In my last post, Abused Adopted Child: Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), I explained what DID is. In this post, I will explain more about alter parts, which are the parts that were previously viewed as "other people" sharing a body of a person with what used to be known as multiple personality disorder. If your adopted child has alter parts, this post will help you to understand them better and be less frightened by them.

An abused child creates alter parts by dissociating from the painful emotion or traumatic event that he is experiencing. Every alter part is created to protect the inner child (also known as the original child), so every alter part is "good." Many people with DID fear parts of themselves because they believe some to be "bad," such as suicidal alter parts, when really each alter part is simply a part of the child. For example, a suicidal alter part might believe it is protecting the child by urging him to commit suicide rather than reveal the secret of the abuse. If a child was repeatedly warned that a loved one would be killed if he ever told, then a suicidal alter might hold the emotions associated with that memory. The suicidal urges are actually a manifestation of the child's desire to protect a loved one.

One of the most distressing symptoms of DID is the memory loss experienced by the host personality, which is the part that the child views as "me." As the child begins to use self-love to melt the ice keeping these parts separate, the parts integrate, moving the child's soul back toward the wholeness that was always meant to be. Once the host personality integrates back into the core of the child (which happens as the child deals with his past abuse and learns how to process his emotions), he stops losing time.

If you suspect that your child suffers from DID or another form of dissociative disorder involving emotional segmentation or alter parts, be sure to read the book Safe Passage to Healing by Chrystine Oksana. Even though this book is specifically written for survivors of ritual abuse (who are more likely to develop DID), it has the best explanation of alter parts that I have ever seen.

Related Topics:

• Understanding Integration



• The Caused Disorders



• Adopting an Abused Child series

Related Blogs:

• Older Child Adoption blog


• Parenting Special Kids blog


• Reactive Attachment Disorder blog

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