Total Otherness in Dissociative Identity Disorder

Abstract

Bob Dylan, in one of the most influential songs of the 20^th century, asks “How does it feel/ To be without a home/ Like a complete unknown..?” In line with his reflective question, we ask how it feels to be the total other. We present the analysis of an in-depth interview with a sixty year-old woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), in which we demonstrate that the experience of DID has many attributes in common with total othernessphenomenon. The interview opened a crack in the world of an individual who feels the total other andreveals some fundamental features of the other, including loss of the first-person perspective upon the world, robot-like feelings, disconnection from one's body and the world, unbearable inner conflicts, and  self-loathing that results in being the Total Other. 

http://www.otherness.dk/fileadmin/www.othernessandthearts.org/Publications/Journal_Otherness/Otherness__Essays_and_Studies_4.1/Total_Otherness_in_Dissociative_Identity_Disorder.pdf