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Understanding DID
Articles from the Ivory Garden community to help make sense of the language, models, and choices you may meet on your healing journey.
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Article
Definitions of Integration
The term integration is often used in discussions of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), but it does not have a single, agreed-upon meaning. People encounter the word in different contexts — in therapy, in clinical literature, and in peer communities — and may find that it is used to describe very different experiences.
This can make conversations about integration confusing or emotionally charged, especially when people are looking for clear answers or reassurance. The purpose of this resource is to offer clear, neutral definitions of how the term is commonly used, so readers can better understand the language they are encountering without feeling pressure to adopt a particular interpretation.
Therapeutic Models and Community Contexts
Phase-Oriented Trauma Treatment
How integration is commonly defined: Integration is described as a later-stage process in which dissociative parts become increasingly cooperative and may eventually unify into a more cohesive sense of self. It is often associated with reduced dissociative barriers and increased continuity of memory and identity.
Where this definition comes from: Clinical trauma treatment literature and therapist training materials.
Structural Dissociation–Informed Models
How integration is commonly defined: Integration is described as the resolution of structural dissociation through the joining or blending of dissociative parts. This may be described as fusion or unification of parts into a single identity structure.
Where this definition comes from: Theory-driven clinical models and related research literature.
Nervous-System / Regulation-Oriented Approaches
How integration is commonly defined: Integration is described in terms of improved regulation, coordination, and continuity of experience, often without an emphasis on changes in identity structure.
Where this definition comes from: Trauma therapy approaches emphasizing nervous-system regulation.
Peer and Lived-Experience Communities
How integration is commonly defined: Integration may be used to describe a wide range of experiences, including blending, identity shifts, functional improvement, or a sense of being more whole, sometimes without reference to formal models.
Where this definition comes from: Online forums, peer discussions, and personal narratives.
Closing
People may recognize their own experience in one, several, or none of these descriptions. The purpose of this resource is to reduce confusion, not to define or evaluate individual experiences.
Note
The definitions listed here reflect how integration is commonly used within certain models or communities and do not represent fixed rules. In real-world practice, therapists vary widely in how they understand and use these terms, and many do not follow a single model exclusively. Peer and lived-experience communities also develop their own terms and meanings, which may differ from clinical language and are shaped by shared experience rather than formal definitions.
For discussion: If you are interested in sharing perspectives or asking questions, you are welcome to do so on the forum. Join the discussion →
Written and copyright: Felicity Lee for this site only – please do not reproduce without permission.
Article
A Survivor’s Guide to DID Models
Introduction
Though the symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) are consistent across the community, the theories used to explain them—ranging from “expert-led” trauma narratives to “organized programming”—often create a dangerous dependency. True healing requires moving past blind loyalty to a clinical paradigm and recognizing dissociation as a calculated survival design that the survivor alone is qualified to lead. Whether your goal is total ‘integration’ or simply better daily functioning, you must identify which model your therapist is using for treating you.
The Models
There are several models as to how a person can heal from the trauma that formed dissociative identity disorder. However, the different models are separated and often confusing in their different approaches. Below, I will show you the different theories for the treatment of DID. It is important to note that neither Ivory Garden nor I advises on this matter, but shares the information you need to know to be informed.
1. The Theory of Structural Dissociation (TSD)
- Definition: The current “Gold Standard” used by the ISSTD. It claims the personality fails to integrate, splitting into “Apparently Normal Parts” (ANP) and “Emotional Parts” (EP).
- Source: Boon, Steele, & Van der Hart (2011).
- Focus: Bridging amnesic walls and “fusing” fragments back together.
- Red Flag: This model views you as “broken pieces.” It can create a permanent dependency where you feel you cannot function without an expert to manage your fragments.
2. The Socio-Cognitive / Fantasy Model
- Definition: Claims DID is a “socially constructed” role influenced by media, culture, or therapist suggestion.
- Source: Lynn, et al. (2014).
- Focus: Reducing the “performance” of multiple identities.
- Red Flag: This model treats your survival strategy as an “act.” It can make you feel like a liar, forcing you to suppress your history rather than understanding it.
3. The Trauma-Intrusion Model
- Definition: A neurological approach. Parts are viewed not as people, but as state-dependent flashbacks—a “Time-Locked” memory hijacking the present.
- Source: Reinders, et al. (2012).
- Focus: Grounding and “extinguishing” the flashback triggers through dual awareness.
- Red Flag: This treats the brain like a broken engine. It misses the purpose behind why you created those states, focusing only on “stopping the glitch.”
4. The Internal Family Systems (IFS) Model
- Definition: Claims everyone is a system of parts (Managers, Firefighters, Exiles). In DID, these parts are simply more autonomous and amnesic.
- Source: Schwartz & Sweezy (2019).
- Focus: Creating internal harmony and “Self-leadership” within the internal system.
- Red Flag: This can turn your life into a never-ending boardroom meeting. Constant negotiation can keep you fragmented instead of moving toward functional peace.
5. Internal Collaboration
- Definition: Dissociation is viewed as Strategic Absence. When a threat is anticipated, you “delegate” the event to a Bookmark in time (a part) and “vacate” to a safe mental space (dissociate).
- Source: Dalenberg, et al. (2012) / Brand, et al. (2025).
- Focus: Reclaiming your past so you can stay present in the “Now” without needing to “check out” or hand over control to another “part of self.”
- Red Flag: None. Power and decision-making stay entirely with you.
How to Choose: Which Model Fits Your Needs?
| If you feel… | Pick this Model… | Because… |
|---|---|---|
| Overwhelmed / In crisis | Structural (ISST-D) | You need an expert to take the lead. |
| Logical / Scientific | Biological (Body-Oriented) | You want to treat it as a “brain glitch.” |
| Conflicted / Warring | IFS | You need a mediator to talk to your parts. |
| Steady / Ready for Agency | Internal Collaboration | You are ready to own your history. |
Supplemental Models and Treatments
- DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy): A Regulation Tool. It teaches you to ignore “parts” by treating their feelings as “distress” to be tolerated rather than communications to be understood. (Ref: Linehan, 2024).
- RAMCOA (Ritual Abuse Mind Control Organized Abuse): Focuses on “programs” and “codes” related to ritual, mind control, and organized abuse. This often leads to Memory Hunting, which can create a powerful, long-term dependency on “specialized” experts. (Ref: Middleton, 2026).
The Role of Medication
Medications are tools for the environment, not a fix for your internal system.
- Tool vs. Barrier: Medication can lower baseline anxiety, but high doses can numb the communication between you and your “parts.”
- Owner’s Check: If a medication makes you feel disconnected or foggy, it may be serving the therapist’s goal of a quiet patient rather than your goal of clear-headed functioning.
Always talk with your prescriber before changing or stopping any medication.
Navigating Support Options
| Resource Type | The Deal | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed “Expert” | Highly trained in TSD/ISSTD models. | High-level crises requiring clinical structure. |
| Eclectic Therapist | Licensed generalists willing to partner. | Survivors who want to be the Owner of the process. |
| Support Groups | Peer-led forums or meetings. | Reducing isolation and sharing functional tips. |
| Unlicensed Coaches | Individuals on the internet. | Extreme Caution. High risk of boundary issues. |
A Note on Collective Wisdom
This guide was not written in a vacuum. It is the result of over two decades of collaboration, dialogue, and shared narratives from thousands of survivors who have participated in our forum. While clinical models provide the framework, the “Internal Collaboration” model was built from the lived brilliance of those who navigated the dark until they found their own light. We stand on the shoulders of every survivor who has ever shared a “lost file” to help others find their way to healing.
Honoring Our Own: Shirley J. Davis
A special acknowledgment goes to our long-time member, author, and advocate Shirley J. Davis. For decades, she has been a pillar of this community, working tirelessly to bridge the gap between clinical research and the lived experience of DID. Her work reminds us that we are not our diagnosis and that healing is found in the persistent pursuit of self-understanding and internal peace.
Shirley owns and operates a website designed to bring truthful information to anyone who has dissociative identity disorder or any other dissociative disorders. You can find it here: Dissociative Identity Disorder in a Nutshell. On the website are lots of articles covering almost all topics relevant to DID.
Conclusion
Healing isn’t about fixing a “shattered” person just because an expert says you are broken. It is about becoming a person who can finally sit in the same room as their own history without falling into crisis. When you move from being a “patient” to being the Owner, you stop looking for a cure and start reclaiming the memories you stored away for safekeeping. You don’t need an outside savior; you only need to accept that you—and the thousands of survivors like Shirley who have walked this path before you—have always held the answers.
References
- Davis, S. J. (2016). Dissociative Identity Disorder in a Nutshell: A First-Hand Account. (A foundational survivor-led text on navigating life as a system).
- Davis, S. J. (2024). “Structural Dissociation and Dissociative Identity Disorder.”
- Davis, S. J. (2023). “Healing from Dissociative Identity Disorder by Going Down the Road Less Taken.” Medium.
- Brand, B. L., et al. (2025). “Effectiveness of treatment for trauma-related dissociative disorders.” Psychological Medicine.
- Dalenberg, C. J., et al. (2012). “Evaluation of the evidence for the trauma and fantasy models of dissociation.” Psychological Bulletin.
- Lynn, S. J., et al. (2014). “The Trauma Model of Dissociation: Inconvenient Truths and Stubborn Fictions.” Journal of Anxiety Disorders.
- Middleton, W. (2026). “Organized Abuse in Adulthood.” ResearchGate.
- Reinders, A. A., et al. (2012). “Fact or Factitious? A Psychobiological Study of Authentic and Simulated DID.” PLOS ONE.
- Schwartz, R. C., & Sweezy, M. (2019). Internal Family Systems Therapy (Second Edition).
- Boon, S., Steele, K., & Van der Hart, O. (2011). Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation.
© 2026 Felicity Lee / Patricia Goodwin, MA. All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted to share this guide for peer-support purposes, provided the original authorship and the community acknowledgment remain intact.
Article
Dissociative Identity Disorder: The Broken Mirror of the Self
In psychology, there is a famous experiment called the “Rouge Test.” Researchers put a tiny dot of red makeup on a toddler’s nose and place them in front of a mirror.
A one-year-old will reach out to touch the “other baby” in the glass.
But around 18 to 24 months, something “clicks.” The toddler reaches for their own nose.
This is the birth of the “Me.” It’s the moment the brain fuses the internal feeling of “I am” with the external image of the body.
The “Looking-Glass Self”
We don’t build our identity in a vacuum. We build it through a process called the “Looking-Glass Self.” As children, we look at our caregivers like mirrors. If they look at us with love, we learn “I am lovable.” If they look at us with pride, we learn “I am capable.” We literally “see” who we are reflected in their eyes.
When the Mirror Breaks
For those of us who grew up with trauma, neglect, or abuse, the “mirror” didn’t just fail; it became a source of danger. If a child looks at a caregiver and sees rage, disgust, or “nothingness” (neglect), the “Me” circuit can’t fuse properly. To a small child, seeing a “monster” or “nothing” in their parent’s eyes is a life-threatening reality. The brain, in its infinite wisdom, protects the child by cutting the wire between the “Self” and the “Image.”
The “Cloudy” Result
This is why so many in the DID community experience the “Cloudy Mirror” or the “Stranger in the Glass.”
The Developmental Bypass
Your brain decided it was safer to stay “unplugged” from that reflection. If you don’t fully “claim” the body, you can’t be as easily destroyed by the “reflections” (judgments/abuse) of others.
The Protective Blur
That cloudiness you see today isn’t a sign that you are “lost.” It is the remnant of a very smart 2-year-old brain that decided to keep the “Self” safely hidden in the head, away from a body that felt like a target.
Reclaiming the Reflection
Understanding that this started with a biological “glitch” to keep you safe can take the shame out of it. You aren’t “crazy” for not seeing yourself; you are a system that learned to survive by staying invisible—even to yourself.
Read more: Why the Body Feels Like a Stranger →
References & Further Reading
1. The Mirror Self-Recognition (MSR) Test
The “Eclectic” Take: This is the original study that established the 18–24 month “click” for self-recognition. It proves that the “Me” in the mirror is a milestone that can be interrupted by early environment.
2. The Looking-Glass Self
The “Eclectic” Take: Cooley’s classic theory explains that we are not born with a sense of self; we “download” it from the reactions of those around us. If the “download” is corrupted by abuse, the self-image stays fragmented.
3. Disorganized Attachment and the “Reflective Function”
The “Eclectic” Take: This explores how a caregiver’s inability to “reflect” a child’s emotions back to them (because the parent is scary or scared) leads to a “disorganized” self-image.
4. Structural Dissociation of the Personality
For those who want to dig into the ‘how’ and ‘why’ from a clinical perspective, these references show that the ‘cloudy’ feeling isn’t a mystery—it’s a well-documented result of a brain choosing safety over a painful reflection.
Written by: Patricia Goodwin, MA (2025)
Article
Why the Body Feels Like a Stranger (DID & Dissociation)
In a dissociative system, the brain has spent years perfecting a “manual override.” When things were overwhelming in childhood, the brain learned to unplug the consciousness from the body’s physical sensations to protect the mind.
1. The “Mirror Sign” and Depersonalization
When you look in the mirror and don’t “see yourself,” or feel like you could “float away,” you are experiencing Depersonalization. Your brain is processing the reflection as an object rather than a self. In DID, this is often a protective barrier; if the body was the site of trauma, the brain decides it’s safer to “live in the attic” (the head) than on the “ground floor” (the body).
2. Integration and the “Gap”
Interestingly, many people notice this disconnect more as they begin to heal or move toward integration. As parts start to communicate and the “fog” lifts, you suddenly become aware of the distance between your mind and your skin. Feeling the gap is actually a sign of progress—it means you are finally present enough to notice that you aren’t fully “plugged in” yet.
3. What does “Connection” actually feel like?
It’s rarely a “magical click.” Instead, it usually feels like:
- Density: You feel “solid” in your chair rather than hollow.
- Quiet: Internal noise feels further away because your attention is occupied by your nerve endings.
- 3D Living: You feel like a participant in the room, not just an observer watching a movie.
Somatic Anchors: Grounding the System
Since the brain is doing the “floating,” we use the nervous system to pull it back down. These signals force the brain to map the body in real-time.
- Proprioceptive Pressure: Use a weighted blanket or have pets lay on you. This provides “Deep Pressure Input,” which tells the brain exactly where your physical boundaries are.
- Squeeze the Joints: Firmly squeezing your own wrists, elbows, and knees helps the brain “re-map” your limbs.
- Sensory Contrast: Rub something very soft (like a plushie) on one cheek and something cold/smooth (like a metal spoon) on the other. The brain has to reconcile these two different “physical truths,” which anchors you to your face.
- Temperature Shocks: Splashing ice-cold water on your face or holding an ice cube forces the “piloting” part of the brain back into the physical vessel.
For the “Little Parts”
Younger parts often carry the most “body-based” memories of feeling unsafe. Grounding works better when it feels like caregiving rather than a chore.
- The Softness Bridge: Holding a soft toy against the face sends a “safety signal” directly to the emotional brain, letting it know the current environment is safe and soft.
- The “Fortress” Concept: Frame weighted blankets or pets as a “protective fortress.” The weight isn’t just weight; it’s a wall that keeps the “outside world” out so the little ones can be safe inside.
- Scented Anchors: Use “kid-friendly” scents like vanilla or cocoa. Scent is the only sense with a direct physical link to the emotional brain, acting as a homing beacon to the present.
Read more: DID: The Broken Mirror of the Self →
Recommended Resources
Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation
The gold standard for practical, system-focused grounding.
The Body Keeps the Score
Explains the biology of why the body “shuts down” and how to wake it up.
Beauty After Bruises
Relatable, intellectual articles on living with complex dissociation and DID.
The Sidran Institute
Provides high-quality fact sheets on the mechanics of depersonalization.
Somatic Experiencing International
A directory for finding practitioners who work specifically on the body-mind disconnect.
Written by: Patricia Goodwin, MA (2026)
Article
Balancing the Controversy of Trauma and Dissociation — Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): Real or Fantasy?
Written while the author was seeing an “expert” DID therapist a decade ago; first published on LinkedIn in 2016.
Content warning: this article opens and closes with short stories describing child sexual abuse, exploitation, self-harm, and the death of a teenager. The article is hidden until you choose to open it.
Read the article (content warning above)
A six-year-old child saunters between desks that clutter the classroom, finally settling into his assigned seat in the far corner against the window. He spends the day quietly staring at the sky, unaware of other children, the teacher’s rambling, or the memory of being raped and beaten before the school day began.
A fifteen-year-old child rolls her eyes and sighs, obviously disgusted, as she slumps into the leather stuffed sofa across from a thoughtful therapist — who will never notice the recently self-inflicted wounds hidden beneath inappropriate clothing or acknowledge any possibility that her client spent the previous night ‘servicing’ men to feed her siblings.
A forty-year-old nurse moves through the crowded emergency room with ease and efficiency, smiling, encouraging patients and peers, obedient only to her inner drive for perfectionism and compliance, effectively shrouding memories of her brutal childhood she may never recall.
A twenty-year-old trauma survivor spends the evening on the computer sharing stories of Satanic torture, Mind Control, and childhood abuse memories with peers who all have ‘alters’ with names and personalities — obsessed with her need to find other like-minded people.
A 35-year-old psychiatrist prepares for her day of evaluating, diagnosing, and treating twenty-five recently admitted patients to her ward by shuffling quickly through case files, attaching pink sticky notes to the front of each, intuitively aware that her twenty-minute meetings will validate her sticky-note diagnosis and treatment — medication to control attention-seeking behavior.
And, a fifty-year-old researcher spends another evening collecting data that further proves what he already knows — DID is not only a common, but also misunderstood effect of early childhood trauma.
All of these folks have one thing in common. All are attempting to adapt to conditions that are out of balance, as if they are walking a tightrope that will eventually break, bringing each crashing to the reality that is Earth. This imbalance is the result of a culture unaware and uneducated about how trauma affects people’s behavior. The question is right there, but never asked: is DID real or fantasy?
The problem remains that the general public, including most professionals and survivors of abuse, are untrained and thus unaware of how child abuse affects people.
The ACE Study
For instance, the popular and well-publicized ‘ACE Study’ only focuses on ten criteria and a handful of resilience factors, totally ignoring the ‘real’ problem — the brutal torture that children survive and live with as adults.
This study suggests that childhood trauma can be identified according to ten criteria — growing up experiencing any of the following conditions in the household prior to age 18:
- Recurrent physical abuse
- Recurrent emotional abuse
- Contact sexual abuse
- An alcohol and/or drug abuser in the household
- An incarcerated household member
- Family member who is chronically depressed, mentally ill, institutionalized, or suicidal
- Mother is treated violently
- One or no parents
- Physical neglect
- Emotional neglect
Accordingly, the idea is that the higher the ACE Score, the lower the ‘Resilience Score’, which is evaluated by criteria such as:
- The capacity to make realistic plans and take steps to carry them out.
- A positive view of yourself and confidence in your strengths and abilities.
- Skills in communication and problem solving.
- The capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses.
Within this paradigm is also the ability to predict the future outcome based on the criteria.
What the Research Shows
Alternatively, there is valid and reliable research that suggests children often adapt to abusive situations through dissociation, derealization, and depersonalization. They become adept at behaving normally in everyday life — hiding or burying their experiences within a shattered psyche. When this happens, experts on trauma and dissociation recognize the disorder as ‘Dissociative Identity Disorder’. DID has been determined to affect between 7.5% and 10% of those in an inpatient setting (Ross, Duffy, & Ellason, 2002). DID was found to affect 6% of psychiatric inpatients in a Canadian hospital (Horen, Leichner, & Lawson, 1995). In an American outpatient setting, it was found to affect 6% of the population (Foote et al., 2006).
Consequently, the notion of ‘trauma-informed care’ (based on the ACE Study) may be a worthless venture — wasting taxpayer money on programs that don’t recognize or provide funding to research DID as a valid disorder. According to the National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse, there are 42 million survivors of sexual abuse in the United States alone. Do the math! The prevalence of folks who are struggling with DID is significant enough for the government to provide the means for further research and promotion of evidence-based models — as widely as it has the ACE studies, which are based on how trauma affects employees’ work performance, nothing more. This is beyond the limits of generalization and should be seen as so.
A Troubling Trend
Accordingly, this continuous lack of attention to those children who have endured the most horrendous of abuse has led to another ‘trend’. Survivors who have DID are feeling the strain of being misunderstood, misdiagnosed, drugged, mistreated, and invalidated. Thousands of undiagnosed survivors flood the internet daily seeking out peers for support and knowledge. They are also unaware of the actual symptoms of DID. Well-intended, untrained clinicians are following suit by asking clients’ ‘parts’ to come out and tell their stories. From this mess comes book after book — survivors’ memoirs, clinicians’ books, articles, and workshops based only on information gained from clients’ behavior and stories.
All of this brings public and professional awareness of the ‘possibility’ of such a strange disorder where a person can have different personalities acting out in strange ways, where therapists can ‘implant memories’, where survivors need to fear being programmed by simple hand gestures, where the sane become paranoid and behave erratically in a maze of misinformation and ignorance — all based on ‘beliefs’ rather than evidence.
On the other hand, experts in the area of trauma and dissociation have spent their entire lives researching and still don’t know it all. How can any clinician or survivor pretend to be an expert in trauma without first reading the research and clearly understanding how trauma influences behavior? Do folks with DID actually walk around talking baby talk and acting out in public as is portrayed in movies? I have never seen this happen — yet DID is a fairly common condition.
Restoring the Balance
Thus, the imbalance should be clear. DID is a valid disorder. Diagnosis, either by self or by a clinician, is nearly impossible except by trained professionals. If the trend to sensationalize DID continues, the average person will never believe survivors’ outlandish stories, and many professionals will continue to reject clients who need help without taking time to study the scientific evidence that provides crucial information and proof that DID is a valid condition. Millions of survivors will be affected by the lack of professional care available to them.
The solution should be obvious by now. Survivors of child abuse must be recognized as complex — beyond the criteria of ten questions; clinicians must reach out for training by experts in the field of trauma and dissociation; and the public must demand access to valid and reliable research in the area of trauma and dissociation, including DID. This will bring the balance that is needed. Everyone deserves to have free access to all information available — each will decide what to ‘believe’.
Fantasy
Fantasy is when we read fantastic survivor stories that are simply unbelievable, when we believe unrealistic notions such as: therapists can ‘implant’ memories in their clients’ brains; DID is a rare disorder; all people with DID have ‘parts’ that take over their body; people with DID have ‘false memories’; people who have DID are mentally unstable.
Reality
Reality is when we come to know that childhood trauma affects children differently, that folks with DID behave normally, are intelligent and resourceful, and are a functional part of society. They are no more likely to seek out mental health care than any other person who becomes overwhelmed with life circumstances. You will not find them on a street corner or in a grocery store speaking baby talk with a friend or peer. The hallmark of DID is ‘dissociation’ — the ability to ‘be’ oblivious, to behave absolutely normally, and to be unaware of themselves, their body, and problems within their life. They tend ‘not’ to seek out attention or believe that they are important or worthwhile.
Consequently, because of ignorance and misconceptions, most folks don’t recognize that abuse survivors who have learned to cope by dissociating (‘going away’) have also learned that the world is a bad place. When dissociating doesn’t work for them, they become instinctively suicidal.
Thus, it is evident that DID is a serious and misunderstood disorder that needs to be recognized as such.
One Last Story
Lastly, a fourteen-year-old wanders into a hospital, unable to feel her body or hear the whispering of the people she bumps, or notice the pop machine she trips over, or see the ‘do not enter’ signs above doorways she passes through — looking for a face of someone she can trust, someone she can tell that she is being sold, beaten, raped, and drugged. Finally, a man takes her hand and walks her into a room where he motions for her to take a seat. No! She can’t sit — he will hurt her, he won’t believe her, he will lock her up. Shaking — not from the cold damp clothes that hang from her thin frame or the drugs that flow through her body or the fact that she feels so alone and ashamed, but from the fear of being rejected by the man. Inside her head, she hears the voices warning her not to tell, the voices warning her that she can’t trust anyone, screaming for her to run. But she stands strong and whispers, “I need your help — please.” He looks at her with disgust, seeing only the bruises, cuts, and track marks on her arms as he judges her to be just another ‘throw-away kid’ who should be locked up. She knows the drill, the look of disdain on his face, and the rejection she will soon endure. She listens to the voices and runs out the door and into the street. Why did she trust that in her darkest hour anyone would help her?
As with most teens who are in trouble, they reach out one time. Once rejected, they never reach out again. Those who believe that these children are the product of fantasy MUST take responsibility for their fate. It is not the diagnosis of DID that is fantasy. It is the inability to recognize the behavior of those who have DID that is the reality we contend with today.
Finally, we won’t see a news report or even know of the fourteen-year-old girl who was found in a dark alley, raped and brutally beaten to death that same night. She had tried asking for help, but no one listened. She had DID and didn’t know how to trust. She had never had anyone who took care of her or who even cared. She was an innocent and knew that no safety net existed in the world for her.
DID — is it fantasy or reality? Does it matter? Our children are suffering; ask yourself why. Adult survivors are dying and disappearing; ask yourself why. If you don’t understand, ask a survivor how they feel when rejected by you, your beliefs, and/or your behavior toward them. Survivors’ stories might seem like fantasy, their behavior outlandish, and their attitude and/or lifestyle beyond your understanding, but they are worth the time it takes to do a bit of research, learn from experts in the area of trauma and dissociation, and accept them as valid and reliable before they become nothing more than pop culture in a society — ignorant, uneducated, and judgmental.
© 2016 Patricia Goodwin, MA
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