Woman with 2500 different personalities brings her abusive father to justice
Her childhood was so traumatic she developed 2500 different personalities to deal with the horrific abuse she suffered. Now Jeni Haynes has found justice. news.com.au May 27, 2019
A woman with 2500 different personalities has brought her abuser to justice after taking the stand using the voice of six of her “alters”.
Jeni Haynes, 49, developed multiple personality disorder, also known as dissociative identity disorder, after being subjected to sickening sexual abuse by her father Richard Haynes from the age of four.
“My dad inflicted, chose to inflict, severe, sadistic, violent abuse. That was completely unavoidable. Inescapable. And life-threatening. And he chose to do this every day of my entire childhood,” Ms Haynes told 60 Minutes.
The abuse was so bad it left her with serious injuries and she’s had to endure major surgeries to repair her bowel, coccyx and anus.
Ms Haynes coped by developing many different personalities.
Psychiatrist Dr George Blair-West explains that multiple personality disorder can be a sophisticated tactic developed by children who experience significant trauma prior to the age of eight.
“And the thing that seems to push the mind to do this more than anything else is realising you have no way out, that nobody is going to come and get you, nobody’s there to save you, you’re on your own, and you have to come up with a solution that is entirely of your own,” he said....
Footage aired on 60 Minutes shows Jeni Haynes speaking with the voice of some of her different alters, which can include a four-year-old girl named “Symphony”, a 11-year-old boy “Judas” and a rugged and strong teenage boy “Muscles”.
Dr Blair-West has been treating Jeni for over 20 years and said if a functional EEG was being done on Ms Haynes “you’d see different brainwaves” when she changes between personalities as well as differences in her voice....
On February 21, Ms Haynes appeared before the NSW District Court to face her 74-year-old father. Authorities had to extradite him from the United Kingdom before charging him with multiple counts of rape, buggery and indecent assault.
After being faced with the testimony of Ms Haynes’s many different personalities, her father crumbled and plead guilty within hours of her taking the stand.
Although Ms Haynes is able to remain anonymous, she has chosen not to because this would also have protected her father’s identity.
“I want him to walk into prison with everybody knowing what he did,” she said.
Next week Ms Haynes’s father will be sentenced and she is finally looking forward to leaving the past behind....
Woman with multiple personalities to read impact statement in different 'alters'
By Tim Barlass May 31, 2019
By Tim Barlass May 31, 2019
A woman who developed multiple personality disorder after being sexually abused by her father, is to read out her 17-page victim-impact statement on Friday in court using the voices of several of the different "alter" characters.
Jeni Haynes wants her father, Richard Haynes, who is in the dock, to hear directly from them about the impact of what he did to her between the ages of four and 11.
The relentless assaults resulted in her assuming some 2500 or so "alters" in what is now called dissociative identity disorder.
"Alters" expected to speak could include Symphony, a four-year-old girl; Judas, an 11-year-old boy; Muscles, an 18-year-old motorcycle-loving lout; and Linda, who was cheated out of a political career....
Haynes, who was extradited from Britain in February 2017, decided at the last minute to plead guilty to the charges of rape, buggery and indecent assault against his daughter in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s....
"My dad forced me to develop multiple personalities as the only way I could cope with his abuse. Dad’s abuse was extreme, violent, sadistic, unescapable, unavoidable, constant and life-threatening, not to mention overwhelming.
"Jeni would not have survived the abuse and the day-to-day consequences of the abuse without Symphony and her highly creative strategy. But Symphony is deeply traumatised, hurt, damaged and devastated as a result. As are all the other alter personalities who have done their jobs so well and kept Jeni alive. Without MPD I would be dead. This may sound melodramatic, but it is quite simply the truth."
"Jeni would not have survived the abuse and the day-to-day consequences of the abuse without Symphony and her highly creative strategy. But Symphony is deeply traumatised, hurt, damaged and devastated as a result. As are all the other alter personalities who have done their jobs so well and kept Jeni alive. Without MPD I would be dead. This may sound melodramatic, but it is quite simply the truth."
She states the abuse destroyed her childhood, ruined her educational prospects and devastated her employability with immense economic cost as she was forced to live on a government benefit....
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Dissociative identity disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD) is defined in the DSM-IV-TR as the presence of two or more personality states or distinct identities that repeatedly take control of one’s behavior. The patient has an inability to recall personal information. The extent of this lack of recall is too great to be explained by normal forgetfulness. The disorder cannot be due to the direct physical effects of a general medical condition or substance.[1]
DID entails a failure to integrate certain aspects of memory, consciousness and identity. Patients experience frequent gaps in their memory for their personal history, past and present. Patients with DID report having severe physical and sexual abuse, especially during childhood. The reports of patients with DID are often validated by objective evidence.[1]
Physical evidence may include variations in physiological functions in different identity states, including differences in vision, levels of pain tolerance, symptoms of asthma, the response of blood glucose to insulin and sensitivity to allergens. Other physical findings may include scars from physical abuse or self-inflicted injuries, headaches or migraines, asthma and irritable bowel syndrome.[1]
DID is found in a variety of cultures around the world. It is diagnosed three to nine times more often in adult females than males. Females average 15 or more identities, males eight identities. The sharp rise in the reported cases of DID in the U.S. may be due the greater awareness of DID’s diagnosis, which has caused an increased identification of those that were previously undiagnosed.[1]...
Causes
The causes of dissociative identity disorder are theoretically linked with the interaction of overwhelming stress, traumatic antecedents,[3] insufficient childhood nurturing, and an innate ability to dissociate memories or experiences from consciousness.[2]
Prolonged child abuse is frequently a factor, with a very high percentage of patients reporting documented abuse[4] often confirmed by objective evidence.[1] The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders states that patients with DID often report having a history of severe physical and sexual abuse. The reports of patients suffering from DID are "often confirmed by objective evidence," and the DSM notes that the abusers in those situations may be inclined to "deny or distort” these acts.[1]
Research has consistently shown that DID is characterized by reports of extensive childhood trauma, usually child abuse.[5][6][7] Dissociation is recognized as a symptomatic presentation in response to psychological trauma, extreme emotional stress, and in association with emotional dysregulation and borderline personality disorder.[8]
A study of 12 murderers established the connection between early severe abuse and DID[9]. A recent psychobiological study shows that dissociative identity disorder (DID) sufferers' "origins of their ailment stem more likely from trauma" than sociogenic or iatrogenic origins...
No comments:
Post a Comment