HOLIDAYS
I am frequently asked if there is a surge in multiple personality disorder (MPD) symptoms during the holidays.
For many of us, holidays means contact with our families. For patients with multiple personality disorder, the holidays can present unique challenges.
Up until the time she was integrated Lillian spent every major holiday in the hospital. Her relationship between the holidays, family contact and the exacerbation of MPD symptoms is well described throughout “Lillian, A True Story of Multiple Personality Disorder”.
in Chapter 5, Amy’s Halloween, Aunt Jean provides a fascinating look into a personality split. As a child, Lillian was never allowed to participate in Halloween given that her parents considered Halloween to be a satanic ritual. This, in combination with her own belief that she was possessed and compounded by seeing children wearing masks — i.e. having two identities, triggered the appearance of Amy during her Halloween visit to Aunt Jean’s home.
Few descriptions of five-year-old Amy could be more endearing than Aunt Jean’s account of Amy’s first Halloween. In her childlike state Amy was enthralled with pumpkin carving but she also was cautious when she saw Evan, Lilian’s middle son, take a sharp knife in his hands and begin cutting off the pumpkin top. “Be careful. Knives is sharp. Might cut you,” she warned. Watching from Aunt Jean’s front room window as masked children came to the door, it was a revelation to Amy that children were given candy. Amy’s behavior, her facial expressions, her manner of speaking and her body language were that of a five-year-old and it was an eye-opener for Evan who began to understand his mother’s behavior in a new, protective way.
In Chapter 9, Amy’s broken Christmas provides the reader with insight into Lillian’s reaction to the holiday. As an adult, Lillian spent most of her Christmases in the hospital. For Lillian, Christmas brought forth painful memories of watching her stepbrothers opening gifts on Christmas morning while cruelly taunting, “Bad children don’t deserve presents.” Lillian’s gifts were often held until December 26th and then returned unopened to the store for money.
Thanksgiving was a difficult holiday for Lillian as well. During Lillian’s first Thanksgiving with Aunt Jean, it took the multiple personalities of Lillian, Celeste and Lee to navigate the day. Lee watched football with the men. Celeste baked rolls for the Thanksgiving meal. Lillian helped in the kitchen.
Even after Lillian was fully integrated she found coping with Thanksgiving as “one person” overwhelming and often longed for the return of her personalities. In Lillian’s journal, she describes struggling to handle Thanksgiving as a newly integrated person. “It was the ‘others’…that could do everything, that kept our house working, the meals cooked, things running smooth.”
For Lillian, like others with multiple personality disorder, the holidays would always present unique challenges.
Frank Alabiso, Ph.D.
