6. The internal world of multiple personality

Card by Deborah koff-Chapin
"ONE IN THE MANY .... MANY IN THE ONE"

NOTE: Each alter’s name has a number after it the first time

it is on the page to show which group s/he belongs to.

See the right of this page for the group.

Well folks life is just too exciting these days to be spending it lying down and sleeping. After only 4 hours of snoozing we decide to get up because this girl’s head is abuzz. First of all we have just finished 4 days of non-stop birthday celebration. Okay, it wasn’t non-stop but it was 4 days. Spent the final day hanging out with some good buddies from the support group at a local restaurant. Good food, good company, good vibrations.

Then off for a lengthy walk with our new walking buddy and her two dogs. New year’s resolution for both of us – lose those Christmas and birthday goodies. What with all that chocolate and cheesecake and wonderful cookies and cheesecake weighing (ha ha) us down, it’s time to say “see you less” to the best food group there is.

And speaking of sleeping. We have the wonkiest sleep pattern. Go to bed anywhere from 5:30 pm (that’s not a typing error) to 8:00 pm. So we are usually up in the wee hours of the morning. Been doing that for years now. Even tried breaking the habit. Tried to have a “normal” pattern but alas it’s just not in the cards for us. We are just a wee bit weird and eccentric or something. But it’s what works. So here we are at 11:45 pm (that too is not a typing error) wide awake and just itching to get our fingers going on the keyboard. Of course we blame our sleeping habits on Ethan (7) although there are others of us who like the night time as well. Ethan used to get depressed when the sun came up. Maybe he’s part vampire. He’s certainly one of the wonkiest of us.

Anyway on to our next topic. The personality system.

The personality system

People with multiple personality usually form some kind of structure with their collection of selves. Whether it’s a highly structured and regimented configuration of alters with strict rules about communication and who is out and when, or an incomprehensible jumble that no one can figure out, it’s all for the purpose of safety, preserving the self within.

Some multiples may want to map out their system early on in the healing process so they can find out who exists Inside while others cannot handle that kind of knowledge for a long time. Sometimes we Webers were flooded with information about the system Inside and other times there was barely any talk about it. It was too hard to handle. Mapping is all about finding out alters’ names, why they were created and when, their skills, hobbies, favourite things or whatever they need to know.

As to the kinds of structures, well you know what we say “the sky’s the limit” and that means a lot of creativity. Multiples might have lots of layering where there are groups of alters that lie over top or underneath another group of alters so they need to know who the top group is and what they are about before they can gain access to the group underneath. They might structure themselves in groups and families which share common traumatic events or they may be related because they originally came from one earlier common alter.

Alters may be grouped by their functions and may then be more aware of each other, sharing memories and skills. As well, there might be other families within the system that they don’t know about or there could be an internal war between the families.

Sometimes a tree-type of structure might be formed where there are hierarchical relationships. Here the original person might be at the top or at the root of the tree, and branching up or down to other alters. Systems can be highly structured and complex where there are sophisticated mechanisms for switching, coping with daily life, amnesia barriers, rules for memory retrieval and keeping the multiplexity hidden. Truddi Chase’s system (“When Rabbit Howls”) was very complex and structured. Still, some systems may be less structured, less rigid and more fluid-like with identities and roles overlapping.

It’s all about an inner world that is created. Some of those worlds may be very elaborate where alters can play or communicate with each other. Some alters may never leave this world, never be on the outside. Some may have tunnels, rooms, houses, tree structures, corridors, or caves to reside in. Essentially it’s whatever works for the person.

So .... what has worked for us. Next .... The Levels.

We’ll have to go and put that together for you so it will take a bit of time. See ya soon though.

Thanks for listening.

Oh by the way, we are now highlighting alter’s names so you can find them more easily.