time (what do you mean by a given time?), a diagnosis of MPD can be made. These entities previously were often called "personalities," even though the term did not accurately reflect the common definition of the word as the total aspect of our psychological makeup. Other terms often used by therapists and survivors to describe these entities are: "alternate personalities", "alters," "parts," "states of consciousness," "ego states," and "identities." It is important to keep in mind that although these alternate personality states may appear to be very different, they are all manifestations of a single person.

Can DID(MPD)/DD Be Cured?

Yes. Dissociative disorders are highly responsive to individual psychotherapy, or "talk therapy," as well as to a range of other treatment modalities, including medications, hypnotherapy, and adjunctive therapies such as art or movement therapy. In fact, among comparably severe psychiatric disorders, DID(MPD) may be the condition that carries the best prognosis, if proper treatment is undertaken and completed. The course of treatment is long-term, intensive, and invariably painful, as it generally involves remembering and reclaiming the dissociated traumatic experiences. Nevertheless, individuals with DID(MPD)/DD have been successfully treated by therapists of all professional backgrounds working in a variety of settings.

Individuals diagnosed with DID demonstrate a variety of symptoms with wide fluctuations across time; functioning can vary from severe impairment in daily functioning to normal or high abilities. Symptoms can include:[12]
• Multiple mannerisms, attitudes and beliefs which are not similar to each other
• Unexplainable headaches and other body pains
• Distortion or loss of subjective time
• Depersonalization
• Derealization
• Severe memory loss
• Depression
• Flashbacks of abuse/trauma
• Sudden anger without a justified cause
• Frequent panic/anxiety attacks
• Unexplainable phobias
• Auditory of the personalities inside their mind
• Paranoia
Patients may experience an extremely broad array of other symptoms that may appear to resemble epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, and eating disorders.[12]

Causes
This disorder is theoretically linked with the interaction of overwhelming stress, traumatic antecedents,[33] insufficient childhood nurturing, and an innate ability to dissociate memories or experiences from consciousness.[12] A high percentage of patients report child abuse.[7][34] People diagnosed with DID often report that they have experienced severe physical and sexual abuse, especially during early to mid childhood.[35] Several psychiatric rating scales of DID sufferers suggested that DID is strongly related to childhood trauma rather than to an underlying electrophysiological dysfunction.[36]
Others believe that the symptoms of DID are created iatrogenically by therapists using certain treatment techniques with suggestible patients,[4][6][7][8] but this idea is not universally accepted.[34][37][38][39][40][41] Skeptics have observed that a small number of US therapists were responsible for diagnosing the majority of individuals with DID there, that patients did not report sexual abuse or manifest alters until after treatment had begun, and that the "alters" tended to be rule-governed social roles rather than separate personalities[8] which is consistent with replacing the personalities-focused MPD term with the identities-focused DID term. Additionally in China with "virtually no popular or professional knowledge of DID (...)"[11] where "contamination cannot exist"[11] it has been concluded that "the findings are not consistent with (...) iatrogenic models (...)".
[edit] Development theory
It has been theorized that severe sexual, physical, or psychological trauma in childhood predisposes an individual to the development of DID. The steps in the development of a dissociative identity are theorized to be as follows:
1. The child is harmed by a trusted caregiver (often a parent or guardian) and splits off the awareness and memory of the traumatic event to survive in the relationship.
2. The memories and feelings go into the subconscious and are experienced later in the form of a separate personality.
3. The process happens repeatedly at different times so that different personalities develop, containing different memories and performing different functions that are helpful or destructive.
4. Dissociation becomes a coping mechanism for the individual when faced with further stressful situations.[42]

Wow that's a lot. Maybe you ought to include the different types of alters? EPs, ANPs, ISHs etc.

Would you please message me a copy of this DID 101 when it's completed?

Kaz x

RebelChild wrote:Dissociation is the disruption of the normal integrative processes of consciousness, perception, memory, and identity that define selfhood.
Dissociative identity disorder is increasingly understood as a complex and chronic post traumatic psychopathology closely related to severe, particularly early, child abuse. Children who have been maltreated or abused (by a primary caretaker) are at risk for experiencing a host of mental health problems, including dissociative identity disorder.[34] This condition manifests with an emergence of 2 or more (Apparently Normal Parts).

Symptoms can include auditory hallucinations, severe depression and suicidality, phobic anxiety, somatization, substance abuse,

and borderline features -unsure if this word is used correctly here that partially or fully predominate the psychologic function of the individual for a period.


The deleterious effects of childhood abusive (by a caretaker, especially sexual abuse,) experiences on growth and development have been well documented and are associated with various later mental health problems. Diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder is not usually made until adulthood, long after the extreme maltreatment thought to engender the condition has occurred.

Therefore, although the most common cause of the disorder is agreed to be early, ongoing, extreme physical and/or sexual abuse, accounts (the abuse being by a caretaker is of extreme importance. If the child was abused in a similar way, but had a loving partent to help them through it that they trust and can talk to they most likely will not develop Complex PTSD, DID or DID-like DDNOS) of such abuse are usually provided retrospectively by the patient and lack objective verification.

Researchers have shown that, in many instances, borderline personality disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood may be traced to childhood abuse. (The alters can have PTSD, and the host not too)


The existence of significant dissociative psychopathology related to physical and sexual abuse experienced in childhood was known to clinicians in the last century. However, only recently have modern mental health practitioners begun to appreciate implications of this forgotten linkage.
Clinical and research reports indicate that a history of physical and sexual abuse in childhood is more common among adults who develop major mental illness than previously suspected. Dissociation has also been linked specifically to childhood physical neglect in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Various degrees of dissociative disorders are recognized, ranging from passive disengagement and withdrawal from the active environment to multiple personality disorder (MPD), a severe dissociative disorder characterized by disturbances in both identity and memory and best understood as a posttraumatic, adaptive dissociative response to the fear and pain of overwhelming trauma, most commonly abuse (type of abuse should be defined). Fully expressed MPD is not often diagnosed as such in the pediatric population; however, other forms of dissociative disorders are not uncommon, as described in this article.


What Is Dissociation?

Dissociation is a mental process which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. During the period of time when a person is dissociating, certain information is not associated with other information as it normally would be. For example, during a traumatic experience, a person may dissociate the memory of the place and circumstances of the trauma from his ongoing memory, resulting in a temporary mental escape from the fear and pain of the trauma and, in some cases, a memory gap surrounding the experience. Because this process can produce changes in memory, people who frequently dissociate often find their senses of personal history and identity are affected.

Most clinicians believe that dissociation exists on a continuum of severity. This continuum reflects a wide range of experiences and/or symptoms. At one end are mild dissociative experiences common to most people, such as daydreaming, highway hypnosis, or "getting lost" in a book or movie,

Although I have read this too, the last thing and far more current information I read about this actually explained that highway hypnosis and DID like dissociation are NOT alike. I will find you that info later.

all of which involve "losing touch" with conscious awareness of one's immediate surroundings. At the other extreme is complex, chronic dissociation, such as in cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder (MPD) and other Dissociative Disorders, which may result in serious impairment or inability to function. Some people with DID(MPD)/DD can hold highly responsible jobs, contributing to society in a variety of professions, the arts, and public service. To co-workers, neighbors, and others with whom they interact daily, they apparently function normally.

( I have read this article before.)

There is a great deal of overlap of symptoms and experiences among the various Dissociative Disorders, including DID (MPD). For the sake of clarity, this brochure will refer to DID(MPD)/DD as a collective term. Individuals should seek help from qualified mental health providers to answer questions about their own particular circumstances and diagnoses.

How Does DID(MPD)/DD Develop?

When faced with overwhelmingly traumatic situations from which there is no physical escape, a child may resort to "going away" in his or her head. This ability is typically used by children as an extremely effective defense against acute physical and emotional pain, or anxious anticipation of that pain. By this dissociative process, thoughts, feelings, memories, and perceptions of the traumatic experiences can be separated off psychologically, allowing the child to function as if the trauma had not occurred.

Yes, to all that but! In horrific disasters kids do not get DID because they have loving support. The key to using DID to survive is the abuse if from a caretaker and it is fairly constant. There is also a huge variation between the covert and overt parts of the child life.

DID(MPD)/DD is often referred to as a highly creative survival technique, because it allows individuals enduring "hopeless" circumstances to preserve some areas of healthy functioning. Over time, however, for a child who has been repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted, defensive dissociation becomes reinforced and conditioned. Because the dissociative escape is so effective, children who are very practiced at it may automatically use it whenever they feel threatened or anxious -- even if the anxiety-producing situation is not abusive.

Often, even after the traumatic circumstances are long past, the left-over pattern of defensive dissociation remains. Chronic defensive dissociation may lead to serious dysfunction in work, social, and daily activities. Repeated dissociation may result in a series of separate entities, or mental states, which may eventually take on identities of their own. These entities may become the internal "personality states," of a DID(MPD) system. Changing between these states of consciousness is described as "switching."

What Are The Symptoms Of DID(MPD)/DD?

People with DID(MPD) may experience any of the following: depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, sleep disorders (insomnia, night terrors, and sleep walking), panic attacks and phobias (flashbacks, reactions to stimuli or "triggers"), alcohol and drug abuse, compulsions and rituals, psychotic-like symptoms (including auditory and visual hallucinations), and eating disorders. In addition, individuals with DID(MPD)/DD can experience headaches, amnesias, time loss, trances, and "out of body experiences." Some people with DID(MPD)/DD have a tendency toward self-persecution, self-sabotage, and even violence (both self-inflicted and outwardly directed).

Who Gets DID(MPD)/DD?

The vast majority (as many as 98 to 99%) of individuals who develop DID(MPD)/DD have documented histories of repetitive, overwhelming, and often life-threatening trauma at a sensitive developmental stage of childhood (usually before the age of nine (most literature I found says, 5, but 9 is also accepted), and they may possess an inherited biological predisposition for dissociation. In our culture the most frequent precursor to DID(MPD)/DD is extreme physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in childhood, but survivors of other kinds of trauma in childhood

(such as natural disasters, invasive medical procedures, war, and torture) have also reacted by developing DID(MPD)/DD. I don't think so with the natural disasters if they have someone taking care of them. The medical stuff, yes.

Current research shows that DID(MPD) may affect 1% of the general population and perhaps as many as 5-20% of people in psychiatric hospitals, many of whom have received other diagnoses. The incidence rates are even higher among sexual abuse survivors and individuals with chemical dependencies. These statistics put DID(MPD)/DD in the same category as schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety, as one of the four major mental health problems today.

Most current literature shows that DID(MPD)/DD is recognized primarily among females. The latest research, however, indicates that the disorders may be equally prevalent (but less frequently diagnosed) among the male population. Men with DID(MPD)/DD are most likely to be in treatment for other mental illnesses, for drug and alcohol abuse, or incarcerated.

(I have read most of this stuff before. You did find it all on the net)

Why Are Dissociative Disorders Often Misdiagnosed?

DID(MPD)/DD survivors often spend years living with misdiagnoses, consequently floundering within the mental health system. They change from therapist to therapist and from medication to medication, getting treatment for symptoms but making little or no actual progress. Research has documented that on average, people with DID(MPD)/DD have spent seven years in the mental health system prior to accurate diagnosis.

This is common, because the list of symptoms that cause a person with DID(MPD)/DD to seek treatment is very similar to those of many other psychiatric diagnoses. In fact, many people who are diagnosed with DID(MPD)/DD also have secondary diagnoses of depression, anxiety, or panic disorders.

Also T's are not trained to look for DID because much of the psychology world does not believe it exists or have been beaten down by the legal system such as the false memory foundation.

Do People Actually Have Multiple Personalities?

Yes, and no. One of the reasons for the decision by the psychiatric community to change the disorder's name from Multiple Personality Disorder to Dissociative Identity Disorder is that "multiple personalities" is somewhat of a misleading term. A person diagnosed with DID(MPD) has within her two or more ANP's. They also have 2 or more EP's

s, or personality states, each with its own independent way of relating, perceiving, thinking and remembering about herself and her life. If two or more of these entities take control of the person's behavior at a given time (what do you mean by a given time?), at the same time. a diagnosis of MPD can be made. These entities previously were often called "personalities," even though the term did not accurately reflect the common definition of the word as the total aspect of our psychological makeup. Other terms often used by therapists and survivors to describe these entities are: "alternate personalities", "alters," "parts," "states of consciousness," "ego states," and "identities." It is important to keep in mind that although these alternate personality states may appear to be very different, they are all manifestations of a single person.

Can DID(MPD)/DD Be Cured?

Yes. Dissociative disorders are highly responsive to individual psychotherapy, or "talk therapy," as well as to a range of other treatment modalities, including medications, hypnotherapy, and adjunctive therapies such as art or movement therapy. In fact, among comparably severe psychiatric disorders, DID(MPD) may be the condition that carries the best prognosis, if proper treatment is undertaken and completed. The course of treatment is long-term, intensive, and invariably painful, as it generally involves remembering and reclaiming the dissociated traumatic experiences. Nevertheless, individuals with DID(MPD)/DD have been successfully treated by therapists of all professional backgrounds working in a variety of settings.

Individuals diagnosed with DID demonstrate a variety of symptoms with wide fluctuations across time; functioning can vary from severe impairment in daily functioning to normal or high abilities. Symptoms can include:[12]
• Multiple mannerisms, attitudes and beliefs which are not similar to each other
• Unexplainable headaches and other body pains
• Distortion or loss of subjective time
• Depersonalization
• Derealization
• Severe memory loss
• Depression
• Flashbacks of abuse/trauma
• Sudden anger without a justified cause
• Frequent panic/anxiety attacks
• Unexplainable phobias
• Auditory of the personalities inside their mind
• Paranoia
Patients may experience an extremely broad array of other symptoms that may appear to resemble epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, and eating disorders.[12]

Causes
This disorder is theoretically linked with the interaction of overwhelming stress, traumatic antecedents,[33] insufficient childhood nurturing, and an innate ability to dissociate memories or experiences from consciousness.[12] A high percentage of patients report child abuse.[7][34] People diagnosed with DID often report that they have experienced severe physical and sexual abuse, especially during early to mid childhood.[35] Several psychiatric rating scales of DID sufferers suggested that DID is strongly related to childhood trauma rather than to an underlying electrophysiological dysfunction.[36]


Others believe that the symptoms of DID are created iatrogenically by therapists using certain treatment techniques with suggestible patients,[4][6][7][8] but this idea is not universally accepted.

As the last book I had pointed out... this can happen during BAD therapy, but those "self states" are temporary and very limited. They do not "act" like the others.


[34][37][38][39][40][41] Skeptics have observed that a small number of US therapists were responsible for diagnosing the majority of individuals with DID there, that patients did not report sexual abuse or manifest alters until after treatment had begun,

That is because the hosts job is to IGNORE DID symptoms and other parts at all costs! We spend our lives doing this. Of course we don't face it until we have to. Therapy makes us do just that... face it!



and that the "alters" tended to be rule-governed social roles rather than separate personalities[8] which is consistent with replacing the personalities-focused MPD term with the identities-focused DID term. Additionally in China with "virtually no popular or professional knowledge of DID (...)"[11] where "contamination cannot exist"[11] it has been concluded that "the findings are not consistent with (...) iatrogenic models (...)".
[edit] Development theory
It has been theorized that severe sexual, physical, or psychological trauma in childhood predisposes an individual to the development of DID. The steps in the development of a dissociative identity are theorized to be as follows:
1. The child is harmed by a trusted caregiver (often a parent or guardian) and splits off the awareness and memory of the traumatic event to survive in the relationship.
2. The memories and feelings go into the subconscious and are experienced later in the form of a separate personality.
3. The process happens repeatedly at different times so that different personalities develop, containing different memories and performing different functions that are helpful or destructive.
4. Dissociation becomes a coping mechanism for the individual when faced with further stressful situations.[42]

That was a very quick read through for you. Look at my blog on this site for a book summary of the book that I am talking about. Much of the text there belongs to E. Howell so it can't just be copied for a brochure. Some is in my words, but there are many quotes.