I am currently reading an interesting book,
All of Me: How I Learned to
Live with the Many Personalities Sharing My Body” which is purportedly written by/about alternate personalities sharing the body of a woman
named Kim Noble who has ”over 20” personalities due to childhood abuse. I have read a number of similar books over the years and I accept many of
the assertions that are made regarding “Multiple Personality Disorder” (MPD), currently known as “Dissociative Identity Disorder” (DID). Kim
Noble is a particularly interesting example of the disorder, because she began painting as part of her therapy, several years ago, and each of her
alternate personalities now not only paints, but has their own painting style, and they are quite accomplished. Here is the set of on-line galleries
for
Kim Noble & Co
Kim Noble has been interviewed on the Oprah show, and several “alters” or alternate personalities surfaced during that interview:
Oprah Interview with Kim Noble
She was also written up in an article on the Vigilant Citizen web site
here - in the Vigilant Citizen take
on the subject, Kim Noble’s abuse constitutes “Monarch Programming” as described in their
article on the subject of Monarch Programming.
Here is
Kim Noble's Web Site
Here is the WebMD topic on
Dissociative
Identity Disorder.
On to the main subject…
The book opens with the current “primary alter” discussing her interview on Oprah and what it is like to be in her situation. Here are some
quotes:
Coming back after a personality switch is like waking up from a nap. It takes a few seconds of blinking and looking around to get your bearings, to
work out who you’re with, where you are and what you’re in the middle of doing. The only difference is with a normal nap you soon realize
you’re in exactly the same place you went to sleep, whereas I could disappear from my sofa and wake up again at a pub or a supermarket or even
driving a car and not have a clue where I’m heading.
Speaking of driving, sharing a body, I think, is a bit like being the driver of a bus. Regardless of how many passengers are on board, there’s only
one person in control. The only difference with us is that any one of those passengers can take over the steering at any point.
Even when, years later, I was told again and again that I only ‘existed’ for an hour or two a day, I rejected the very idea. How would you react
if someone told you that?
The question that has peaked my curiosity is this – do the alters (alternate personalities in a person who is diagnosed with DID) experience
themselves as having dreams?
I did some research and found some interesting forum conversations.
Reference
I have learned that alters express themselves with nightmares, dreams and “daymares” (another subject altogether). While you sleep, alters feel
safe to move around and feel. One of the ways they feel is by dreams. I have done my share of sleep walking and re-arranging things in my sleep, but
if you are not sleeping alone, your alters might not feel safe enough to physically move, but they will still express their feelings in dreams.
Sometimes the dreams are graphic images of exactly what happened in the alter’s past – quite possibly events that you knew nothing about because
they shielded you from them and now you have both reached the stage where this secret should be kept from you no longer. In other dreams, the actual
events featured have never occurred in the alter’s life but the dreams express dilemmas and emotions that are of great significance to the alters.
The biggest point about either sort of dream is that they communicate things that are deeply distressing the alter, and trying to bear them alone has
become too great for the alter and is no longer necessary. The alter needs your support, and probably the support of other parts of you as well, and
you have much to offer in terms of a listening ear, empathy and wisdom.
Often in my dreams, I am in a no-win situation. If I do one thing, I will suffer; if I do another I will suffer. That is exactly how I feel with a
certain relative. I have noticed a real spike in these dreams right after I talk with that person.
In this topic, the person commenting is talking about aggressive alters:
Reference
The first alter i ever met was in my dreams and i did not know who or what it was. since i was a child i would lucid dream, where you know you are
dreaming and you are aware that everything in your environment is you. however in my dreams, objects would show up, usually obstructive, that were not
a part of 'me'. like a teacup where one should not have been or a windfall of trees over a road i was traveling on. i would remove or circumvent the
offending obstacle or thing and go about my merry way dreaming until another bigger obstruction would appear. this would repeat with bigger and more
obvious obstructions. the whole thing would culminate with an 'entity' attacking me. this entity never looked the same but always had the same eyes.
it was definitely not 'me'. it did not like to be seen and it hated 'me' with an hatred i never imagined possible. i would wake up in sleep paralysis
having gruesome hypnopompic hallucinations and wondering what the hell had just happened. it was terrifying. as i got older the attacks got worse.
i now know i am fragmented. this 'entity' is a very strong alter that i have very little communication with. i think it was formed at nine out of a
severely traumatic event that created it and a twin, a little girl named lily who just cries and says sorry. it does not want a name. it is very
animalistic and demonic. i think it was made out of all the rage i had at my abuser but it didn't have an outlet so now it just hates me. i don't
think it talks. i think it hates me because i sent it away.it hates me because it thinks i am weak and worthless and did not stop the traumatic event
when it happened. i say this but it doesn't feel like it even thinks.
What I am wondering about is whether the alternate personalities experience themselves as dreaming/having dreams. Do they not dream at all, but
simply re-awaken to existence periodically? Do they dream, and identify the dreams as perhaps happening to “the body” or to other alters? It
caught my attention because of the mentions of "existing" and the suggestion that regaining their consciousness is like waking up after a nap. Do
they experience anything when they are not controlling "the body"?
Do they dream?
Thanks for your attention!
Gwynn
edit on 9-0320133-1313 by gwynnhwyfar because: (no reason given)
