Encountering the Singularities of Multiplicity
Richard P. Kluft
Abstract
The author reviews the evaluation and the early stages of treatment of a woman whose well-hidden DID had been overlooked by prior treaters, and whose functioning had continued undisrupted. She fulfilled criteria for “high-functioning DID,” and did not demonstrate pronounced posttraumatic or attachment-related symptomatology. Observation of such patients permits a close study of the emergence and assessment of well-hidden dissociative phenomena per se without the distraction of addressing challenging comorbidities. It allows exploration of the development of the therapeutic alliance across alters and the conduct of the early stages of DID treatment; that is, the establishment of a strong foundation for the definitive trauma and integration work to follow.