Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClain Smith, where for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make it into the previous show. In the last episode, End Game, we followed the bizarre and tragic tale of Cindy James and her six and a half year ordeal at the
hands of an apparent stalker. Though Cindy maintained till the end that she was being harassed by a mysterious assailant, many who worked on her various cases were convinced that she had in fact been orchestrating the incidences herself. Psychiatric health professionals who assessed Cindy's mental health were also convinced that she was effectively acting as her own stalker. However, few were able to provide a concrete diagnosis as to
why this might be happening. I have to admit I was a little unsure about giving an account of this story due to its complicated ambiguity. On the one hand, it's hard not to see similarities with the many other stories of botched police investigations that were clouded by sexist attitudes or ignorant ideas about the ways in which a
victim of crime is supposed to behave. On the other hand, if Cindy had in fact orchestrated, if not all the events, then at least the majority of them, including her death, as many came to believe, there is a risk that this story could be used to undermine similar stories in which victims of crime have been let down by poor
police practice. With that in mind, I don't want this week's extra to be taken as a reflection of what I believe happened, but rather as simply a closer look at one proposed explanation that I found quite startling, namely the possibility that Cindy had suffered from a form of dissociative identity disorder. The apparent condition, formally known as multiple personality disorder, remains as contentious today as it has ever been since it was first tentatively diagnosed back in the
nineteenth century. Though many in the medical profession believe it may affect anywhere from naught point nor one percent to fifteen percent of all people, there are others who don't
believe the condition exists at all. Dissociative identity disorder ORDID is defined in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as an identity disruption indicated by the presence of two or more distinct personality states, experienced as possession in some cultures, with discontinuity and sense of self and agency, which is to say, unlike the much looser notion of having multiple personalities, which we all do to a certain extent, whether the person we are
to our friends versus who we are to our boss or our families, say, desociative identity disorder specifies a condition whereby an individual's self is fragmented, but with no center of narrative gravity. In this state, some believe it's possible for the split personalities to function on their own without any awareness of each other. It is thought that one of the first clinical diagnoses for the condition was made
by doctor Desire Bourneville in the late nineteenth century. Bourneville had been looking into sixteenth century accounts of supposed possession when he came across the extraordinary tale of twenty five year old Dominican nune Chan Fray from fifteen eighty four to fifteen eighty six in Mons, France, Fray was subjected to a series of exorcisms on account of her appearing to be possessed by a host of demons as well
as the spirit of Mary Magdalene. Fray's exorcists compiled a report of over a hundred pages detailing her affliction and treatment, which Bourneville went on to publish in eighteen eighty six. In April fifteen eighty four, Frey, who had been blind in her right eye for ten years, was brought to
the attention of the local archbishop. The young woman was found to be covered in a series of self inflicted wounds that she had no recollection of doing to herself, leading some to believe that demons had been taking over her mind and using her body against her. In one incident, a version of Fray was reported that appeared to have completely forgotten all the theological knowledge she'd learned as a nun. Another time, when she was given a form that she
had to sign, the form went missing. It was said that she'd hidden it while possessed by a demon named Nammon, so when Frey reverted back to her usual self, she had no recollection of where the form had been hidden. After undergoing an exorcism in the summer, Fray continued to self harm and at one point even tried to hang herself, but later had no memory of the events. In November, the nun assumed the character of a four year old child who seemed more or less incapable of verbal communication.
Perhaps most incredibly, while existing as the four year old child, the vision was completely restored to Phray's right eye, just as it had been when she really was a four year old child. Green Chef is a USDA certified organic company that makes eating well easy and affordable, with plans to fit every kind of lifestyle. With Green Chef, it's easy to eat well and discover new recipes every week that you'll love to cook with meal plants that include paleo,
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health with the help of an experienced professional. Better Help wants you to start living a happier life today. After undergoing further exorcism, Phrase's condition seemed to lessen until finally she was determined to be free of demons and invited to return to her convent. Writing with his nineteenth century perspective, doctor Bourneville diagnosed Phrase's condition as a form of hysterical psychosis, speculating that this had come about due to severe abuse
she'd suffered as a child. This had effectively resulted in Fray, adopting two altered states that were in conflict with each other, Mary Magdalene being the good and the demons being evil. According to Hono van der Hart, writing in his paper Shan Fray, a sixteenth century of D, personality of these altars as they are known, had likely been based on the perpetrators of her childhood abuse, and then shaped by phrase understanding of what good and evil was and the
religious prism with which she comprehended the world. In seventeen ninety one, German doctor Aberhardt Gamelin wrote an account of a twenty year old woman who was suffering from what he caught exchanged personality. His account is thought to be the first case of DD to be written about in great detail. The woman, who was German and lived in Stuttgart at the time, had adopted the personality of a French aristocrat, with Gummellin suggesting that the recent French Revolution
may have been the trigger. Whenever the aristocrat alter emerged, she would speak German but with a French accent. When her usual self returned, she claimed to have no memory of what happened while the aristocrat was present. Remarkably, whenever the aristocrat returned, they had the complete memory of only
that specific state. In twenty fifteen, a paper published in psycho Journal discussed the extraordinary case of a patient who was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder who was also completely blind, the result of a severe head injury she'd suffered thirteen
years previously. After being assigned a course of psychotherapy with one of the paper's authors, Bruno vold Vogel, the patient who attended the sessions with her guide doc, was soon exhibiting all criteria required by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for diagnosing dissociative identity disorder. Over the course of the next few years, the patient would present ten altars in total, ranging in ages, genders, and personality.
Often the different altars wouldn't even speak the same language, with some only communicating in German and others in English. And then, after four years of therapy, something extraordinary occurred. It was while her later session was coming to an end, with the patient in their adolescent male identity state, that they were suddenly able to make out the words on the front page of a coffee table magazine. Gradually, after a few more sessions, while her other states remained blind.
The adolescent male altar slowly began to see more and more, until finally their sight was completely restored with the help of some hypnotherapeutic techniques. This sudden ability to see or seemingly transferred to a number of the other altar states, to the point where the patient would even drift in and out from states that were completely blind to states
that could see, often within the space of seconds. Incredibly, when the patient was given a visual evoked potential test, a test that examines the functionality of the optic nerve, it was found to function only when one of the patients alters that claimed it could see was present. These, of course, are extreme conditions. However, the idea of questioning just how many personalities we might have within us is
not unusual. Many people agonize over the notion of just who they really are, or what is their one true self. We talk of being real, or accuse people of being two faced when we don't think they're being true to themselves, or rather true to our idea of who we think they should be. I've always found this a strange and unfair accusation. Might it simply be true that we are many different people. As Gregor Riec wrote on Psychology Today
in twenty fourteen. Neuropsychologist Antonio Domascio, for example, divides the notion of self into three parts. Firstly, we have the experiential sense of self, that which we feel is unique to us, which boils down essentially to our individual personal memories of the experiences we've had throughout our lives. Then there is the autobiographical self. We might think of this as our inner sense of self, all the beliefs, knowledge, and prejudices we might have that inform the way we
interpret the world around us. And finally, there is the public self, the many and varied ways in which we present ourselves to others in the world. As gregon Rite notes, if there is any sense of unity to these varied expressions of self at all, it would most likely be illusory. Rare would be the individual for which these notions of
self remained unchanging throughout their lifetime. Our sense of self, therefore, is more likely to be comprised of many different parts, some often even competing with each other, that, when taken together, gives us a vague sense of one singular notion of who we think we are. Philosopher Daniel Dennet describes this notion as the self being akin to a center of narrative gravity as I mentioned earlier, rather than one singularly defined thing, something that can feel cohesive yet has no
solid property at all. Perhaps, instead of feeling the need to strive to become one consistent, settled being, we can learn to become comfortable with the fact that instead we are many and our capacity is infinite. Or, as Walt Whitman famously put it, do I contradict myself very well? Then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes. I'll leave you with this rather wild I, which was discussed by a group of left field thinkers in a
Scientific American blog post back in twenty eighteen. In it, the authors posed an eye catching solution to what many consider the central problem of cosmo psychism, the idea that all consciousness is part of a single universal consciousness. As critics of the idea say, how could we all be part of the same consciousness if we each have such a strong, separate sense of our own individual experience of life. The solution was simple, suggested the authors. If there really
was such a thing as a single universal consciousness. Perhaps it too suffers from some kind of dissociative identity disorder, and if so, might it be that we aren't single, separate conscious entities at all, but merely the individually fragmented older states of a universal consciousness. Joy unexplained and would like to help supporters, You can now do so via Patreon to receive access to add free episodes, discount or merchandise, as well as brand new video and audio content exclusive
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