disorder tend to be subtle and fewer in number than seen in adults suffering from this disorder). When the alters are of different ages, talents, or temperaments, the distinctions between them become more obvious.It is also interesting to note that the same may be true for the disassociative identity disorder sufferer him/herself; that is, one personality may or may not be aware of the existence of another personality. In some cases, there may be an awareness of only one or two of many alters, in others, an awareness of all. One case study involves a young woman named Elly. During the course of Ellys therapy, four alters came out. There was Little Elly (age 5), who was fearful of more abuse; Jed, a male teenager who was a helper and protector; the Protector, who was aware of the other, alters and the incest Elly had been subjected to; and the Evil One, who wanted to destroy the other, alters. Elly was amnesiac for the other alters, Little Elly knew about the Protector only, and Jed and the Protector knew about everybody (Ross 128). When the Protector was out, the Evil One was amnesiac and unable to listen (Ross 129). The actual number of alters appears to increase proportionately with the severity of the abuse, its frequency, and the length of time it has been perpetrated on the child. Since the purpose of the alter is to protect the ...host personality from the knowledge and experience of the trauma (Rainbow House 3), the more alters there are, the more easily the trauma is dispersed.It is during times of stress or anticipated stress that the different personalities emerge. (Sybils mother sexually abused her with a buttonhook. Subsequently, Sybil suffered from hysteria whenever her shoes were buttoned; only after intensive therapy did she remember the abuse and realize why the buttonhook evoked such a strong reaction). While the personalities themselves may differ, the characteristics and basic type of progression of disasso...
