However, it may be helpful to think of each identity as holding an abusive experience. Taken together, the identities hold a person's overwhelming traumas and express a survivor's entire life story. The possibilities and combinations are virtually limitless. The world of imagination has no bounds. If severely abused children were forced to experience the trauma they just lived through, they would probably not survive.
Some children maintain a complete split between their everyday life and the abusive episodes.
They may be seen smiling when posing for family photographs. Violators often use such photographs to prove there is nothing bad going on. Someone asked me how it feels to be a survivor, and I tried to explain it like this. Pretend that you just witnessed your family and entire extended family executed, and you have to go to a party. You've repressed the experience, so you can't tell anybody what happened.