I do not read this term mentioned on here much, under child abuse. So I thought I would discuss it a little, since I had a very close female friend in the congregation who dealt with this condition. This disorder, for those who do not know, is when people basically develop individual personalities inside of the one person, that is them. In the case of the person I knew, she had developed over a dozen that she knew of. One was a child, another a teenager, one was a very conservative Christian and another I remember was very sleazy in nature. In all, the condition ate her alive as a person. Why?
To start I should mention that this girl was what this board would term, a silentlamb. Her father in Northern California, who was an elder, molested her for years. Because there were no witnesses to the molestation, as we know to well that is required with Witnesses. He was never removed and in fact the elders turned on her in her adult years. The elders decided that the condition of "Multiple Personality Disorder" did not give her free range to do non-Witness things and they also told her that her condition was suspected to be demon possession. In doing so, they disfellowshiped her for her illness. In their defense, and I use the word "defense "lightly, she had slept with someone she was not married too, while still being a Jehovahs Witness. Something directly related to the condition and personality disorder.
I still know the woman a little, in that we e-mail back and forth about 2-3 times a year. Has anyone else had first hand experience with this disorder or with people who have it? As far as I know, it never really goes away like the flu.
I wanted to add something. People often made fun of this girl's condition, as if it was fake. Yet they never made fun of the fact that her father the elder was never punished for his actions. Sick world!
Edited by - whyhideit on 7 January 2003 22:30:21