Disorder

Dissociative Identity Disorder Case Study: Aanya Befriends Shreya And Meera, Living Within Her

Written By

Jagruti Rehab

Last Updated on: 29 May 2025

Patient Information

Name: Aanya (Name used for reference)

Age: 28

Gender: Female

Background: Aanya hails from Pune. Coming from a middle-class family, she works at a Corporate firm as a marketing professional. While she is an inspiration and example to her younger sisters and neighbours because of her cool and successful career, no one knows the demons she has to fight. She could not explain her fight, and one day, suddenly, her demons surfaced in public, forcing her to stop with the neglect and seek help immediately.

History or Cause

Aanya started showing signs of sudden shifts in personality and memory lapses in her early twenties. However, her sister recalls that Aanya, in her teenage years, did have a few episodes where she would become someone else. She would change her diet, speak differently, change her handwriting, and then would disagree that she did any of it. 

Her sister thought it was Aanya's way of annoying her, as it happens with sisters. However, at an office event, Aanya suddenly started talking in a child-like tone. She faced important clients who behaved like children. The episode was followed by embarrassment, confusion, anxiety, job loss, and the continuation of similar episodes that people complained about.

Aanya's parents brought her to Jagruti Rehab after she was found walking barefoot late at night outside the apartment, completely disoriented and with no recollection of how she reached there. The incident made her family realise the seriousness of the issue, increasing their concerns about her safety and well-being.

Diagnosis

Once she arrived at Jagruti Rehab, she was made to undergo extensive psychological assessments for evaluation. The several multi-layered assessments we used for her diagnosis included -

• Clinical interviews
• Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES)
• Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Dissociative Disorders (SCID-D)

Thanks to the availability of such structured assessment scales, the professionals could identify hallmark symptoms in Aanya for a clear diagnosis. Her symptoms included amnesia, episodes of instability and loss of identity, loss of self, and recurring gaps in memory during episodes of identity loss.

Aanya was observed for two weeks. Aanya's narratives were cross-checked with family, close friends, helpful ex-colleagues and her personal history. After a thorough assessment, we came up with a diagnosis. 

Diagnosis - Aanya suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). It was a complex psychological condition often caused due to unhealed early childhood trauma. During her assessment period, we found out that Aanya experienced emotional neglect and verbal abuse in her childhood. This led to creating alter identities as memories and sometimes for protection.

Treatment

Approach

At Jagruti Rehab, after the detailed diagnosis, we designed a treatment program keeping Aanya's unique needs in mind. The approach we chose was holistic and human instead of being completely clinical. Aanya needed an understanding soul to heal her trauma and not fix it. She needed someone to hear her and be a friend to her other identities, which we refer to as alters.

Program Overview

Keeping our holistic and human approach in mind, we structured a three-phase inpatient or residential program for her to significantly recover from and manage Dissociative Identity Disorder effectively:

Phase 1 - Stabilisation and Symptom Reduction:

Considering how the frequency of episodes had increased before she was brought to Jagruti Rehab, we needed to focus on stabilising her first. Reducing her symptoms was our first priority. We did so by regulating her emotions through a trusting bond formation between Aanya and her therapists. We helped her find her safe space to open up. She learned the 5-4-3-2-1 method, breathing exercises, meditation, and sensory calming exercises to control her anxiety. With more control of her emotions, her episodes started becoming less frequent. During these exercises and sessions with her therapists, she also started recognising the presence of several other identities or alters in her. The realisation of the presence of these alters in her mind was a turning point in her treatment.

Phase 2 - Trauma Processing:

With regular practice of meditation, breathing exercises and other calming exercises, she became more stable and accepting of her condition. Aanya was then introduced to EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) to process her deep traumas. These sessions were organised to target the triggers that reminded her of her childhood traumas and brought her child or protector alters to the surface. 

The Internal Family System therapy establishes internal communication within the alters. While it was overwhelming for Aanya in the beginning, slowly, she became more comfortable with it. We used guided imagery and safe dialogue to help Aanya create a bond with her child alter, Shreya, and Meera, her protector alter. The bonding made room for shared healing.

Phase 3 - Integration and Rehabilitation:

The final phase of the treatment was to reintegrate her identities/alters into one- Aanya. While the realisation that all of these parts are her and not separate from her and the reintegration of the alters is a time-consuming process, our main target was to create harmony first. Harmony meant trust within these personalities. It was essential because forcing the identities to disappear would mean more trauma and risking their appearance again. However, creating a bond within the alters with trust meant cooperation, shared emotions, memories and reactions. This would allow the alters to trust Aanya to make decisions that Meera and Shreya wouldn't disapprove of.

Aanya participated in group activities like drama therapy, art therapy, and structured social simulations to experience life and participate as a unified identity. She also began journaling her internal conflicts and communication. The journal was used to track her emotional growth.

Complementary Therapies

• Art Therapy: Art therapy helped her, and she altered to express herself with colours and brush strokes. The therapist could identify Aanya's inner dilemma and state it through her art.
• Yoga and Mindfulness: The two together helped Aanya gain stability. She became calmer and present. She also showed improvement in her anxiety. Together, it helped her become more resistant towards her trauma triggers.
• Narrative Therapy: Aanya, with her therapist, created her 'life map'. With the help of journals, internal dialogues, and other exercises, she could reconstruct her lost memory and bridge the gaps caused by dissociation between her alters.
• Family Therapy: It helped her parents and sister to understand her condition and the causes better. Their misconceptions were cleared as well to create a supportive circle for Aanya. 

Medical Treatments

DID cannot be healed with medicines. There are no direct medicines to treat the condition. However, some psychiatric drugs are used to manage a few associated symptoms. For example, for Aanya, we prescribed SSRIs to manage her anxiety and depression. Her medicines were of low dose and given under supervision to help her respond to therapy, which was the main focus. 

Therapy

We used several types of therapy to treat her DID symptoms and help her recover, such as:

1. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT):

It identified her problematic beliefs and reframed them. The process was repeated with each of her alters to heal all her traumas. 

2. Internal Family Systems (IFS):

IFS was used to establish communication between the identities Aanya embodied. It helped her first make connections with them, then understand them, and finally make a deeper bond with them.

3. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing):

It helped her and her alters to process all the memories that were the cause of her condition. Doing so safely without losing control is essential for healing.

4. Art and Narrative Therapy:

Art and Narrative Therapy gave each of Aanya's identities a unique voice and freedom to express. The mode of expression also became the process of integration by the final phase of her Rehab program in Mumbai.

5. Group Therapy:

Aanya learned to trust her alters and function in sync with them with the group therapy that involved several group activities. It also helped her meet people suffering from the same condition, which gave her confidence and reduced the feeling of isolation.

Improvements / Recovery Timeline

Our Success

Impact on Patient's Life

DID recovery is a long journey and requires consistent efforts. When Aanya was discharged, her alters trusted her and cooperated with her. All the alters were calm and had started reintegrating into one identity, which is Aanya. She resumed part-time remote work to slowly introduce stress, but not too much. She is aware of her condition, prepared and feels stronger than ever before.

"For the first time in my life, I feel whole. I am no more like a jigsaw puzzle scattered on the floor. Jagruti has made me a strong person and taken me out of a state of confusion and fear. Today, I am much more confident and eager to get better every day."

- Aanya, 6 months post-discharge

Family and Community

Aanya's family underwent an equally big transformation. They understood the effects of action on the mind. They became aware of mental health. Today, her sister plays a critical role in supporting Aanya through her recovery. Her family has become empathetic and follows the training they received at the family therapy sessions to ensure a healthy and supportive environment for not just Aanya but everyone in the family.

Future Steps

Aanya continues her DID treatment as an outpatient. She visits therapy sessions twice a week and sometimes takes them online as well. She is also part of a support group for DID survivors and has made some really good friends there. She is currently working on the reintegration of her identities and prevention of relapse through continued holistic wellness activities.

Conclusion

This dissociative identity disorder case study is a reminder that our mind is an interesting place. If not cared for, it can ruin lives. Therefore, mental health care is as important as physical health care. Most importantly, professional guidance can help you to heal from the deepest traumas using the right strategies.

Author

Jagruti Rehabilitation Centre is a leading facility specializing in mental health, dementia, and addiction recovery. The team of psychiatrists, psychologists, and caregivers is committed to empowering individuals on their journey to recovery.