What is a switch and what triggers it, what makes it happen? Do the personalities go to a special place or change clothes when they switch?
A switch is the replacement of the personality currently in executive control by another. A switch may be deliberate or may be caused by several types of “triggers.” Some patients with DID are able to plan to put forward a particular personality to handle a particular kind of situation, while in others certain situations seem to call forth particular personalities without any deliberate forethought. A switch may also be “triggered” by some situation, place, person, or even an object or color that is reminiscent of a trauma or a danger situation, or some other circumstance for which a specialized personality had been developed. While many DID patients change their clothing as or after they switch, most do not go to a special place in order to switch. Tara’s going to a shed to switch seems more a reflection of the dynamics of her family than anything intrinsic to her DID. However, only time will tell if this pattern of going to the shed will prove instead to be a reenactment of some prac
