Scene: A New York City therapist's office. A woman comes in, complaining of headaches, blackouts and finding spare plushies and Barbie dolls in her purse she doesn't buy. The knowledgeable therapist is puzzled at first. After all this is not indicative of normal human behavior. So he takes her on, all the time suspecting that this will be one of the most harrowing cases he will ever solve, along with maybe the most challenging of his career.
Slowly the therapist begins to peel away the layers of this woman's past. At first it seems normal. But then slowly things begin to get darker. And then one day in the comfy cozy solitude of the consulting room the nice middle-aged woman with the purse full of plushies and Barbies changes.. First she begins to twitch slightly. The therapist doesn't notice. He keeps digging into her memories. She begins to convulse, as if she's being dropped into acid. Perhaps she even rolls around on the consulting-room floor. And when she regains her seat, *Gasp* *Horror of horrors* her voice changes to the menacing hiss of an axe-murderer. Her slumped shoulders have straightened, her eyes are glowing fiercely...And she says her name is Bob and she's really out for blood! And the therapist knows the truth...*Cue creepy music* This poor broken soul is suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) which was previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), a very rare and terrifying state in which the poor lady is toting around a ghastly collection of fragmented bits of her real self who do such terrible things as murder people and fill her purse with plushies.
HOLD THE PHONE! IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!! In fact, as it stands, this stereotype of multiple systems is far from accurate in a lot of cases. Many multiples do not have axe-murderer alters, serial killers, bank robbers, etc. In fact, the occurrence of such is quite rare because the other members of the system would keep such members in check. And honestly, if someone was known to have robbed a bank, committed murder, or done anything else illegal the whole system would be in jail as opposed to walking into the therapist office with a purse full of plushies.
Another problem with the stereotype is the way it portrays switching. Some multiples do twitch a bit when switching. However, the greater majority of the ones we know do not, nor do we ourselves. We can switch as fast as you can blink an eye and it's very likely you won't be able to tell when we do switch unless you know us very very very well. And sometimes even then you won't know we've switched. The reason for this is quite simple. In modern society, hiding one's multiplicity is a very prudent thing to do. If we went into convulsions and seizures every time we switched, it would get us locked away, as well as endangering the body. If we happened to switch in the grocery store for example, there'd be a risk of falling and giving ourselves a concussion. Also that kind of theatrics would make grocery shopping very hard.As it is, a switch really doesn't affect the physical body in that manner. Perhaps the idea of the violent convulsive switches comes from the idea that there always must be a struggle for dominance.
In our case, and in the cases of most multiples we know, the persons in-system work together. It's a lot easier and a lot less taxing than fighting for dominance. Also, in a lot of cases they are friends with each other, families, coworkers. Do you scream and get angry and throw a tantrum every time one of your co-workers does something for the company? If not, then why should any member in a multiple system?
However, working together doesn't always come naturally. It's something that is learned and practiced over time as trust in each other develops. Things become easier once a working communication system is developed. Yes. That's right. People in multiple systems do talk to one another and pass important knowledge on how to do things, memories and other information back and forth between each other. The communication isn't always verbal. It can be written, mental, through images, concepts, scents and any number of methods. The methods are as varied as the people within the system.
Another thing we have a problem with is the flat, cardboard caricatures that the people in households are portrayed as. Personally we do not act like that. Nor do most of the people in multiple systems we know. They can cry, laugh, be angry, sad, scared, happy, mean or nice and their emotions change over time. This is because people in multiple systems, or all the ones we know, aren't just flat cardboard cutouts. They are people, just like you or anybody else. I am a person. I have goals, dreams, plans for the future, wishes, talents and all the other things any other person has. And every other person in this house has all those things as well and are able to express those in any way they choose as long as the ways they choose are not harmful and/or damaging to the body, property (whether personal or otherwise), could get us into legal trouble or otherwise incarcerated and/or locked away in a mental institution.
That's right. We take responsibility for our actions. If someone DID do something that is considered legally or morally wrong we would punish them in-house by removing their right to body time, possible incarceration and a number of other means. However, we would also take the responsibility for their actions. Multiplicity is not an excuse to commit crimes. Unfortunately people over the years, both multiple and nonmultiple have used it as just that. And the stereotype of the evil criminal multiple has crept into the movies and media of all types as a result of this misuse of legality.
I hope that this essay, in all its rambling, has cleared up a lot of the misconceptions the media has left you with. These perceptions, while seemingly harmless, are very damaging to functional multiple houses because people believe what they see and hear and are prone to thinking that the media knows all when in reality the media knows next to nothing about the real lives of multiples.
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