Systemic treatment of multiple personality: response to a chronic disorder

Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is a more and more frequently diagnosed disorder. In this article, MPD is considered the result of a dissociative defense in response to severe trauma during the formative period of personality formation. As the child dissociates to defend against the trauma, the fragments of personality develop as separate entities. The traditional focus of therapy is integration, or fusion of the various fragments of personality. The current article does not dispute this therapeutic goal, but does offer an alternative treatment process. Borrowing from the theoretical concepts of the family therapy literature, the person with MPD is described as a system. Therapy, then, must attempt to maintain balance within the system as a short-term goal, as well as striving for integration as a long-term goal. This article delineates the systemic approach, first from a theoretical, then a practical perspective. The concepts of coconsciousness (or awareness by all aspects of the system) and coexistence (a state of mutual cooperation between various personalities) are described, and fitted within the systemic model. Practical aspects of life with MPD, including activities of daily living and relationships, are then outlined within this model.