Jefferson Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 9 | Issue 1 Article 3

January 1991

Multiple Personality and Channeling

Rayna L. Rogers, D.O.
Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center, San Francisco, California

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Rogers, D.O., Rayna L. (1991) "Multiple Personality and Channeling," Jefferson Journal of Psychiatry: Vol. 9 : Iss. 1 , Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29046/JJP.009.1.001
Available at: https://jdc.jefferson.edu/jeffjpsychiatry/vol9/iss1/3

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 Multiple Personality and Channeling
Rayna L. Rogers, D.O.

Abstract

Psychiatry in the 1980's and 1990's has seen a rapid progression in the understanding qf
dissociative disorders, especially multiple personality disorder. A notherphenomenon which has had
a parallel rise in the past decade is trance channeling. Channeling is the process by which an
individual enters a trance-like state and surrenderscontrol ofthe body to a "guide" or "entity" who
communicateswith the listenersor "sitters" gathered.for a "reading." Thepurpose ofth is paper is to
investigate the relationship between these twophenomena, specifically questioning whether channel-
ing is a variant cfmultiplepersonality disorder or ifit is pathological.

H ISTORY OF MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER

Th e first do cum ent ed case of multiple personality disord er (M PD) was t ha t of

M ary Reynolds in 1815 (I). Strange " fits" ca me ove r Ms. Reyn old s begi nni ng a t th e
a ge of 18, whi ch , according to th e a u t ho r, were "evide nt ly hyst e rical. " D uring th e
a ttacks Ms . Reynolds m ight slee p e ig h tee n hours a da y a nd th en awaken wit h la rge
discrepan cies in her m em ory, penm an ship a nd di spo sition . Th e pati e nt ca me to
ac knowledge two different sta tes of being whi ch alt ernat ed in hersel f, a nd accounts of
her story becam e a focu s of mu ch cu riosity and int erest after Dr. S.L. Mit che ll
publi sh ed it in th e Medical Repository in 1817 (2) .
The next case of multiple person ality occ u rred in Bavaria in 1928 (I). The
pati ent was a man nam ed Sorgel wh o wa s " a n e pile pt ic, bu t he had two distinct
o rga niza tio ns of co nscious ness: on e crim ina l a nd o ne d ecent , of whi ch th e latt er
rem embered practi ca lly nothing ou ts ide of its own life, whil e th e crim ina l perso nal ity
rem embered both lives" ( I, p. 283). The qu estions of Sorgcl's e pile psy is obvious ly an
int eresting on e given th e recent hypoth eses reg arding temporal lob e epilepsy as a
pos sib le pat hogene tic m echanism in mu lt ip le personality di sord er. It a lso represent s
on e of th e ea rl ie r conce pt ua liza tions of t his diso rd er, referred to in ea rly lit erat ure as
" fits" or "spells" or eve n possessio n . T his issu e will be di scussed lat er in t his pape r.
In 1906 Mo r ton Prince pu blished his wo r k on Ms . Christine ("S a lly") Beau ch amp,
e nge nde ring a great deal of in teres t in the disorder of mu ltiple person ality. Prince
remain ed a major contributor to th e fund of knowled ge about MPD for yea rs, a nd
went on to report four more ca ses (2, p. 578) . P ri nce's st ra tegy for trea ting th e
disorder fa iled to produce clear treatm ent su ccess a nd future research ers in t he field
rej ect ed it.
Thigp en and Cl eckley, in 1954 , report ed th e case whi ch would bring MPD in to
th e public eye for th e first tim e since The Strange Case qfDr.Jeckyll and 1Hr. Hy de. The

3
4 J EFFERSO N J O URNAL OF PSYCHIATRY

story of C hris Sizemore, first told in 1954 by Thigp en a nd C lec kley (3) la t e r becam e
th e popular book The Three Faces ofEue (4). The movie by th e sa me na m e practi call y
m ad e "s plit personality" a hous ehold t erm and se t th e stage for th e eme rg ence of th e
tragicall y fascin ating story of Sybil (5) in 1973. Sin ce that tim e a ve ry act ive group of
res earch ers including Allison, Braun, Coons, Kluft a nd oth e rs have wo rk ed to
incr ease th e rat e of recognition of thi s di sord er (6-1 6).

EVO LUT ION OF DEFINITIONS FO R MULTIPLE PERSO NALITY DISORDER

Th e ph en om enologic d efiniti on s of mulipl e person ality have remain ed rem ark-

a bly stable ove r th e years. T aylor a nd Martin in 1944 described MPD as a condition in
whi ch " two or more person alities (ex ist) each of whi ch is so we ll developed a nd
int egrat ed as to have a rel atively coo rd inate d , rich un ified a nd s table life of its own "
( I, p. 282) . Eight een yea rs lat er Sutcl iffe a nd Jo nes ( 17) held t hat MPD pri ncipa lly
involves "sig nifica n t a lte ra t io ns of person ality, loss of se lf-re fere nce m e m o ries and
co nfus ions a nd d elu sions about a particular id entity in tim e a nd place. " In 1972
Ludwig, Br andsm a a nd Wilbur sta te d th at multiple pe rson ality refers to " t he
pr esen ce of one or m ore a lte r person aliti es, eac h possessin g presu m abl y different set
of va lues a nd beh aviors fro m one a no t her. The a pp earance of th ese personaliti es may
be on a " co-co nscious" basis o r a se pa ra te co nsc ious ness basis .. . or bot h" ( 18).
In 1980, Coons sti pula te d tha t periods of am nesia sho uld be pr es ent to mak e th e
di a gn osis of MP D, but this was not included as a crite rion in DS M III. DS /v/ III mad e a
sign ifica n t adva nce in th e underst andin g MPD by removin g it from t he hyst eri a
category a nd creat ing th e di ssociative disorders g ro u p.

DSM III-R

Aft er a minor mod ification , th e cu r re n t dia gn ostic crite ria a re as follows:

a) Th e existe nce wit hin th e pe rson of two o r mo re di stinct perso nali ti es
or person alit y sta tes, each wit h it s own rel atively e nduring pa tt ern of
perceiving, rel ating to a thinking a bo u t th e e nviro nme nt a nd t he self.
b) At least two of th ese person aliti es recurrently take full con t ro l of th e
person 's behavior.
C linica l m anifestations whi ch help to es ta blish th e pr esen ce of distinct personality
sta tes a re d escribed in d eatil by Br aun (19). C ha nges occ u r in th e ph ysical , behav-
ioral, psychological and psychophysiological as pects of th e individual. Thi s may
include vioce cha nges, va ria nce in posture , clo t hing, handedn ess, lan gu a ge, memory,
mood , se xual identity a nd o rie n tat ion, pain thresh old , EEG patt ern , Galvanic skin
response a nd TAT, Rorsch ach a nd MMPI results.

VARIOUS CONCEIYTUALIZAT IONS OF MULTIPLE PERSO NALITY

For th e first o ne hundred a nd fifty years o r so, co nce pt ua lization of MPD

ce n te re d a ro nd Janet 's idea th at multipl e person ality was a spec ia l case of hyst e-
MULTIPLE PERSONALITY AND CHANNELING 5

ria (20) . A promin ent gro up of writ ers including Whit e (2 1), H olla nd e r (22),
Kernberg (23), Ludwig (18), a nd Rigall (24) talk ed abo u t t he mo tive of escape in th e
cre a tion of new person aliti es, but m ay have mi ssed th e m ark co nce r ning wha t t he
patient was esc a ping from. For exa m ple, Rigall wro te th at " by d ra ma tizing him sel f
int o som e ot he r personality, [h e] for a ti me ge ts rid of th e burd en of his neu rosis"
(24 , p. 847) . In a va ria tion of th e hyst eri a hypoth esis, Reed (25) qu otes Kr a ep eli n, as
cite d by Sch ne ide r , as d escribing " t he hyst eri cal person ali ty" as " displaying e mo-
ti on al resp on ses, a d elight in novelt y, vivid imagin ation , st riving to be in th e lim eligh t
a nd a tend en cy to che a t" (26). Sch neide r himself refers to suc h individ ua ls as
" a tte ntion-see king psych op aths." Schne ide r goes on to say th at " t he most st ri king
way of dealing with this passion for a tt e n tion is pathological lying, for t his ind ivid ua l
need s to be e ndowed with ce rta in pow ers of fant asy a nd inve ntion . .. " (27) . Reed
a pplies this expla na tion to di smiss channe ling beh avior.
Regarding th e hyst eri a expla na tion, Greaves st at es th at most a ut hors who have
syste m a tica lly reviewed th e lit erature a re convince d th at " it has been both a mist ak e
and a dis servi ce to classify multipl e person ality as a spe cia l ca se of hyste ria " (2, p.
583 ). According to Greaves, thi s view is a t best a n " ove rs im plifica tion." It has bee n
shown th at th e va rious personality s tat es or "alt e rs" m ay "utt e rly fa il to show
neurotic orga niza tion" (2, p. 586) . In fact , person ali ty sta tes in MPD may fa ll into
vir t ua lly a ny ca tegory of psychi at ric d escription , a nd th is is " ne it he r di agn ost ic nor
typical of hyst erical orga niza tion" (2, p. 586) .
So m e th eori st s have purport ed th at becau se sp litt ing is used as t he pri ma ry
de fe nse a nd sym p to ms includ e impulsivit y, d ist urban ce of ide n ti ty, rage, moo d
swings , un st abl e int erpe rson al relation ships a nd self-destructi ven ess th a t NIPD is
reall y a for m of borderline person al it y disorde r. Indeed Buck (28) ha s descr ibed a
case of MPD whi ch m et th e crite ria for BPD in DSi'vl III, a nd both Fast (29) and
Searles (30) have described m ulti ple identity forma tion in bord e rline sta tes (3 1).
Splitt ing , however, is a ge ne ric process a nd , as not ed by Lich tenbe rg a nd Sla p (32), is
not " confine d to a ny specific ca tegory. " Wh at rem ains un clea r is why peop le wit h
m ultipl e person ality exhibit d iscr et e, nam ed personality sta tes whereas pa tient s with
a borderline di sorde r do not Also, th e presen ce of a bord erli ne personalit y does not
pr eclud e th e di agnosis of m ultiple person ality disord e r if th e pa tie nt meet s t he
crite ria for the diagnosis. In fact , H orevitz a nd Braun ( 12) have fou nd t ha t between
20% a nd 70% of MPD pati ent s m eet th e criteria for bord e rline person al ity disord e r.
This is not sur p rising in light of th e co m mo n origin lor both disord ers in child hood
traum a , usu ally in th e form of sex ua l a nd/ or ph ysical a buse. So m e th eorist s eve n
conside r that th ere may be a con tinu u m including borderline perso na lity disord er
a nd di ssociative disorders, though thi s is not a se tt led qu esti on (33).
An other source of di agn osti c con fusion in th e a re na of MPD is te m poral lobe
epile psy (T LE) . As m ention ed previou sly, th e pati e nt ca lled Sorge! was believed to
suffer fr om e pile psy, th ou gh it is difficult to asc erta in wh a t if a ny effect it had on
So rg cl's multiplicit y. An " In te ricta l Beh avior Syndro m " of T LE has been d escr ibed by
Waxm an a nd Geschwind" whi ch incl ud es " alte ra tions in sexua l behavior, religiosity
a nd a tenden cy toward ex te nsive , a nd in so me cases com pu lsive writing a nd drawin g."
6 J EFFERSON JOURNAL OF PSYCH IATR Y

In addition to behavioral and personality cha nges in between seiz ures, t he person
with partial co m p lex or psychomotor e pile psy ma y m anifest a m nest ic periods and
so me t imes very complex automatisms for whi ch th e person has no recollection.
T hes e pa t ien ts may a lso expe rie nce an aura prior to th e se izure wh ich may incl ude
dej a-vu , jamais-vu, depe rson ali zat ion, derealization, paranoia, cha nges in m ood a nd
organ ized hallucina tio ns (35). Persinge r has described sim ila r person ality cha ra ct er-
istics in clinica lly non-e pilep t ic individuals who sh ow mi ld e pile p t ic-like temporal lobe
dysfuncti on on th e EEG . H e ca lled th es e personal ity trait s " te m po ra l lob e sig ns " and
found that th ey corre la te d positively with hypnotic susce p t ibility a nd th e tendency to
have expe rie nce s th at were int erpret ed as paran orm al (36) . The issue of hypnot ic
susce pt ibility is particu larly int eresting in light of th e kn own high hypn o t iza bility of
people with di ssociative disorders suc h as MPD . Bliss, for exa m ple, fo un d t hat 28
pati ent s with MPD had a m ean score of 10.1 on th e St anford H ypn oti c Suscep tibi lit y
Sca le, Form C. T hi s was significa n t ly high er t han normal con t ro ls or pati e nts with
phobias (37).
In sp it e of some similar fea tures, t emporal lo be e pile psy ca n usuall y be distin-
g uish ed from MPD on th e basis of bri ef duration of seizures, a u ra ph en o m e non , EEG
findings and hypnotic o r amytal int ervi ews (36, p. 577) . This is not to im ply, however,
th at th e person ca n no t exhibit both se izures a nd sym p to ms of MPD. A possible
con nect ion is hypothesized by Charcot a nd M ari e (38) who wro te th at "a person wh o
becom es a m nes t ic for an y reason , even fro m a n epile pt ic a ttack, a nd com es to in a
new place a nd a m ong st ra nge rs may well need a nd d evelop a new pe rsonal ity with
whi ch to m eet socia l a nd eco no m ic demands."
Ia t ro ge nesis is an other popu lar co nce p t ua liza t ion of MPD wh ich m ust be
dis cussed . Sk eptics of th e existe nce of MPD have as se r te d th at th e sym ptom s
exhibite d by pa ti ents with MPD are crea te d via hypnosis or by sha ping of th e pa t ien t
through e ncou ra ge me n t to e nact multiple per son a lit y-t yp e beh avio rs (39) . Canad ian
psychologist Grah am Reed implies th at MPD is a n a m us ing curiosity e nact ed by
" hys te rica l pati ents" in o rde r to please th eir doct ors a nd ret ain th eir in terest (28) .
Althou gh worsening of MPD by iatrogenic e r ro r has been report ed , th ere is, accord-
ing to Kluft , " no evide nce th at clinica l MPD ca n be produced de novo by ia t rogen ic
manipulation s" (40) . Kluft goes on to say th at " phe no me na a na logo us to and be aring
dramatic but su pe rficia l resemblance t o clinical MPD ca n be e licited experim entally
o r in a clinica l situ ation if o ne tries to do so or makes t echnical e r ro rs." Gruenewald
con cu rs: "Although injudicious use of hyp nosis m ay have a vari et y of un toward
effec ts, ca usation de novo ofMPD do es not seem to be on e of th em " (41) . A numbe r
of expe rime n ts using hypn osis have att empt ed to produ ce MPD or rel at ed sta les. The
ca se th at ca me closest was Leavitt 's patient "Dick " (42). H owever, D ick had no
history of amnesi a a nd th e artificia lly pr oduced person a liti es Dick d ispl ayed d id no t
di ssociat e spo nt a neo us ly wh en not under hypnosis (43). O f not e, somet imes tru e
multipl es a re discovered in iti all y th rough incid e nt al hypn osis, a nd Allison has re -
port ed a number of th ese ca ses (44) . At pr esent th e most wide ly acc e pted e t iology of
multipl e personality is child hood traum a . This traum a usu all y tak es th e form of
ph ysica l a buse or incest , but m ay a lso incl ude acc ide n ts , war horrors, ex posure to
MULTIPLE PERSONALITY AND CHANNE LING 7

d eath o r rituali zed torture (as is a lleged to occ u r in t he case of satanic cull s).
Extrem e a m biva le nce is a unifyin g fea ture of th ese t ra u mas, a nd it is supposed that a
ch ild mi ght use di ssociation as a "way out " of th e bind t ha t she (or he) find s herself
in. The co nd it ion of multiple person ality has its o nse t in ch ild hood, usually by th e age
of 8 years . Morgan and Hil gard have sta te d th at thi s is th e age of maximum
hypnotizability (45). H ypnotizability is a featu re ubiqui tou s among those with
di ssociative disorders and persists int o ad ult hoo d. It is es t imated t ha t 98% of pati en ts
with MPD ex pe rie nce d child a buse or neglect , a nd 75% to 90% of known MPD
pati ent s a re wom en (36, p. 571,5 73). The most lik ely ex pla na tion for th e obs ervation
th at th ere is a st ro ng pr ed ominan ce of fem al es wi t h MPD is t hat far more girls are
a buse d th an boys (46,47) . Howeve r, Bliss (8) has found a nu mbe r of male multipl es in
th e crim inal justice sys te m, whi ch sugges ts th at m al es with MPD may pr esent in
diffe re n t ways, ofte n with a n a n tisocia l style of beh avior , a nd may conse q ue n t ly be
und erestim at ed in pr eval en ce.

C HANNELING

H istorical Orig ins

C hanne ling is a relatively new ter m , but th e process it d e not es is an an cient one.
Th ere is almos t no m ention of t ra nc e cha nne ling o r me di ums hip in th e scie n t ific
lit era ture, a lt ho ug h lay lit erature on t his subject is a bundant. Ot her words which
descri be t he peopl e wh o do t his include psychi c, medi um, shaman, healer, or acl e,
pr ophet , witc h-doc to r, fortun e tell er, guru, myst ic, mas ter, pr iest, seer, sa va n t,
soo t hsayer, t each e r, light -wo rk er, ade pt a nd visionary. Bel ief in cha n neling ph enom-
e na has it s ro ot s in pr ehistoric a nd pr imit ive cult ures. Psych ologist J on Kl imo of th e
Roseb rid ge In stitut e in Berk el ey, Californ ia writes t ha t "[channe ling] appears to be
a n esse n tial elemen t in th e ori gin s of virt ually a ll of t he great spiritual paths. It is not
just a cu riosity of cu r re nt int erest based on a res urge nce of in ne r voices , vision s a nd
trance sean ces a nd a u to mat ic handwriting. Ra th er, t he p he nomenon is an important
as pec t of hum an consc io us ness, a cr uc ia l expe rie nce for hum an beings in all cult ures
a nd tim es, eve n th ou gh we do not ye t und erst and it s ori gins a nd m echanisms " (48) .
Those beh avin g in ways characte ris tic of m ent al ill ness have t radit iona lly been
associa te d wit h th e di vin e, es pecia lly if th ey received sp ecia l visions or m essages.
So me historical figures ofte n cons ide re d to have been th e chan ne ls of th eir day a re
Mos es, th e Oracl e of Delphi a nd J esu s C hris t.
For a n exce lle n t, in-d epth exam ina tion of chan nel ing and d e tail ed dis cussion of
th e hyp othetical m ech anism s whi ch m ay accou n t for t his process , th e read er is
re fer re d to Klimo's book Channeling:Investigations on Receiving Irformationfrom Paranor-
mal Sources (48). The th eoreti cal issu e involved in suc h a n inv estiga tion are too
cu m be rs ome a nd com plex to be don e j us tice in this bri ef a r ticle. It is important ,
however, that channe ling be described phe nomeno log ica lly for Im poses of co m pa ri-
son with MFD .
8 JEFFERSON JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY

Phenomenology ofChanneling

In th e 1980 's th e standa rd chan ne led " read ing" co ns iste d of a chann el, a n
a ud ie nce (which m ay be large o r small, paid o r fr ee) a nd some m echanism for
recording th e information , usu all y a tape record er. Th e chan ne l se ts t he stage for th e
sess ion by providing a qui et a nd co m forta ble room , ofte n slig h t ly da rk e ned . H e or she
ass u me s a co m fo r table position in a chair or lyin g down , a lt ho ug h t hey may get up
a nd move a bou t lat er in th e reading (49) . Once rel ax ed , th e chan ne l usu all y begins by
closin g both eyes, br eathing d eepl y a nd rh ythmi call y, focu sin g th e mind o n a point of
im a gin ary light. Th e cha nne l will th en imagin e hersel f/h im sel f to be encased in a
prot ecti ve light bubbl e before d epartin g to so me im a gin ary idyll, thu s surrendin g th e
body for use by th e "guide " or " entity."
It is not eworthy that som e chan ne ls a re co m ple te ly un aware of (and th erefore
amn estic for) what transpires during th e session. Oth ers, howeve r, ac hieve a state of
consc ious "sharing" of th e bod y and ca n hear a nd rem ember a t least so me of what
went on. Most cha n ne ls stat e that as soon as th e reading is over th ey ca n recall mu ch
of what wa s said, but th e m emory fad es rapidly, sim ila r to th e for getting of a dream
aft er awak ening.
Sanaya Roman a nd Duane Pack er have writt en a " Ho w to" book for cha n ne ling
whi ch instructs th e read er ste p by ste p in th e techniqu es a nd t he philosoph y of
cha n ne ling (50). Th ere are o t he r in structional book s for cha n ne le rs, but Ro ma n and
Pack er's is th e mo st wid ely read a nd d elineat es th e "s ta nda rd ope ra t ing proced ure"
for mod ern Am eri can cha n ne ls.

DISSOCIATIO r A 'D CHANNE Ll G

So me features of tran ce channel ing d eserve spe cia l atte ntion d ue to th e ir

sim ila rity to ce r t a in psychi atric ph en om ena . It ca n hardly escape no t ice that th e
trance induction advoca te d by Rom an a nd Pack e r is rem arkabl y simi la r to hypnosis
(48, p. 22 1). Som e cha n ne ls eve n require a " fac ilita to r" o r " d irec tor" to pu t th em
int o a tran ce, an alo gous to th e usu al psychiatric hypn oti c inducti on : " W hile J oh n
David se t up th e tape recorder, St eve lean ed ba ck in his cha ir a nd tri ed to re lax. Aft er
so me five minut es it was obviou s he was having troubl e, a nd J ohn David , th in kin g
perhaps that it might help him, as ke d St eve to look int o his eyes a nd to ld hi m to
relax . St eve clos ed his eye s a ga in, breathed easily for a mom ent o r two, a nd th e n
began to sp eak in a voice which was of th e sam e tenor of his norm al voice, but
strikingly more int ens e. The first thing he said in a sta te of trance was "you haven ' t
permitt ed m e to be in tou ch with you for a while . .. I have co me to you to exp lain t he
sys te m a tiza t ion of th e universe ... I a m ca lled Sepot empu at " (48 7, p. 188).
Hypnotic susce pt ibility is a feature com m on both to MPD a nd tran ce cha nn el-
ing, a nd th e und erl yin g mech anism is pr esum ed to be " me n tal di ssociatio n" (48 7,
p. 243). Di ssociative ph enom ena whi ch m ay occur in both MPD a nd in channeling are
a u to ma t ic writing, glossola lia, accent cha nges, a ud ito ry int ernal hallucin a t io ns and
beh avioral automatism s suc h as sing ing, dancin g o r crea t ing a r t. Oth e r dissocia t ive
MULTIPLE PERSO NALITY AN D C HANNELING 9

diso rde rs bes ide MPD may includ e t hes e feat u res, in part icular psych ogenic fug ue.
M an y channels a nd peopl e with MPD a lso re port havin g paran ormal expe rie nces
suc h as ou t-of-body expe rie nce s, dej a-vu , j am ai s-vu , pr ecog nit io n , dep erson al izat ion
a nd dereali zation episod es a t a ra t e well a bove th e norm (5 10).
A. Sharon H eb er e t a l (52) st udi ed 12 " a lte rna t ive heal ers" (who ofte n us e a
fo r m of cha nneling) wit h th e Dissocia tive Experie nces Sca le (53) and th e Dissociat ive
Di sorders Int erview Sched u le (5 1), co m pa ring th e m to 19 psych iat ric resid en ts and
102 kn own MPD pati ent s. Th e grou ps we re com pa red in t erms of schne id er ian
sym p to ms, seco nda ry features of NIPD a nd number of ESP o r paranormal experi-
e nce s. The resid ent s rarely e ndorsed a ny of t he posi tive it em s, whereas cha nne ls
e ndo rse d a n ave rage of 2.4 Schne id eria n sym pto m s, 3.0 secondary features of MPD
a nd 7.8 ESP expe r ie nces. In co m pa riso n, MPD pati ent s rep ort ed more first -ra nk
sym pto ms a nd more secondary NIPD features, but fewe r ES P expe rie nces th a n th e
heal ers.
C hild hood abuse or trauma is a no t he r possibl e co m mo na lity to bot h cha nne ling
a nd di ssociative di sord ers suc h as MPD . In her doct or al di ssert a t ion , psychologist
M argo Chandl ey (54) found that " ma ny cha nne ls a ppear to have ba ckground of
neglect or a bus e." Ch andl ey goes o n to point ou t, howeve r, t hat " one ou t of every
four peopl e in this coun t ry have been a buse d o r neglect ed " (48 , p. 131 ), a nd th erefo re
th e nu mber of cha n ne ls reporting a buse m ay not be far fro m t he expec te d incid ence
for th e population in ge ne ra l, es pec ia lly give n th at most cha n ne ls a re wom en .

Discriminating Features

Th ere a re so m e not abl e d iffe ren ces which m ay help to se pa ra te th e pathological

co nd it ion of mul tipl e person ali ty diso rd er for m t he no n-pa th ological individu al wh o
happen s to practi ce cha n ne ling. It is import an t to be ab le to do thi s for several
reason s. First , it is clearly d esirabl e to cor re ct ly di agn ose MPD wh e re it exists so th at
th e patien t ca n obtain p roper treatm e nt. Seco nd , it may be eq ua lly im portan t to
avoid " pa t ho log izing" a norm al individu al by giving her/hi m a la bel whi ch has
e nor mo us soc ia l a nd eco no m ic conse q ue nces . Thi rd , a lt ho ug h th ese peop le would be
unlikely to see k t reatm ent , it would be import ant to und erst and th e psych odyna m ic
und erpinn ings in those peopl e wh o 'per fo r m' cha nne ling as a n ac t ca lcula ted
co nsciously or un con sciously to bring a tte n t ion a nd " ego e nha nce m e nt " (27)t o a n
o t herwise ordinary or unint eresting person, to sa y nothing of finan cial gain.
Three con cept s whi ch m ay be useful in th e differential are:
I) Degree ofVoluntariness. It is uncl ear to wh at exte n t thi s ca n be a di scrimi na to r,
but for th e most part cha n ne ling is a voluntary, self-ind uc ed eve n t whereas th e
switc hing of MPD is usu all y involunt ary a nd m ay eve n tak e place wit hout t he host
person ality's awa re ness . However, multiples ca n usu all y learn to switc h t he mselves
volun tarily using se lf-hyp nos is, a nd on th e ot he r hand , this a ut hor is awa re of a t least
one cha nne l wh o first m et his "guide" in th e for m of an un bidd en a ud iovis ua l
hallucin a ti on while drivin g his ca r.
2) Na mes, N umbers and Ages. Th ese items, especia lly wh en co ns ide re d togeth er,
10 JEFFERSON J O URNAL O F PSYCH IATRY

a re powerful di scrimin at ors. Regarding numbers of 'a lte rs' or 'en t it ies' , peop le with
MPD rare ly ha ve fewer th an three a lt e rs , th e ave ra ge numbe r bein g just over 13
( 14, 15). Channe ls, o n th e o t he r hand , usu all y hav e o nly o ne sou rce o r g uide (48 7,
p. 237). Again , t his is a n ove rsimplification . Alli son has reported a signi fica nt nu mbe r
of m u lt iples wit h on ly two person a lit ies (55) , and th e ge ne ra lly accep t ed t heo ry of
cha nne ling do es not limi t t he n umber of e n t it ies to o ne . In th e a ut ho r's expe rie nc e,
mo st cha nne ls have o ne primary gu id e whom th ey m ost oft e n e m ploy, but a re a lso
a ble to ca ll forth num erous others if requ est ed or eve n spo n ta neous ly. Mo re useful
are th e sta t ed ag es of th e a lte rs or e n tit ies. At least 75% of mu lt iple pe rso nal it y
pati ent s will have a t least one child person alit y, bu t virt ua lly no cha nne ls report
having a child so urc e. Na mes ca n a lso be helpful in th e di ffe re n t ia l. For cha nn eled
e n tit ies, names a re ge ne ra lly of a bibli cal , hist ori c o r who lly fict io na l in cha racter. In
MPD patients th e nam es of the a lter pe rson a liti es may be som ew hat mo re ordi nary,
but in te rest ingly a re ofte n symbolic o r code d (36, p. 572). An a lte r's nam e may
des cr ibe th e fu nction t hat th at person al ity serves in th e sys tem , suc h as th e Prot ec tor,
Us ed On e, Whore, An ger, Lit tl e One, Hop e or Faith. So me alt ers have no nam e at a ll.
C learly th ere is a la rge area of ove rla p in th e range of nam es, bu t na mes wh ich a re
" classic" m ay lend a degree of confide nce to th e det ermin a tio n of which process is at
work in a n individu al.
3 ) Language, A ccent and Grammar. G ra m m a r a nd syn ta x cha nges a re t he ru le for
bot h cha nne ling a nd MPD , a nd ofte n reflect t he developm enta l stage of th e pe rsonal-
ity o r fragm e n t. C ha ng es in acce n t a re a lso co m mo n, a nd t he d egree of a u the n t icity
va ries . Lin gui stic a na lysis has been used to " de bu nk" claims of cha n ne ling non-na t ive
En gli sh speaki ng e n t it ies whos e accen ts turn ed ou t to be bogu s (56) . Sim ila rly it is
not d ifficult t o d et ermin e wheth er a n e nt ity o r a lte r spea king in a n e nt ire ly for ei gn
la ng ua ge is ge nuine or not if even a mod est level of so phist ica t ion is used . Kluft
report s a case of a wom an wit h MPD who had o ne personalit y th a t could spea k he r
fa mil y's native langu age eve n th ou gh th e patient had no co nscio us kn owledge of th e
lan gu a ge (5 7). T o dat e no verified rep o rt s of a perso n cha nne ling in a lan gu a ge
fore ign t o hi m or her have a pp eared , t hough t here a re num erou s cases of glosso la lia
(speech-like but non se m an ti c sounds) occ ur ring in t he con te x t of t ran ce cha nne lin g
(28) .

SUlVUvlARY

In co nclusion it shou ld be clear that trance cha nne ls a re lik ely to be similar to
people with mult iple person ali ty d isorder in m an y ways , especia lly if th e cha nne ler
en te rs full trance a nd is not a fr aud . C ha n ne ling beh avior could in some cases be th e
first m ani fest ation of a n otherwise lat ent di ssociative disorder, a nd th is pa pe r has
explore d so me of th e pot entiall y d iscrim inat in g feat ures which mi ght clarify an
o t herwise co nfusing picture. Nat u ra lly it wou ld not be va lid to use dia gn ostic crite ria
such as t hose con ta ined in t he DSf\1 III-R wh e n a nalyzing a non-pa ti ent popula t ion .
H owever, useful features for differentia ti on includ e conside ra t ion of t he deg ree of
vo lun tariness, nam es, numbers a nd age s of a lters or e n tit ies, la ng ua ge usa ge and
MULTIPLE PERSONALITY AND C HANNE LING II

hist o ry of child hoo d traum a . Co m pe lling reason s to unde rst a nd th e di fferen ces
between th e two g ro ups includ e di a gn ostic mandat e for proper trea t m en t of psyc hia t-
ri call y ill patient s and th e desire to avoi d a pplying pej o rat ive psychi atric lab e ls which
ca r ry unpl easant conse q ue nces to peopl e wh o a re o t he rwise nor mal but have chose n
to e nga ge in a crea t ive soc ia l ac t ivity whi ch is cu r ren t ly ve ry m uch in vogu e.

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