Woman with 25 personalities explains what it's like to switch between them

Warning: This article contains discussion of trauma and PTSD which some readers may find distressing.

A woman who has a condition called dissociative identity disorder (DID) has explained how 'jarring' and 'confusing' it can be to switch between the different alters she experiences.

Bo Hooper was diagnosed with DID at the age of 19 and suffers with memory loss, as well as PTSD, flashbacks and a range of alter personalities, including a six-year-old girl who 'loves Easter' and a 19-year-old woman who is the 'embodiment of confidence'.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, DID is a mental health condition 'where you have two or more separate personalities that control your behavior at different times'. When these 'personalities' switch, it causes gaps in memory.

Bo was diagnosed with DID after experiencing multiple symptoms, believed to have stemmed from previous trauma. After speaking to her mom and visiting a psychiatrist, she was diagnosed with the disorder in 2017.

Bo has since opened up about living with DID as part of LADbible Stories' Honesty Box series, explaining exactly what happens when she switches between alters, as well as opening up about her 'persecutor alter' and the misconceptions around the deeply misunderstood condition.

'It's jarring to come back and suddenly you're wearing something else'

Speaking of what it feels like to 'switch', Bo explained: "So for me it is kind of like falling asleep. Like, loss of consciousness, like, if you fainted as well. It's kind of like that. But instead of me face-planting a table, I get up and walk away and do something else instead.

"It's always really confusing. It's always really jarring to come back, especially if they have done anything like, undressed or done any makeup or anything like that.

"It's jarring to come back and suddenly you're wearing something else. It's something you kind of slowly get used to. You start to slowly recognise the signs of it."

Bo revealed what it's like to switch between her alters (LADbible Stories)

Speaking of her alters, Bo added: “So for me, I have around 25 to 30-ish. We're not 100 percent sure. It's the sort of thing that needs to be figured out fully in therapy. They range in ages, in sexualities, in genders."

Among the alters which share a body with Bo is Layla, who is six years old.

"She's always six. She has a birthday, but she will always be six. She loves Easter and everything innocent, and it's just the kind of embodiment of childhood.

“Whereas we also have a 19-year-old called Tracy, who is the embodiment of confidence, and she is more to have a good time and more to let loose and have fun and to socialise, 'cause I'm quite shy so I won't often socialise. So a lot of them have very specific roles and jobs that they fulfil.”

Bo explained that depending on where she is or what's been going on in her life, she can switch between her alters up to 10 times a day. At other times, she can go for months without experiencing a switch at all.

Although she generally isn't in danger while switching between alters, there is one known as a 'persecutor alter' who has tried to hurt Bo in the past.

Bo opened up about her experience of DID (LADbible Stories)

'She's very uncomfortable in the fact that she shares a body with me, so she doesn't like me'

Speaking of the persecutor alter, Bo explained: "She does it out of fear and out of like, internal pain or trauma. When I was a teenager, a lot she would try and jump off a bridge.

"But my friends would always grab me and say that she would try and desperately claw herself off of the bridge and like, climb over the bannister and try and jump into traffic, essentially.

"She's very uncomfortable in the fact that she shares a body with me, so she doesn't like me.

"And when we were a dramatic teenager she took that out on me. Whereas now that we're older, she has a lot more chill and she can actually step back and not do that."

Bo is keen to dispel any misconceptions about DID, explaining that there are two beliefs that are particularly concerning.

Watch Bo's full interview with LADbible below:

"The biggest one I think is that we're killers. That we're gonna hurt you. That we're axe-wielding murderers. But then lately my biggest pet peeve is that we're all copying TikTok," she said.

"That we are all 14 and just doing it for attention. I was diagnosed before TikTok existed. No, I'm not doing this for TikTok. I see it in every space. I see it with disabilities.

"I see it with neurological conditions like Tourette's or neurodivergences, like OCD and autism and things. It's like, people aren't faking them, they're trying to find answers."

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 to reach a 24-hour crisis center or you can webchat at 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.

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