from the perpetrators and provided with the proper therapy at a young age rather than having to face years of missed diagnoses and continued mental trauma.The consequences of childhood sexual abuse are not limited to disorders such as anxiety, depression, nightmares, amnesia, and DID. It also ...traps the person in complicated, self-destructive relationship patterns (Ross 44). It is for these reasons that adults eventually seek professional help, and only then do they sometimes learn that they suffer from DID.Dissociation is a major way in which human beings cope with trauma (Ross 45). This coping mechanism is but one example of how strong the human will to survive actually is. In the face of almost unbelievable trauma, a child as young as 3 or 4 years old can use dissociation to enable him/herself to continue to function normally. It is up to the non-abusive adults in such a childs life to recognize signs of abuse, to believe the child when abuse is reported, and to take steps to stop the abuse. Only then will the number of adults diagnosed with disassociative identity disorder decrease, and the number of children developing it diminish....
