Unrelenting catastrophic trauma within the family: when every secure base is abusive.
This paper will present illustrations from Adult Attachment Interviews conducted with adult female survivors of chronic ritual abuse in their family of origin. A model of multiple personality disorder informed by the Adult Attachment Interview coding and classification system will be presented. A range of victim, perpetrator and bystander personalities may be identified in the same interview, indeed in the same speaker. For the speaker who believes herself to be one of a number of co-existing personalities, integration and coherence means death of a loved one, indeed death of the sense of self. Possibilities of re-birth into a single integrated self are posited.
Steele
Howard
H
Sub-Department of Clinical Health Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. h.steele@ucl.ac.uk
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D009105:Dissociative Identity Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009769:Object Attachment; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*