Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as multiple personality disorder (MPD) is an adaptive response to a very maladaptive environment. It is an extreme response to extreme trauma where people have had no other option to handle the trauma except to split themselves off from it. By forming other selves to handle the traumatic situation, the person could compartmentalize and dissociate from its very occurrence. This allowed the person to maintain a sense of self even when forced to participate in activities that absolutely could not be tolerated

The treatment for DID is based on reversing and repairing the splitting process that saved the person’s life and sanity in the first place. This amazing coping skill is highly adaptive in a trauma situation, but eventually causes great disturbance in a person’s life. Over the course of time, the amount of pain, the depth of the emotionally laden trauma material, the constant conflict, and the devastation of splitting of oneself into tiny bits become too overwhelming to manage.

Once people start gaining safety from any ongoing abuse and any ongoing reason to dissociate, they can begin the process of healing and re-associating themselves with their parts. This occurs gradually, only as they find out some of the painful, emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual reasons for why they were forced to split in the first place. Only as they address those unmet needs, learn about the traumatic issues, find comfort for their pain, and re-learn about life without trauma, can they heal the wounds that have been left unattended for years of time.

The dissociative treatment process is very long because of the depth of everything involved. For DID folks, the abuse typically happened for years of time, with a wide variety of offenders, and next to no comfort and no assurance of safety. Having a life of crisis and trauma became an “everyday normal reality” for them. There was no area of life that does not get affected by such extreme trauma. Healing from this depth of injury takes time because there is so much healing to do, everywhere.

Some of the issues addressed in the treatment of dissociative disorders include:

Stabilization of the person – both internally and externally
Self injury and self harm issues
Current external safety from abuse
Internal system safety
Internal communication
Internal system conflict
Internal noise and chaos
Working specifically with child parts
Working specifically with the adult parts
Learning about the other system parts
Working with internal perpetrator introjects
Separation from the external perpetrators
Working with triggers
Cognitive distortions
Gender issues, male vs. female issues
Processing emotions
Body image issues
Time loss, memory loss, amnesia
Time confusion, time distortion
Trauma processing – memory work
Body memories and kinesthetic issues
Re-enactments and trauma bonds
Sexual abuse issues
Physical abuse issues
Emotional abuse issues
Ritualized abuse issues
Childhood exploitation issues
Integration and blending
Parenting issues
Addictions
Eating disorders
Household management issues – daily functioning
Relationship issues
Understanding the effects of trauma on the brain
Self independence issues
Self esteem issues
Leaving disability and regaining employment
Depression
Bipolar disorder
Anxiety and panic
Post-traumatic stress issues
Phobias
Social anxiety and social isolation
Suicidal ideation
Homicidal ideation
Spiritual issues
Philosophical issues
Detachment and separation issues
Sleep disorders
Medical complications and leftover physical harm due to the abuse

If you need to process any of these issues, please consider a clinical consultation.

Click here if you would like to read a sample IM session with our Clinical Director and a person with DID.