Q & A with Judith

by Judith MacNutt
2019 Vol. 02

What is D.I.D.?

D.I.D. stands for Dissociative Identity Disorder. It is not a form of mental illness. With D.I.D. there is no irrational thinking, no psychotic episodes, delusions or hallucinations. A person with D.I.D. has “dissociated” from their core personality in some way.

This condition used to be called “Multiple Personality Disorder.” Dissociative Identity Disorder is a better description because the person with D.I.D. does not have multiple personalities. Rather, their core personality has split into different and distinct identities called “alters.”

D.I.D. is a direct result of trauma, often and especially stemming from early childhood trauma. Severe trauma can and may produce multiple alters. In the most severe cases, often this trauma involves ritual abuse by others, and the person affected may have been “programmed.” There may be demonic attachment as well, so D.I.D. is a very complex condition. It takes a trained professional to work with the person and begin to integrate the alters back into the core personality.
A healthy example of dissociation occurs when driving a long distance in a car. Time passes and before you realize, you have reached your destination and you do not remember driving there. This is the brain multi–tasking — helping you function and do what you need to do.

Dissociation in the case of trauma is the brain functioning as a form of protection for the individual, which shows how resilient humans can be in the face of unspeakable trauma. D.I.D. is not easy to recognize and so we need to be very careful when praying with people. If you are not a trained professional, you may further traumatize the person with D.I.D..

Judith MacNutt is a licensed psychotherapist, author, teacher, conference speaker, co–founder and president of CHM.