h. OTHER ARRANGEMENTS (PRESENTATIONS)

 

“After working with other persons with multiple personalities I have discovered that they differ in the ways in which they present themselves and in the basic structure of the ways in which they organize themselves.” (When Rabbit Howls see BOOKS, ARTICLES)

 

Dr. Richard Kluft talks about something I have not seen in any other literature about multiple personality. Multiples have all kinds of ways they might “present” or arrange themselves. These presentations are affected by the way the system of personalities functions and is structured.

 

The most classic presentation that makes it easy for a clinician to diagnose MPD/DID is when one personality shows up for therapy complaining of several distressing symptoms. Somewhere along the way other personalities start showing up (emerging), making themselves known. Then there might be some readily seen switching.

But this isn’t always the way things happen.

There are various forms where there may be some typical signs of MPD/DID but these are only seen intermittently or there may be some unique features that obscure the multiplexity. For example,

-  most of the personalities are inactive and only emerge when some stress or trauma happens in their current life. They then go back to “hiding”;

-  there’s a wide variety of personalities, whose comings and goings are so frequent and/or short-lived that it’s hard to see the multiplexity. The person’s experience is of a confused and fluctuating identity;

-  switching from one to another is rare. One personality simply takes over for a long period of time and the others go dormant. It is very hard to detect the multiplexity then;

-  a group of very similar personalities are mostly in control and/or try to pass as one another. The only things you, the observer, might see are an unevenness of memory and skills, different degrees of being able to function and inconsistencies in the person’s character. This is a very common way for multiples to present;

-  there seems to be a lack of amnesia. It might be there but it’s covered over so there’s no apparent time loss or memory gaps (one of the criteria in the DSM);

-  the personalities never emerge in public, only when the person is alone;

-  the host is dominated by other personalities and feels like a victim of influences from within.