How does DID/OSDD develop?

Theory of Structural Dissociation

The theory of structural dissociation holds that no one is born with an “integrated” personality. Each person is born with different “parts” of themselves, called ego states, which are more directly tied to needs than complex emotions. Over time, these ego states naturally integrate into a seamless and coherent personality, usually by age 7-9.

However, repeated childhood trauma can disrupt this process of integration. Ego states are unable to merge and integrate due to conflicting needs, trauma reactions, trauma memories, or learned actions due to trauma. A coherent sense of self cannot form seamlessly when the child is safe one moment and in fight-flight-freeze-fawn mode the next, putting the body in survival mode.

Depending on the severity or degree to which the ego states cannot be integrated, this can result in various disorders. It can lead to PTSD, cPTSD, BPD, or – if it gets to the point where amnesiac barriers are built between the ego states to protect them from knowing what’s happening to each other – it can lead to DID.

Layman’s Definition

Have you ever seen a young child feel “melancholy” or “bittersweet”? Probably not! No, they’re usually happy, sad, hungry, tired, angry – the extremes. That’s because – according to the theory of structural dissociation – everything begins separately. Happy and sad can talk to each other, but they’re not “there” simultaneously. It’s one and then the other.

Around the age of 7-9, those parts naturally start to meld together so that kids can feel those complex emotions, and so they’re not so all-or-nothing anymore – it’s a natural part of development. Trauma kind of messes with that.

TRIGGER WARNING

Let’s say a child lives with her mother, and her mother has a boyfriend who stays with them on the weekends. On the weekends, this boyfriend sexually abuses this child. And she knows that her mother knows. This goes on for months or even years and she can’t mentally get through the week knowing what she’s going to have to deal with on the weekend without breaking down. She can’t talk to her mom and feels she can’t talk to anyone else – she’s a child and doesn’t know what to do. But her brain is still young and her ego states (happy, sad, angry, scared) are still separate.

Then she develops structural amnesia so that she “forgets” the weekend. The part of her that experiences the weekend may forget the week. Both live their own lives. Now a girl can get through the week and be a happy child without knowing about the trauma that happens every weekend. Her brain has cut off a part of her knowledge and awareness because it’s a scared part, or an angry part, or a strong part, and she no longer has communication with that part. Now that child has DID. That child has developed this coping mechanism for further trauma and can split again in the future and develop more and more separate parts or “alters” to deal with other traumatic things for the rest of her life. Her brain has learned that this works. It keeps her “safe”… at least mentally.

End Trigger Warning

Core Theory

Core theory is the theory that there is an “original” or “main” personality. There are other alters that split off from that core. If there were to be a final fusion of a system – viewed through core theory – they would fuse back into that core, with more memories and understanding. Perhaps with some shifted traits from the alters that fused, but the core personality is generally considered dominant in the sense that it will persist throughout the life of the system.

Core theory is less commonly used these days, with structural dissociation being the leading theory in the field. However, some systems do identify with a core. Some people may struggle with validating these alters if they believe in the theory of structural dissociation. However, there’s also a reason why some systems might identify more with a core while they were still being formed by structural dissociation…

If a system went through its trauma after most of its ego states had already merged, it may have had an almost fully formed identity with only one or two ego states left to merge when it formed DID/OSDD. If that’s the case, they may have formed more of what might feel like a “core” – rather than a system that had all of its ego states separated when it formed DID, and therefore started out much more fractured. This is only a theory, of course, but for systems out there who are struggling with feeling like they have a core but believe in the theory of structural dissociation, this may be an explanation.

Sources

This Wiki 1.0 article used sources included in this list.

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