Being Human is a Guest House

ORGANISATIONS Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors: http://www.pods-online.org.uk/ International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation:  http://www.isst-d.org/ European Society for Trauma and Dissociation   http://www.estd.org/ The Pottergate Centre for Dissociation and Trauma:  http://dissociation.co.uk/ http://www.firstpersonplural.org.uk/ BOOKS ABOUT THERAPY Suzette Boon, Kathy Steele and Onno van der Hart, Coping with Trauma-related Dissociation (2011) ISSTD “Guidelines for treating dissociative identity disorder in adults, 3rd revision”, in Journal of Trauma and Dissociation vol.12:115-198. (2011)  Sandra Paulsen, Looking Through the Eyes of Trauma and Dissociation: An illustrated guide for EMDR therapists and clients (2009) Carol Forgash and Margaret Copely, Healing the Heart of Trauma and Dissociation with EMDR and Ego State Therapy (2008) Valerie Sinason, Attachment, Trauma and Multiplicity: Working with Dissociative Iden

Well, actually, John used to be 9 different people, but…we’re working on it. Yes, what was once called Multiple Personality Disorder is real and no, these people are not ‘crazy.’ If anything, they might be the pinnacle of human resilience! Turns out it is a coping mechanism for a severe trauma, or possibly several severe traumas, during childhood. Adults still living with this coping mechanism are the way they are because they managed as children to segregate certain parts of their mind from other parts in order to continue living and functioning normally while simultaneously enduring horribly painful or frightening situations. In many cases this is caused by sexual assault, often by a person who cares for them, but not always. For some it is a result of having to understand neglect. How would a toddler explain to itself why no one seems to love it or care for it? And for some it is the result of a parent becoming suddenly very ill at an age where they are incapable of und