Woman who lives with multiple personalities reveals fears she was 'possessed'

A woman who lives with dissociative identity disorder (DID) has opened up about being told she was "possessed" before getting her diagnosis.

Bo, who shares details of her experiences on social media, has been open about living with DID - a mental health condition where a person has multiple separate personalities that control their behavior at different times, per the Cleveland Clinic.

The identities are usually caused by living through trauma, meaning people "dissociate" and may experience several different personalities, known as "alters".

Bo opened up to the Tea At Four podcast about how she finally got her diagnosis and the effect it had on her life.

Bo lives with dissociative identity disorder (DID) following childhood trauma. Credit: Tea At Four/Four Nine

When asked if the diagnosis made it easier or harder, she admitted: "It was a bit of both. In terms of myself, it was a lot easier because it was like ‘I’m not crazy, I’m not possessed.’

"That was one of my biggest fears as well, because a lot of people tell me I’m possessed and that it’s demons."

She explained: "Everyone thinks it’s demons, everyone thinks I’m possessed, and they would tell me that when I was younger.

These people would come out and they’d hurt them, and my friends would say it was a demon.

"Having a doctor come along and say ‘it’s not demons, you’re not possessed, you’re not crazy and you’re not making it up.’ Then, having this answer and this title, I was able to do research, I was able to find people that were like me. Seeing it in other people and seeing what happens during the blackouts made a lot more sense, it was a lot less confusing for me. Filming myself as well, that helped make it a lot less confusing."

While it was helpful for her to come to terms with her condition, Bo admitted that it wasn't so easy for her family to accept it, as they had to face up to their role in creating the trauma that led to her DID.

She revealed: "Then on the other end, my family now know, my friends know, I’ve been on TV, so people know that about me.

"My family are not very happy with it, because it’s one of those things - very rarely does a mental condition slap you in the face and say ‘your family is abusive’.

"If you’ve got OCD your brain a little bit rewired wrong. If you’ve got autism, your brain is rewired wrong. If you’ve got DID, your family were abusive - that’s it.

"Either they were the abusers, or they neglected you, because it can not happen without that."

Bo revealed that her mother asked her directly whether it was related to a certain incident in her childhood but found it difficult to accept the answer.

Her first alter arrived when she was just four years old in the form of a woman from the 1920s, though she was not aware what the condition was at the time.

Bo now has between 10 and 12 main alters, though there are "up to 30" other lesser personalities that have cropped up for short periods depending what is happening in her life.

When she experiences a "switch" into one of the other personalities, Bo likens it to blacking out or being asleep as she has little to no memory of what happens during the time she is dissociated.

The alters can also have different skills or conditions to the main host, with Bo revealing that one of hers is ambidextrous and is able to color with both hands, something she herself is unable to do.

As DID stems from trauma, the condition can sometimes be managed or even cured by extensive therapy to work through the root cause and the memories which trigger the switch.

Catch the full episode with Bo on Tea At Four on Spotify and YouTube now.

Featured image credit: Tea At Four/Four Nine