Christine kept her secret until she was forty-one. She didn’t even tell her husband, nor the counselor she’d gone to for ten years. Then, sick with anxiety, she uttered to her therapist the seven most difficult words of her life, “There is more than one of me.”
Although it was a huge relief to share her secret, now she faced learning to deal with managing a life with Dissociative Identity Disorder, sometimes called Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). Christine Pattillo has done a remarkable job of sharing her life and those of her husband and “alters” in I Am We: My Life with Multiple Personalities.
It is believed that Dissociative Identity Disorder is caused by early childhood repetitive, extreme, physical, sexual or emotional abuse. As a young child Christine suffered repeated sexual abuse from a friend’s stepfather. In addition, Christine also endured physical and emotional abuse from her own father.
One might think the natural tendency might be to attempt to rid oneself’s of multiple personalities, but a child fears ridicule, so the condition is often kept secret. Not only that, but in Christine’s case, she was actually fond of and derived great comfort in some of her alternate personalities. But not all. Some got her into trouble.
When Christine married Christopher, he had no idea what was in store and how he would have to juggle his time between Christine and “the gang”: Hope, Rim, She, Q, Chrissy, Cyndi, and even a boy, Tristan. The alters include personalities of different ages, temperaments and desires.
I found I Am We fascinating. It would be easy to dismiss this type of mental illness as an over-active imagination, but when faced the strong evidence this autobiography presents, even the most skeptical would find it difficult to believe the condition contrived. Christine’s life has known joy, especially in her marriage, but also rage, confusion and deep sadness. I Am We is an attempt to help “normal” people realize that, although rare, some lives are filled with complicated, multiple, and abnormal mental health issues.
To learn more about the book and author Christine Pattillo, visit www.iamwebook.com
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