Quote:
Originally Posted by mostlylurking
I think the creation of a new, split off consciousness is a coping skill the brain can acquire in early childhood when the brain is malleable. If this ability to divide the consciousness is not learned before the age of about 5 or so, it can no longer be learned because the brain / mind is not flexible enough.
However, once the brain has learned how to use a partitioning of the consciousness like this, it retains that ability. So if a person is already multiple (has DID / multiple personalities) and they suffer a severe trauma at age 13 or 23 or 33, a new division and new consciousness may come into being.
A new consciousness can even come into being in the absence of a specific trauma, in a person who is already multiple. But none of this happens unless it began with severe and/or chronic trauma in very early years. This is just my personal understanding, but I hope it helps.
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I agree with what you are saying somewhat. But I disagree that this phenomena is a coping skill that the brain "learns"! Dissociative disorder is a "result" of trauma/abuse during early childhood. The brain is irreparably damaged from this trauma/abuse until professional help is obtained. How can I explain this? If you get boiling water/coffee/something spilt on you, you body does not learn how to blister. The blister is simply the physical result of having a boiling fluid touch your skin. That is the same with mental damage.
We learn reading, writing and arithmetic. But if someone jumps out of a closet unexpectedly and screams "boo", our reaction is not learned it simply is a reaction/result of being scared Sh**less.