News 2,500 personalities? Is this even possible?

[EveHarrington]

Woman with 2,500 personalities testifies in court on father's 'monstrous acts' | Daily Mail Online

So this was in my news feed today.

I’m not questioning Jennifer Haynes trauma, or her diagnoses.

I am curious to know if it is even possible to have 2,500 different personalities? That number seems awfully high to me.

Thanks.

 

[Sideways]

Based on what she’s said and her doctor has said, they aren’t all complete personalities. She described some of her alters as being quite short, fleeting experiences, as well as a small number of relatively core parts that seem to form the bulk of her experience.

 

[EveHarrington]

From what I understand, a fleeting experience doesn’t qualify as a distinct personality in that everyone has fleeting experiences. This is completely normal.

 

[Neverthesame]

It probably helps sell newspapers. Monstrous acts of familial violence are in the news all the time now, but 2,500 personalities? Now that's front page material!

That's my theory anyways, though I am so jaded and embittered by western news media, I can't imagine any of them actually reporting a story without sensationalising the shit out of it.

 

[Sideways]

This is completely normal.

She has an incredibly sophisticated system which, even by DID standards seems unusual.

For example, many of her parts seemed to share co-consciousness from a young age, with very young parts having responsibilities for allocating which alter would front for an impending trauma.

She also (unusually) had multiple alters storing different aspects of single traumatic events. So, while one alter had the job of remembering what dad did with his arms and legs when they went into the garden shed, a completely seperate alter had the job of remembering the smells of that experience. So, in order to fully recall a given traumatic event, sometimes multiple different alters had to share the component of the part of the experience they remembered.

This was ultimately beneficial, because even though she might be triggered by the smell of garden sheds, that didn’t bring up all the memories of what happened. Since that was stored by a different part.

It’s an unusual case, and she’s quite a complex (and highly educated) woman. It’s not really a situation that the Daily Mail can do justice to.

 

[Gs172003]

She has an incredibly sophisticated system which, even by DID standards seems unusual.

For example, many of her parts seemed to share co-consciousness from a young age, with very young parts having responsibilities for allocating which alter would front for an impending trauma.

She also (unusually) had multiple alters storing different aspects of single traumatic events. So, while one alter had the job of remembering what dad did with his arms and legs when they went into the garden shed, a completely seperate alter had the job of remembering the smells of that experience. So, in order to fully recall a given traumatic event, sometimes multiple different alters had to share the component of the part of the experience they remembered.

This was ultimately beneficial, because even though she might be triggered by the smell of garden sheds, that didn’t bring up all the memories of what happened. Since that was stored by a different part.

It’s an unusual case, and she’s quite a complex (and highly educated) woman. It’s not really a situation that the Daily Mail can do justice to.

Wow! That's horribly sad and incredibly amazing at the same time.

That said ....I would love to beat her dad with a bat. ( Am I allowed to say that?)

 

[Sideways]

.I would love to beat her dad with a bat. ( Am I allowed to say that?)

I reckon that’s okay. She’s been incredibly public about her ordeal. Injuries from his abuse left her requiring restorative surgery to her uterus, coccyx and anus.

She actually gave testimony in the witness box as her alters - it was the only way she could give reliable testimony. And it’s the first time in Australia that the key witness has had DID and presented as alters in the witness box. So it’s a pretty big deal. 33 seperate alters gave evidence in court.

She got about 3 days into her testimony I think? He ended up calling off the trial and admitting to 75 seperate counts of abuse. We’ll find out how long he gets in July, but given his age? He’s probably gonna spend the rest of his life in prison.

I don’t know, but for me, once you get the details? It seriously doesn’t matter any more if she’s got 20 alters or 2500. She’s a hero in my book, and I’m stoked she’s had the experience of seeing her abuser plead guilty.

 

[Gs172003]

I reckon that’s okay. She’s been incredibly public about her ordeal. Injuries from his abuse left her requiring restorative surgery to her uterus, coccyx and anus.

She actually gave testimony in the witness box as her alters - it was the only way she could give reliable testimony. And it’s the first time in Australia that the key witness has had DID and presented as alters in the witness box. So it’s a pretty big deal. 33 seperate alters gave evidence in court.

She got about 3 days into her testimony I think? He ended up calling off the trial and admitting to 75 seperate counts of abuse. We’ll find out how long he gets in July, but given his age? He’s probably gonna spend the rest of his life in prison.

I don’t know, but for me, once you get the details? It seriously doesn’t matter any more if she’s got 20 alters or 2500. She’s a hero in my book, and I’m stoked she’s had the experience of seeing her abuser plead guilty.

That effing smirk of his....

 

[Mercy Joy]

It’s incredible the way the mind can cope when faced with dire situations!! To be able to create parts for just a specific smell, wow! For such specific, little things. It’s so sad that she endured such horrific abuse that she had a need to do that but how wonderfully smart of her brain to break it up so very much to make life manageable.

 

[whiteraven]

From what I understand, a fleeting experience doesn’t qualify as a distinct personality in that everyone has fleeting experiences. This is completely normal.

She also (unusually) had multiple alters storing different aspects of single traumatic events. So, while one alter had the job of remembering what dad did with his arms and legs when they went into the garden shed, a completely seperate alter had the job of remembering the smells of that experience. So, in order to fully recall a given traumatic event, sometimes multiple different alters had to share the component of the part of the experience they remembered.

Fragments often hold just one emotion or perform just one job. They aren't distinct or developed. I suppose if you are really good at and diligent with mapping your system, it is possible to identify 2500 parts of it. Seems improbable (not that they exist, but that they have been mapped), but I try not to judge another's experience.

 

[Sideways]

Seems improbable (not that they exist, but that they have been mapped), but I try not to judge another's experience.

It seems pretty unusual to me as well. But then, I have maybe 3 alters that store my most traumatic memories, and she has at least 33.

Having been able to consciously harness that method of storing memories at a young age, it starts to become slightly less improbable when you get into the detail. She’s now in her 40s, and has at least 3 tertiary qualifications in different areas, including a Masters degree.

If she can organise her system as effectively as she does, and has continued to use that as a method of coping and remembering small things, the number of alters would start to add up after 40-something years and a decade-plus at university.

Certainly DID doesn’t have a lot of public support here. A lot of pdocs here still think it’s bogus. And most reported child sex cases never make it to court. I’ve seen the lead detective interviewed (and he was one of a team of about 11 I think), and his view was very much that, having spent enourmous amounts of time her, that she was credible not only in her account of the trauma, but also in her stated experience of DID. Credible enough that she’s in the tiny percentage of csa victims that make it to trial.

She authorised her pdoc to speak to the media (no doubt because of exactly the type of skepticism peeps like you and I have to 2500 - that’s a whole lotta alters). His attitude was that her DID was not by any stretch a ‘mental illness’. He said that in her case? It was a brilliant adaption that resulted in a woman not only able to cope with unfathomable trauma, but also a absolutely remarkable memory.

Sorry, I’m chatty about it because I find it fascinating. I can’t wrap my head around 2,500 alters. I simply can’t understand how that would work. But if she had young children alters knowingly organising the system from a young age and that continued throughout her life? It starts to make more sense.

The comparison I think would be like if your life was recorded into files, with folders and subfolders - how many folders would you have by the time you’re in your 40s? Probably a lot. People can amass thousands of FB posts in just a few months, so maybe it’s not such a stretch...??

 

[Ronin]

I can’t wrap my head around 2,500 alters.

:hilarious: Here I was, more stuck on the bit she managed to persuade her doctor & function well socially & academically, more like.

From my experience, alters in the realm of hundreds are not entirely unusual / very fragmentated people, certain type of dissociation encouraging cults, some world builder oriented writers with D.I.D., I’ve seen that commonly with. The numbers do not surprise me, the stability does.