The assimilation of anger in a case of dissociative identity disorder

Abstract

The assimilation model considers personality as a community of voices, each representing the traces of past experiences. Problematic voices are kept separate by painful emotion, but they may be gradually assimilated into the community in successful psychotherapy. People with dissociative identity disorder may be considered as having multiple subcommunities of voices. For Kristen, a nineteen-year-old therapy client diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, the process of assimilation proceeded in at least two ways. Assimilation appeared to occur via negotiation among Kristen's various subcommunities (alters). It also occurred simultaneously through dialogue between the discrepant voices within each of the subcommunities. In this paper, Kristen's and her primary alter's changing experiences of anger over a 36 month period of therapy were identified, tracked and discussed using the assimilation model.

Keywords:

• dissociative
• identity disorder
• assimilation model
• dissociation
• therapy
• anger