I just read The Girl in the Green Dress by Jeni Haynes. She was an Australian woman who developed 2,500 personalities after being sexually abused by her father starting from when she was a little baby until she was in about 12 or so. Basically her condition (Disassociative Identity Disorder) occurred because she was under so much trauma at so young an age that her mind created alternate personalities to take the abuse. She was featured on 60 Minutes after her dad got convicted – she had to have multiple operations and wear a colostomy bag because of all the damage done to her intestines. She actually went on to get a PhD.
Anyway, I became really fascinated with her story and her book came out just a few months ago. She seems to have written it herself, I was expecting it to be ghostwritten but was pleasantly surprised to see it was really her own voice.
At first, I thought I could stomach reading about the traumas since the internet desensitized me to so much. But later on some things were so sick that they made me put the book down and want to vomit. Eventually the book lightens up, the second half is basically her recovery and her trial against her dad.
But seeing her alters interact with each other was fascinating as hell. It was like they lived together in a castle and each had their own room. The author describes them arguing with her about what she should wear.
There are also chapters from her psychiatrist’s point of view explaining the condition. It was very interesting. He mentions victims tend to blame themselves over what they should have done differently, and he pulls out a child’s shoe and a grown man’s shoe and asks them whether the wearer of the child’s shoe could have stopped a wearer of the adult’s shoe and it makes the victims put things in perspective and stuff. All of it was super interesting.
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Interesting. I actually had a client with DID. She experienced some severe trauma. I interacted with her alters. She had episodes of disassociating. In 20 years of residential programming she was the only true DID we had.
There were many clients who had disassociating episodes due to trauma but never full on DID.
I appreciate this. I had something traumatic happen (not sexual abuse) that led me to depersonalization episodes. Basically, the anxiety overloads the mind so much that I just… check out. Without realizing it. Therapy is helpful. I was briefly scared that I had been molested as a child. I was blessed to not have that happen, but the overwhelming anxiety is very real.
Wow, she sounds like an impressive woman. To use her own abuse to raise awareness and speak out is so powerful. I am grateful she can. The abuse being so bad as to wreck her organs. That’s just diabolical.
I recommend the book Switching Time. It’s also about a woman who developed multiple personalities after childhood sexual trauma. Not nearly as many, 17 personalities. An interesting book written by the treating psychiatrist
If you want a way less graphic exposure to DID, check out The Way of Kings series by Brandon Sanderson. He worked with DID groups to get the representation correct. It’s also just an amazing series regardless
This sounds very similar to the book Sybil. But Sybil was debunked decades later, stating that the story was greatly embellished.
When Rabbit Howls is similar. I read it after Oprah interviewed the author on her show back in the early 90s.
This sounds really interesting! Added it to my tbr list 🖤
Read The Minds Of Billy Milligan earlier this year and found it so interesting so will be sure to give this a try!
Thanks for sharing
Abuse of this kind is irredeemable and unforgivable. The abuser has done lifelong damage and therefore should have their life taken from them in the form of a life sentence. We still have pot dealers in this country serving longer prison sentences than child rapists. This country talks the talk when it comes to protecting children and sits it’s fat ass on the couch when it comes to walking the walk. It is disgusting and inexcusable.
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If she was abused from the point she was born, that should have been ‘normal’ for her, right? A child can’t recognize it’s being abused because their identity is so wrapped up with their parents. Genuinely curious.
Edit: Why am I being downvoted? It’s a serious question and I thank the person who answered it. Get a life, trolls.
Thank you for sharing, there was series called United States of Tara that Toni Collette starring it was really good if you want to check it out.
I have downloaded the book now and even the 1st 40 pages was brutal, I had to take a break.
If I’ve learned anything about DID, it’s that it’s almost always a lie when someone claims to have it.
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Poor poor woman. I’m so sorry she experienced something like that. I can’t believe anyone is capable of having 2500 personalities though- at that point it feels like someone is just labelling each emotion as a ‘personality’ – I don’t doubt that DID can be real in extremely rare cases and believe she had it- especially given extreme trauma like you hinted at. I’m interested in reading this
I’m not a huge reader but this is interesting to me
Imagine coming here to a discussion about a horribly mistreated person and the book she wrote about how she overcame it all, and all you can talk about is how her condition isn’t real or that she’s probably faking it. Disgusting.
Ooo I should read that. I also read “when rabbit howls” by Truddi Chase, which is a similar story except I’ve heard that it’s fake??? Not sure. It reads a bit odd but I wouldn’t call it fake
Here’s another excellent book: Susan Sheehan’s book, “Is There No Place on Earth For Me?” began as a New Yorker story, and is profoundly insightful about mental health and the toll it takes on the individual and her family.
Interesting, I just finished a short docuseries on Netflix about a man who committed a series of rapes in the 60’s as a young man in Ohio and after he was arrested was found unfit for trial on the basis of insanity, and went on to receive intense therapy after the fact and was eventually allowed to integrate back into society in spite of other less offensive criminal acts.
What made it so interesting was how much less was understood about the illness 50 years ago than it is today. How much pseudo science was involved in his therapy trying to “fuse” his alters on command, the fact that the popularity of the book Sybil and the concept of multiple personalities was trendy at the time which later led to him garnering a certain degree of celebrity status which led to him being able to sell his artwork and later a book written on his life, essentially profiting off his criminal behavior.
Ultimately there are people who believed his condition to be real, and people who don’t. The most compelling evidence to support his illness is the fact that he did suffer horrible abuse that would be better categorized as torture at the hands of his step father as a young boy. The most heinous of these acts that was explicitly detailed in the series that I picked up on was being routinely tied and bound to a chair in a barn at a farm owned by his stepfather, and allegedly his step father had him dig his own grave and buried him in it using a metal pipe to breathe. The step father then allegedly urinated into the pipe.
As a person with absolutely no background in mental health disorders or treatments I can imagine how a child who experiences such horrific trauma can develop ‘alters’ as a coping mechanism but have to imagine a true diagnosis is much more rare than people who claim to suffer the condition, particularly those who try and use it to absolve criminal behavior.
What I personally find so fascinating is the concept of what this says about the potential of the human mind. For example in the case of Billy Milligan the man I’ve been speaking about one of his alters spoke in a yugoslovian accent and could apparently speak and write in the Serbian language. Or that depending on the day an IQ test would show him as being functionally disabled mentally, or near genius level and many shades in between.
I don’t get to see my husband’s alters when they interact because it’s all done inside his own mindscape, but I can definitely tell most of them apart by certain clothing choices, food and drink choices, TV preferences…DID is fascinating. I certainly never thought I’d marry someone with DID.
I’ve never heard of this woman, but it’s nice to see something other than TikTok bullshit being recommended.
So much embellishment and misinformation in these comments, even from “professionals.” Truth of DID is the commonly observed symptoms are so vast that it covers multiple arenas of mental illness, or include specific disorders themselves. The DSM V is very direct on the ambiguous representation of the disorder due to only a handful of professionals ever making the diagnosis. This leads to the assumption that the disorder does not at all exist, further backed the the heinous lack of evidence showing the illness to persist (along with an egregious history of misuse and abuse for fame and personal gain).
Long story short, believe what you will regarding the illness, but the woman’s story and her testimony are worth a read. Just take the “multiple personality” (not a real diagnosis) part out and replace it with dissociative identity (the real diagnosis) which can consist of anything from eating disorders to memory loss, even including flashbacks. In fact, as someone with years of experience in treating military personnel even the diagnosis of PTSD often overlaps with DID.
There are no black and white lines when it comes to interpretation of this crazy world, and our brains often come up with incredible way to deal with reality. Jut because it is hard to believe doesn’t mean the story is not rooted in some form of truth.
What a great summary and review you’ve written, thanks for this! I’ll check the book out, I remember really admiring this lady’s DID system on 60 minutes
I’d like to reccomend When Rabbit Howls by Trudy Chase. Titanic warning though it goes into the sexual abuse of Trudy by her parents a lot. And I hsd to walk away from this book 3 times
How did you read this? It says it doesn’t come out till December and I can’t find it on netgalley
Not sure if anyone had mentioned it yet, but this story is incredibly similar to one of the short stories in “Good Morning, Monster” by Catherine Gildiner. She was a Canadian therapist who wrote about 5 of her most memorable patients, the hardest to read was about a girl who had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her absolutely diabolical father (the man literally ran a Ted Bundy fan club). She came in for general therapy and one day arrived when she didn’t have an appointment, acting completely out of character, talking with a different voice, and walking almost bow legged. The next time she came in, she had no idea that she’d come in that day at all, even accused the therapist of trying to gaslight her. That’s when they discovered she had DID and a total of 6 other personalities. So wild how similar the stories are all from such sad circumstances.
Where can I find this book? My library doesn’t have it and amazon says it’s not available until 12/6 (maybe cuz i’m in USA?) It sounds super interesting!
2,500 is a big fucking number. Can you (or anyone?) explain how 2,500 distinct personalities could even be identified in a single individual? I mean that is literally one personality per day for seven years without repeating a single one. Makes me wanna call BS. Also what a nice round number….
Can anyone prove this?
Sounds an interesting book.
I read a book some years ago titled, “I Never Promised You A Rose Garden.” It was about a girl with Schizophrenia. She went into an institution for treatment (it obviously took place a few decades ago.) But it shared the world her mind had created and the gods her mind created. I found it quite interesting as the story follows her in decision to be part of the reality of this world or the one in her mind.
Jesus Christ. I heard about one having 13 personalities, but never thought it could go up to the thousands.
I just added this to my list, thanks. I like that there are chapters from the psychiatrists point of view. I am reading a book written by someone considered psychotic and it is purely from their POV leaving me wanting another persons input for reliability and curiosity reasons.
She rereads her impact statement here. It’s very moving, not because she gets emotional, but because she conveys so clearly how her father’s abuse destroyed her and her future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVyrhmPZa4s