Primary Source Analysis

The challenge I originally faced was the lack of responses from primary sources, such as Jess Clark from MultiplicityAndMe, an individual female who possessed five male alters – illustrating what healthy relationships look like in a ‘system’. Responding to my first enquiry, her interview looked promising but fell through after I received no comments after that. Soon after beginning my source analysis, I decided to email a family relative who suffered with the disorder and the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), who listed several credible and experienced professionals throughout their website. This was a good decision as I turned a challenge into an advantage by persevering and using my research skills to my benefit, the outcome providing me with invaluable information.

The opportunity presented allowed me to contact all three, David Gleaves who then pointed me in the direction of ‘The Dissociative Initiative’ – an Adelaide-based website run by Sarah K Reece which provided, pamphlets, posters and support material focusing on dissociation and multiplicity. This worked in my favour due to the broadened scope of information I was then able to access, assisting in the discovery of support services around South Australia. The outcome was that I had three primary resources – each respondent that I corresponded with offering different outlooks on the question that all came to the same conclusion: the disorder causes dissociation and can be defined as the ‘presence of multiple