Dissociative Identity Disorder: Fearfully And Wonderfully Made (17)

Dissociative Identity Disorder: Fearfully And Wonderfully Made (17)

Psalm 139: 13 – 18

After his death, two of Craig’s friends surfaced.

“Last week, someone said that he would like to accompany me to see Craig. This happened two to three times usually early in the morning at about 5 o’clock,” Jane said quizzically.

“OK. Let us talk with them,” I said. Immediately, I induced Jane into a trance state.

“I am William and I live at Telok Blangah. I am a good friend of Craig, and we used to visit him at the hotel many times.”

“I am Ricky and I live at Redhill. William and I are drug addicts,” taking turns to talk.

“I am glad to meet you both. By the way, do you know that Craig had just passed away,” I enquired.

“No, we did not know. The last we heard was that he had been beaten up in Johor Bahru,” William chipped in.

“We are sad to hear that Craig had died. We offer our condolences to you, Aunty Jane,” Ricky said.

We then settled into talking about their time with Craig and the information they held. There were many instances where the three of them were involved in petty thievery to support their drug habits, even stealing from Craig’s father and grandmother. Jane had met William and Ricky on many occasions, but had never held any conversation with them. These alters were probably created as she chanced upon hearing them discuss their robbery plans. When Thomas’ Rolex watch was stolen and Craig’s grandmother’s safe was broken into, they further compounded the breakdown of trust between Craig and his family. This broke Jane’s heart.

“Is there anything else both of you would like to tell Aunty Jane?” I asked towards the end of our session.

“No. We have told you all we know. It is likely we will not disturb Aunty Jane again,” William concluded.

“O.K. Thank you both for coming forward.”

I then briefed them on the issue of memory integration, and left them to think about it.

Pearl and Mike suddenly spoke up consecutively. Last night, they took turns to torment Thomas from 3.00am to 5.00am, accusing him of infidelity. At this point, I requested that Thomas, who had been waiting outside the counseling room, to join us in our session. The purpose for this was to observe Thomas’ reaction and how I can intervene and negotiate the loaded emotions these issues encompassed with the individual parties. After five minutes of accusations by Pearl and Mike, Thomas lost his cool and walked out of the session. We continued to talk as I held extended sessions separately for Jane and Thomas. This entailed helping Thomas with his anger and know-how in handling these alters when they come.

In a following session, when William and Ricky announced that they are ready for integration, I integrated them into Jane’s memory system.

Pearl and the alters associated with her, had not yet reached a decision regarding integration.

At this juncture, Jane’s psychiatrist reduced her dosage for mood stabilizer, lithium carbonate, by 35%. This was good news.