Dissociation : Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 061-068 : The dream character as prototype for the multiple personality alter
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Date
1995-03
Authors
Barrett, Deirdre
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ridgeview Institute and the International Society for the Study of Dissociation
Abstract
This article describes similarites of the states of dreaming and MPD, including amnesia and other alterations of memory. It suggests that the dream character, as an hallucinated projection of aspects of the self can be seen as a prototype for the MPD alter. Dreaming may even be a more literal precursor whose physiologic mechanisms for amnesia and the manufacture of alternate identities are recruited in the development of MPD. There are constellations of cognitive and personality processes which operate outside conscious awareness and normally are observable primarily in dreams. Extreme early trauma may mutate or overdevelop these dissociated parts and call upon them to "wake up" and function in the external world. We will describe how that this dream model parallels the observed phenomena of MPD more directly than do explanations relying on waking fantasy processes.
Description
p. 061-068