Another of my mental disorder pieces. This one is dissociative identity disorder, more commonly known as multiple personality disorder.

This piece is based on a real man who had DID. There's a wonderful book written about him by Daniel Keyes, The Minds of Billy Milligan.

Diagnostic criteria for DID
- The presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states (each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self).

- At least two of these identities or personality states recurrently take control of the person's behavior.

- Inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.

- The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., blackouts or chaotic behavior during Alcohol Intoxication) or a general medical condition (e.g., complex partial seizures). Note: In children, the symptoms are not attributable to imaginary playmates or other fantasy play.

Sufferers of DID are usually extremely gifted children who are abused at an early age by a close authority figure. The abuse is generally extreme, frequent and sexual in nature. Unable to deal with the trauma, the core personality splinters, creating alternate personas to compartmentalize the abuse.

Billy Milligan was repeatedly raped and tortured by his step-father. Unable to bear the trauma, Billy's mind splintered into 24 separate personalities. Billy was eventually arrested for rapes and robberies that had been committed by his other personalities. Billy was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was confined to a mental institution. I don't know much after this. Daniel Keyes has written another book about Billy and the gradual fusing of his personalities but, due to legal problems, it has not been published in the US. I have also heard rumors of a movie based on Billy's life.

Billy was an extremely gifted artist, so my paintings of his personalities are based on his own images. I have only painted a few distinct personalities, not all 24.

Personalities from left to right

Danny - The frightened one. Especially afraid of men. Step-father forced him to dig his own grave and then buried him alive with only a small tube to breathe through. Danny "died" at this time and considers himself "dead". Danny only draws still lifes.

Christene - The corner child. Can read and print but is dyslexic. Likes to draw and coor pictures of flowers and butterflies. She carries a ragdoll and spends most her time with Ragen.

April - The bitch. Has a Boston accent. Constantly plots revenge against Billy's step-father. The other personalities consider her to be insane.

Arthur - The planner. Has a British accent. He is rational and emotionless. Self-taught in physics and chemistry. Can read and write in fluent Arabic. Is the only personality that needs glasses. Controls which peronality comes out a given time.

Billy - The core personality. 26 years old.

Ragen Vadscovinich - The guard. Name derived from the Yugoslavian term for "rage-again". Writes and speaks Serbo-Croatian. Is color blind, so he only draws in black and white. Extremely strong and very protective of Christene. Ragen committed the robberies that Billy was arrested for.

Adalana - The lesbian. Shy and lonely. She writes poetry and cooks an cleans for the other personalities. She has nystagmus, causing her eyes to drift. Adalana committed the rapes that Billy was arrested for, but claims she was making love to the women and did not wish to hurt them.

Jason - The pressure valve. Releases pent up emotions through hysterical screaming and tantrums. Takes bad memories so that Billy may forget them, thereby causing Billy's amnesia.

A close up of the faces can be seen here: [link]