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| Illustrations by Rod Clement |
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Where did the belief in guardian angels come from? Could it be that behavioral science has accidentally discovered what may be the psychological basis for this widespread belief? If so, what is called "the internal self-helper" (ISH) may hold the key to this mystery. The existence of the ISH emerged during research and clinical work with patients suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder).
The ancient Greeks believed that spirits were sent to watch over individuals. Plato's PHAEDO 108 alludes to this. There are also references to angels in the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament of the Bible. In Roman Catholic teaching, a guardian angel is a spirit that is assigned to, guides, and protects a religious believer. The concept of angels and especially the so-called "hierarchy of angels", including the notion of guardian angels, was greatly formulated by the mysterious Roman Catholic theologian Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th century.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is one of the most amazing and unusual mental conditions known. It provides us with great insight into the mind, consciousness, and what it is that constitutes being human. For most of us, we possess one personality which is more or less comfortably housed within our one body, brain, and mind. We have thoughts, feelings, memory, moods, and other aspects of our personality which govern our behavior. As such, we are able to manage our lives because we are essentially one with ourselves. But this is not at all the case with those suffering from DID. Although such persons possess one body and one brain, their mind is hopelessly fragmented into separate and autonomous "alter" personalities. Each alter personality takes turns controlling the individual's mind and governing their behavior. Thus, when one alter personality is in control, the person behaves in one way. Yet when another is in control, the person can act in the opposite manner. Life can be extremely difficult and frightening for those with DID, especially since one personality, when in control, may have no memory of what another personality did when it was in control.
The number of alter personalities within a particular DID sufferer varies from two to over 600. However, as Chicago psychiatrist, Dr. Frank Putnam, writes in the classic text, DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER (1989), research and clinical practice reveals that there are seventeen types of alter personalities of which the ISH is one.
1. Original personality. Many DID sufferers have an alter personality who is identified by the other personalities as the "original" personality from whom all others are derived.
2. Host personality. All individuals with DID have at least one personality who serves as the "host" and functions as the "executive" who has control of the body for the greatest percentage of time.
3. Persecutor personalities. These personalities see themselves in diametric conflict with the host personality.
4. Child personalities. Child personalities are found in virtually every DID sufferer.
5. Suicidal personalities. These personalities are driven to kill themselves (and hence all other personalities too).
6. Memory trace personality. This is the personality that usually has a more or less complete memory of the individual's life history.
7. Cross-gender personalities. Most DID sufferers have at least one personality of the opposite sex.
8. Promiscuous personalities. In most DID cases, there are personalities that express forbidden sexual impulses.
9. Administrators and obsessive-compulsive personalities. These personalities usually emerge in connection with the workplace and together aid the individual in earning a living.
10. Substance abusers. Occasionally a MPD sufferer will have a personality that is a substance abuser.
11. Autistic and handicapped personalities. These personalities are also occasionally seen in a DID case. One of the personalities may be blind, deaf, have paralysis in a limb, and so on.
12. Personalities with special talents or skills. One or more personalities of a DID sufferer may exist purely for the expression of a specific ability.
13. Anesthetic or analgesic personalities. These personalities are involved in self-mutilation while also in denying pain.
14. Imitators and imposters. Some DID sufferers have one or more personalities whose sole function is to mimic other personalities. The reason for this is unclear.
15. Demons and spirits. In some DID sufferers, particularly those from extreme religious backgrounds in childhood, there are personalities that "identify" themselves as being demons or spirits.
16. Protector and helper personalities. Fortunately, most DID sufferers have an array of protector and helper personalities that serve to counterbalance the persecutor, suicidal, and other destructive personalities. Protector and helper personalities come in many different forms depending upon what the DID sufferer requires protection from. For example, in a female multiple who is petite and timid, there may be a male alter who is large and assertive.
The final alter personality type is the ISH. First described by California psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Allison, in a 1974 article in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL HYPNOSIS, the ISH is a special form of helper and protector. The ISH not only helps and protects, but it also guides, counsels, and in many other ways invaluably assists the DID sufferer. Typically, the ISH is physically passive, relatively unemotional, and provides information and insights even to the therapist if it will help the DID sufferer. Thus, the internal self-helper functions rather like a guardian angel.
Of course, much of this is highly speculative and it should be pointed out that the diagnosis of DID has itself been challenged by some as a "folly" by some experts (for example, see A. Piper and H. Merskey’s article in the CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY in 2004). But it could be that this ISH forms the psychological basis for our belief in guardian angels. Although the internal self-helper is observable only in those with DID, perhaps it exists within the rest of us as well. Perhaps too, it is only on a subconscious level of awareness that we know that this is the case.
Perhaps this is the guardian angel in us all.
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