Author(s): Maggie Walters

Self Help

Maggie is a wife and mother; living an ordinary life, but with a hidden dark secret. Chaotic voices fill her head, a droning reminder of a childhood survived. Diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder (also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder) as a young adult, her days are full of triggers and images of alters that lived her childhood as she seeks to find normality in an internal world that offers none.As a child, Maggie split her mind, leaving mentally and creating other personalities to live through the hell that they experienced. This complex system of alters, known as The Girls, ensured that her physical body survived long term abuse at the hands of her family. As an adult, the fear of abuse no longer exists, but the reality is that Maggie must live with internal children who know no different, and struggle to comprehend that there could be freedom from the torture that they knew. She navigates her days, married and raising children, while trying to come to terms with the internal family that live in her mind. Maggie spiraled into depression and suicidality, contemplating the hidden world of her alters. Working with a therapist, Maggie begins to come to terms with The Girls, their needs and how to manage a day-to-day life full of triggers and hypervigilance. Resolutions don't come quickly or easily. But time, friends and therapy have provided a foundation that ensures not just survival, but a fulfilled life.