Page 11 - PIECES OF THE PUZZLE Eline Vissia

that somehow my defenses were logical and understandable, although most complex. And the further therapy progressed, the more insight I gained into the functioning of my own brain. Gradually a picture unfolded to me of a complex personality with different identities, which seemed to have different functions, but were also often grouped around serious traumatic experiences. The constant intrusions, severe nightmares and numerous physical reactions captured me all those years and with that, I would not have lived long anymore. Now was the time to try to enter those horrors, to meet the different identity states and change the sharp emotions to memories that would not always overwhelm me. For that purpose I also took my paintings to therapy. The paintings articulate their own language and have their unique level of communication. Sometimes just observing them is enough.
Some time ago, I brought the Foundation Art from Violence (Stichting Kunst uit Geweld) to life. The aim is to provide a platform for survivors of domestic and sexual violence for sharing their art with each other and the world. The goal is to familiarize society with the effects of such violence and to make clear what the consequences are and try wherever possible to stop it.“
Esther Veerman www.kunstuitgeweld.nl
Dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is considered to be at the far end of the spectrum of trauma-related psychiatric disorders (Spiegel 1984, Van der Hart, Nijenhuis & Steele 2006). According to the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association 2013), DID is a psychiatric disorder that is, among others, characterized by the experience of two or more distinct personality states, recurrent gaps in the recall of everyday events or important personal information, and/or traumatic events that are inconsistent with ordinary forgetting, all of which should not be an outcome of substance abuse or general medication (American Psychiatric Association 2013). In addition to DSM-IV-TR criteria (American Psychiatric Association 2000), symptoms should cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Furthermore, the disturbance is not a normal part of a broadly accepted cultural or religious practice (American Psychiatric Association 2013).
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
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