20. More about alters

 

We have told you a fair bit already about different types of personalities. In posting #5a we told you about the Original Person (for us that’s Tir (1)), the Host Personality (Shell (1) comes closest to this), Inner Self Helpers (we have a few but Patience (1) is the ISH for all of us), Memory Trace alters and Demonic alters. In posting #5b we told you about children personalities and persecutor alters. Finally, in posting #5c we told you a little about Protector alters some of who can be very much like Persecutor alters. We also listed Anaesthetic alters, Mute or Autistic alters, Cross-gender, Inanimate, Animals, Insects, Pollyanna-type alters, Suicidal and Promiscuous alters. Since the sky is the limit, multiples can create whoever and whatever alters they want. It’s all about coping and survival.

Somewhere we think we told you about our alters. We distinguish between what we call “structural” or “functional” type alters who take care of who’s in control, switching, information and helping us function in the everyday world. The other alters dealt directly with the abuse. This means they suffered the actual pain, physically and emotionally. They are the ones who remember the actual events. These personalities may divide up the memories of abuse into more manageable bits. They do that by splitting up what they remember. One alter may remember only what was said during the abuse. Another may remember only who the abusers were. Another might remember only the physical sensations. This way no one alter is too overwhelmed to handle their part. The Children of the Thirteen (3) (part of group called The Thirteen (3)) did exactly that. It was one abuse situation that was split up into six “pieces”, thus six children.

However, it is not always as clear as all that. There are many gray areas when it comes to multiple personality and we think that is where the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual published by the American Psychiatric Association) fails. It is so very specific about the symptoms and says the personalities are distinct. But in our system, and we know other multiples are similar, we have alters who are not so distinct from one another, whose memories overlap, whose functions overlap. We have a number of alters who censor and filter information back and forth between us and to and from Outsiders like you. We have alters who mimic other alters so even an expert wouldn’t be able to figure out who’s who.

There are so many different ways of being an alter and yes, it’s a child’s imagination that does this. It’s truly amazing what the human mind can do and how creative it can get in the face of adversity. As well, there is a lot more we can say about alters such as therapists “calling out” alters to work with in therapy, how a system of alters might work together towards healing, our system’s take on responsibility for our actions, communication among alters, co-presence and co-consciousness, names and naming, different likes and dislikes, values, and ambitions. It can be a very complex world within.