Also referred to as multiple personality disorder, a condition in which a person s identity dissociates, or fragments, creating additional, distinct identities that exist independently of each other within the same person. Persons suffering from dissociative identity disorder (DID) adopt one or more distinct identities which co-exist within one individual.
Each personality is distinct from the other in specific ways.

One study conducted in 1986 found that in 37 percent of patients, alters even demonstrated different from the host.
Statistically, sufferers of DID have an average of 15 identities. The disorder is far more common among females than males (as high as 9-to-1), and the usual age of onset is in early , generally by the age of four.

Both stories reveal fascinating insightsand raise thought-provoking questionsabout the unconscious mind, the interrelationship between remembering and forgetting, and the meaning of personality development.
The separate and distinct personalities manifested in these two cases feature unique physical traits and vocational interests. In the study of this disorder, scientists have been able to monitor unique patterns of brainwave activity for the unique multiple personalities.