Member-only story
Multiple Personalities
I am not a True Crime fan. I am too easily bothered by the anxiety stirred in those sorts of programs, too empathetic half the time to even watch cartoons, much less live action, re-enactments of bad actors murdering folks. This 60 Minute story, though, found below, of Jeni Haynes and her army held my full attention. Probably because I am fascinated with mental health, and the wondrous things our brains do to keep us alive. I found it particularly nice to hear the psychiatrist say multiplicity is not a disorder- but rather it is a highly functional brain strategy that allows humans to survive ongoing, horrendous abuse.
Jeni, and her entourage, have a story. You should watch it, because I will not do her story, or even this human condition, justice. Not in an essay. Not in a word. Maybe not even in a book. Multiple personality disorder, now known as dissociative identity disorder, is really not a disorder, but an adaptive framework that protects a soul from suffering and losing all hope. Can it be maladaptive? Yeah. Once freed from the source of trauma, the artifact that enabled soul to endure unspeakable hardships can result in failing to socially thrive. That is not on the soul who experienced trauma, but on the society that has so often failed appreciate diversity, and or allow for non standard expressions of humanity.
