I Have Alternate Personalities; I’m Just One of Them

While alternate identities may sound like science-fiction, perhaps, just like the skin we wear, the vulnerability for the mind to break is merely human and relatable.

Melissa begins each episode of The Bag System podcast with an intro reel that features a few of the genuine voices of her Headmates. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), or what was known as Multiple Personalities, is often viewed with an air of tragedy or fascination. Stigma contributes to both spectrums, though, a middle ground in Mental Health equality is a goal to achieve.

Since her diagnosis, Melissa made a quick, near 360 degrees turn in how she viewed sharing her mind. In her words, “I prefer to see this, not as the mind breaking, but rather, bending, with more of us now to help each other mend.”

DID is considered a trauma-based disorder. While it has earned its place in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, (DSM-5) it is highly stigmatized and ridiculed, even by some of those in the medical field. Misconceptions lead many away from delving further into how the mind doesn’t have extra people living within it; it creates dissociative walls within one person.

Melissa doesn’t have lots of people in her head; she is one part of a whole person.

The Bag System podcast released the first episode in October of 2020. In this time, Melissa reached an audience of both those who share the condition, and those who are supportive. Feedback is growing and positive as The Bag System reached the charts in Japan, Australia, The Netherlands, and with the strongest listening base in the United States.

The fifth episode, “Horribly Fantastic Middle Ground – A DID Fiction Short Story,” saw a 100% download rate. Those who started listening were loyal to see through to the end.

The focus that Melissa brings to her series is not of the trauma that led to her life as multiple, but on self-acceptance and evolving in perspective. There’s nothing positive about adversity, though, while there is struggle, there is clear triumph.

Guests include brothers and sister who expressed believing the Dissociative Identity Disorder diagnosis without a doubt, as they had their suspicions.

Other projects that Melissa leads in relation to DID include the creation of an app for supporting communication in Dissociative Identity Disorder systems. Multiplied By One is in production by a team of volunteer developers. It will be free and without ads.