At one time I had all the books on dissociative disorders along with Dr. Arthur Arkin's Book titled, "Sleep talking: Psychology and Psycho-physiology".

So after reading those books and trying to get help since 1992 I have come to believe that there are only two different states of mind in dissociative disorders.

There is the normal conscious mind and there is a hypnotic state. In that hypnotic state you can have more than one personality. If you study hypnosis you know that they can age regress you under hypnosis. Therefore you can be any age that the hypnotist gets you to be. When he wakes you up you will not remember what you said while under hypnosis. Dr. Arthur Arkin calls this automatic amnesia. Dr. Arthur Arkin also says that the personality under hypnosis is not the same as the normal conscious self. It was reading this book that got me mad enough to get into trouble.

How we develop our dissociative system depends not only on our own personality but on the personalities of our family members or other abusers. It depends on which personalities were out during abuse. It depends on the severity of the abuse both physically, emotionally, and psychologically. When one of us is in an alter state, it is in effect like we are under hypnosis. Any serious abuse while we are in that state can create other alters.