Hello. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. It is good that your daughter is reciving help with this and that you want to be involved yourself.

I suggest that you ask your daughters therapist for resources, books or other things that might help you better understand or cope with the behaviors associated with this condition.

Someone with DID actually changes in her perception of self/identity-- who she feels and thinks herself to be. Someone else who is looking at her from afar might see clearly that from time to time she acts or talks like very different people. Yet, it is also likely/probable she isnt aware of this going on herself. When a person with DID dissociates her perspective and viewpoint changes, along with her available memory and the experiences she remembers.

DID is thought to develop as an automatic unconscious defense mechanism protecting a child against devastating feelings associated with terrible trauma. Repeated sexual and other abuse, torture, and violation in early childhood are often precursors to DID.

Dissociation is a complete disconnect in awareness from feeling the expereince. It is a way of removing oneself in our mind so that we block out completely the feelings associated with the traumatic expereince, along with the expereince itself. There is memory loss involved with this. Basically,this sort of dissociation is the complete physical and emotional denial of a reality so painful we cannot accept it as being our own.

You might want to broach this aspect of the disorder with the therapist since severe abuse is most likely involved and you will want to know what you can and need to do about this.

take care. keep the faith.