I overheard a woman sitting in Church’s Fried Chicken on Adams Avenue in Montgomery, Alabama the other day tell her lunch partner that she had a friend who was an “idiot and a fool”. I thought to myself, “Now that is a pretty messed up individual.” Exactly what did she mean by “an idiot and a fool”? She told her lunch partner that her friend had several personalities. In fact she said that she had done some research on the internet and that it was more common than we think. The friend responded, “you mean she is a nut without a shell?” 

As I thought about some of the people that I have met during my college and law school days I realized that I also have met individuals with multiple personalities. In fact many of you probably know someone who you simply believe to be “crazy; “an idiot and a fool; “a nut without a shell”. How many times do we refer to people as being crazy? I personally have a great compassion for the mentally ill and do not refer to them in any derogatory manner. 

When an individual is diagnosed as having multiple personalities he or she is diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder (DID). People diagnosed with (DID) often have experienced severe sexual and physical abuse during childhood. Several criminals have blamed their alters committed the crime for which they were charged.  There was a woman named Lori Scheirer who lived in Pennsylvania charged with a murder she confessed to committing because one of her “alters” advised her to commit it. She did not make a claim that the alter committed the murder. She simply testified that the alter told her to do it. She later recanted her confession. Family members testified that she looked and acted like totally different people at different times. Two psychiatrists testified for the defense, one testified that she had multiple personalities; the other testified that she did not. She was found not guilty.