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The Inner Self Helper
in Multiple Personality Disorder:
Angel or Artifact?
(Revised and without appendices)
A dissertation submitted to
PACIFICA GRADUATE INSTITUTE
by James P. Gunn

Each psychology is a confession, and the worth of a psychology
for another person lies not in the places where he can identify
with it because it satisfies his psychic needs, but where it
provokes him to work out his own psychology in response.

- James Hillman

Russ Revlin, Ph.D.,CHAIR
Gary Linker, Ph.D., ADVISOR
Ralph Allison, M.D., EXTERNAL READER

Conclusions based on interviews with: John Altrocchi, “Becky” an
Allisonian ISH, Peter Barach, Elizabeth Bowman, David Calof, Christine
Comstock, Philip Coons, George Fraser, Jean Goodwin, Jess Groesbeck,
Richard Kluft, Moshe Torem, Helen and John Watkins.

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ABSTRACT

The Inner Self Helper in Multiple Personality Disorder:
Angel or Artifact?
by James P. Gunn

Angel or Artifact was an investigation into the validity of the
coconscious observer state/Inner Self Helper (ISH) in multiple
personality disorder (MPD). It concluded that there are salient
traits uniformly associated with the ISH that identify it as a
mental state different from alter-personalities. This coconscious
subliminal state is astute and objective, exhibits a memory
superior to other ego states, is emotionally stable, is more
alert to and has a wider recognition of events in the environment
than other ego states, and sometimes exhibits a sixth sense. It
appears to be a subliminal organizing function rather than
personality. It may be a manifestation of the Jungian Self. Some
clinicians described it as spirit or soul.

The ISH's ability to influence and direct therapy was addressed
from both historical cases and interviews with eminent
clinicians. Transference and countertransference issues or the
rapport between ISH/patient and therapist were explored and
described as mature and useful.

A theoretical model of child abuse was proposed to explain the
dissociation of the ISH in MPD. The abuser, in this model, is
pathologically narcissistic. His unempathetic, controlling
attitude cripples the victim's capacity to use transitional
innerpsychic space--the cocreative, symbol-producing realm
created between ego-awareness and coconsciousness. Reacting to
the abuse, the child creates alter-personalities to defend
against the destruction of self and also minimizes or treats as
false the seemingly impotent, elusive, inner perceptions that
seem ineffective or out of touch with the emotional trauma. These
out-of-awareness cognitions organize as unconscious/coconscious
functions and develop a separate reality.

The ISH was described as a non-ego, coconscious matrix of
observations and potential whose non-ego perspective is estranged
from the reactive ego-personalities. When the ISH appears as
personification of the multiple's capacity for objectivity,
wholeness, and creative inspiration, the doctor and patient
collaborate in a three-way (ISH-patient-therapist) relationship
at the subliminal level that is potentially psychic and
therapeutic.


June 30, 1995
90
Page 3
Table of Contents
Abstract......................................ii
Copyright notice..............................iii
Table of Contents ............................iv
List of Tables .............................. vi
Chapter 1 - Four Centuries of Evidence........ 1
Overview of the Dissertation.................. 1
Review of the Literature ..................... 3
The earliest cases of multiple personality 
disorder: 1584 to 1836........................ 3
The evolving awareness of divided 
consciousness: 1836 to 1926................... 8
Multiple personality disorder 
in eclipse: 1936 - 1973...................... 35
Linking trauma to multiple personality 
disorder .................................... 45
Renewed awareness of MPD and the delineation 
of the ISH: Allison, Hilgard, Watkins and 
Watkins, and Beahrs ......................... 51
Early modern accounts of a helpful, 
objective, and stable alter: Wilber 
and Bliss ................................... 65
Accounts of the ISH in non-psychiatric 
literature: Mayer, Chase, and Castle ........ 67
The ISH in recent psychiatric literature: 
Kluft, Van de Castle, Putnam, Ross, 
Fraser, Adams, Bruce, Comstock, and 
Bryant, Kessler and Shirar .................. 76
Summary of the Review of the Literature ..... 89
Chapter 2 - A Compendium of Interviews 
Conducted with Experts in the Field of
Dissociative Disorders ..................... 104
Characterization of the ISH - and 
Reports of no Findings and Skepticism 
Regarding the ISH .......................... 104
Impact of the ISH on Therapy ............... 131
Transference/Countertransference Issues 
and the Rapport ............................ 153
Is the ISH restricted to MPD? .............. 166
Chapter 3 - The ISH as a Distinctive 
Coconscious Entity ......................... 173
The Function of the Coconscious Observer 
State ...................................... 180
Rapport and the ISH ........................ 183
Chapter 4 - Toward A Theory of Transitional 
Space and the Constellation of the ISH ..... 189
Chapter 5 - Conclusions .................... 211
Areas for further investigation ............ 215
References ................................. 216

ii

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List of Tables
Characteristics of the Allisonian Inner 
Self Helper ................................. 64
Traits of the ISH .......................... 100
Traits of the Subliminal State Assuming 
Personality ................................ 103
Characterization of Coconscious Observer 
State or ISH ............................... 170
List of names for subliminal states 
closely resembling or Equivalent to the 
Inner Self  Helper ......................... 172

iii

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Summary of the Review of the Literature

Salient traits uniformly associated with the ISH set it apart
from all other forms of alter-personalities. It is described as
astute, objective, and rational, exhibiting a superior memory,
greater emotional stability (including perhaps an invulnerability
to hypnosis and hypnotic suggestion), a greater alertness to and
a wider recognition of events in the environment than other ego
states, influence and some control over other ego states and,
more debatable, a sixth sense. It does not refer to itself as
personality, and its selfmates generally acknowledge that it is
not like them. Although it cannot cure the personality, it can
help with the process, and some theorists assign the ISH a
central organizing function coordinating the activities of the
other ego states. This constellation of qualities, which is often
found in the cases of doubled consciousness and in 50 to 80 per
cent of multiple states of consciousness, suggests that the
phenomenon is not an idiosyncratic production or a delusion or an
iatrogenic artifact. Rather, it is a part of mental organization
indigenous to some dissociative states, if not to mental
organization in general.

The association of this rational, suprapersonal subliminal state
with psychological healing began with Puysegur's discovery of
magnetic sleep in 1784. For the next century most of the cases of
multiple personality were reports of "doubled consciousness,"
either as states of pathology such as Felida X. (Azam), Alma Z.
(Mason), Blanche Wittmann (Jules Janet), B.C.A. (Morton Prince),
or Spanish Maria (Cory) or occurring in the somnambulistic crisis
of the magnetizers or experimental elicitations, such as occurred
with Pierre Janet, Albert Binet, John and Helen Watkins, and the
psychical researchers. Perhaps many other cases of multiple
consciousnesses that were not simply a doubling didn't get
reported because they seemed untreatable or uninteresting.
Regardless, the medical literature suggests that doubled
consciousness is the original state of multiplicity. Doubled
consciousness, the division most often occurring in the earliest
cases, is possibly the dissociation of ordinary ego-consciousness
from the ISH.

The magnetizers' descriptions of the elevated moral character and
preternatural traits of the somnambulistic state and the
experiments by the 19th-century observers of alternations of
consciousness (Janet, Binet, Myers, Sidis, etc.) suggest that, at
least for some people, there is a subliminal core of awareness
untouched by the trauma and social convictions of everyday life.
While one or more centers of activity create themselves on the
interactive stage (as personality), another center, with quite a
different constitution, watches from the wings. George Fraser
(1987) characterized this subliminal function, the ISH or Center
Ego State, as "the core of conscious awareness" and
differentiated it from personality. He wrote that "one might
consider the ISH to be conscious awareness, while personality is
the modality for interpersonal communication . . . the ISH is
'the being,' the personality is 'what kind of being.' This
concept of a second and distinctively different consciousness is
described by the pioneers of dissociative phenomena and appears
to be the same mental state as the ISH in its simplest form. The
only split in some cases of MPD may be the dissociation of
objective, rational, nonpersonality, noninterventional awareness
from ego-awareness of self. The magnetizers may have created or
approached this hypnotically as the somnambulent state in
magnetic sleep. Thus a simple form of dissociation is ISH/ego
state. However, this state is instinctively resolved and would
not truly be MPD. A diagnosis of MPD would require at least two
alter-personalities not counting an ISH.

The ISH or coconscious subliminal observer state is apparently
not to be the quotidian consciousness--at least not without
modification. (I will use quotidian consciousness as a term for
the state of ego consciousness in multiple and nonmultiple
persons which copes with the external world on a daily and long-
term basis). The ISH, B, of B.C.A., for instance, described
herself as distinctly not a personality, but as "a thought
without a body," (M. Prince, 1970, p. 59) and after integrating
she apparently returned to her original coconscious,
nonpersonality state. The literature supports a hypothesis that
when the secondary state (the subliminal observer consciousness)
remains in executive control, it begins to adapt or to be
influenced by external events, thus becoming modified by the
external environment, as with Victor Race, Felida X., Blanche
Wittmann, and B.C.A. The quality of the inner self is probably
very difficult to express in its nascent form, and when it does,
even in part, it is a rare event. But when some part of the
nascent subliminal self is in executive control and is
consequently adapted and modified, it no longer represents the
internal state of affairs and, becoming differentiated, becomes
separate and develops personality. The inner self maintains
original observer status and objectivity while the modified and
personified consciousness acts on the basis of its perception and
attitude to establish its own vision, that is, the secondary
consciousness in coping with the daily vagaries of living as
executive consciousness develops a style of being that is
distinguished from and somewhat independent of the dynamics and
attitudes of the inner self. Jung (1944/1968) noted,

The conscious mind allows itself to be trained like a parrot, but
the unconscious does not - which is why St. Augustine thanked God
for not making him responsible for his dreams. The unconscious is
a psychic fact; any efforts to drill it are only apparently
successful, and moreover harmful to consciousness. It is and
remains beyond the reach of subjective arbitrary control, a realm
where nature and her secrets can be neither improved upon nor
perverted, where we can listen but may not meddle. (p. 46)

Interviews in Chapters 2 and 3 with Fraser, Torem, and Calof will
amplify this theme. Jung's reference to the unconscious I am
calling coconsciousness but it is a consciousness which, as he
suggested by calling it unconsciousness, is generally
inaccessible to the quotidian consciousness.

The ISH and/or the primitive state of secondary consciousness
cannot sustain itself for very long in contact with the everyday
affairs of the normal environment. Its constitution (no desire to
be in ego-consciousness) does not appear designed for public
activity. Allison (1993) and others have observed that the ISH
cannot remain long in executive consciousness without the inner
cohesion between ego states suffering. Myers (1961) and Hilgard
(1977) speculated that the hidden observer is an overarching
organizational mechanism facilitating the interaction and
expression of the differentiated ego states. Expressed outwardly,
however, the inner self may become weaker inwardly. Functioning
(in part) in external reality, the externalized inner self may
become somewhat molded by sensual participation and collective
social expectations. The Dark Ones told Mayer (1988), "There is
sex. There is food. And better angels than us have fallen" (p.
150). Personality, the self resonating in the world, becomes
structured by its interaction with the world. The arena of the
inner self or hidden observer is not the domain of power,
dominance, and personality, but more that of influence, elegance,
and insight from a detached, apolitical perspective. The
unbiased, dispassionate nature of the nascent inner self begins
to lose its pure observer status and objectivity to the degree
that it develops opinions and style and desire to interact with
the world. And perhaps, since it has only the "power of
influence" (The Dark Ones, Mayer), to be effective the ISH needs
to be believed (Allison, 1974).

Examples of the inner self assuming executive control and
becoming influenced and modified by collective social conventions
are probably quite rare, but the cases of Victor Race, Helene
Smith, Alma Z., Rev. Hanna, Christine Beauchamp, and B.C.A. may
demonstrate aspects of the inner self's exposure to the external
world. When Puysegur used Victor Race as a subject to demonstrate
magnetic sleep to the people of Paris in 1785, Victor became
sicker. In his somnambulant state Victor explained that his
deterioration resulted from being exhibited to the curious and
incredulous people (Ellenberger, 1970, p. 72). His somnambulant
state, was apparently not adaptable to the external world or at
least not amenable to the incredulous and contentious people
demanding proof. The unhappy outcome of Flournoy's subject,
Helene Smith, may demonstrate the deleterious effect disbelief of
the imaginal drama and critical analysis (and exposure) has on
the perhaps playful, capricious, mythopoetic developmental
process of some traumatized minds.

The ISHs of Alma Z. served a purpose different from Victor's need
to be healed. They didn't meet with censure and doubt, coming as
they did to delight and comfort Alma in her affliction.
Apparently Alma's disease was incurable with the medical
knowledge of the day. Her distress was tolerable only when she
was in her second state. While she had two subliminal states of
self, The Boy came only after Twoey announced she was going to
leave and that another would come. Her secondary states were not
multiple but serial. Twoey, the intercessor from her teen years,
was replaced by The Boy, a consciousness which "was much nearer
to her in general outline of character" (Sidis & Goodhart, 1904,
p. 423). We can conjecture that The Boy represented a more mature
state of self than Twoey, and that evolutions of the subliminal
consciousness, being more closely aligned with archetypal
imagery, are discrete complexes. Rather than evolving (as a
personality), they transition to another archetypal form. One
archetypal representation is replaced by another archetypal
representation. The basic structure of the subliminal
representation remains intact even while adapting. When its
function is outmoded or unnecessary, another archetypal inner
self may constellate. Jung's succession of inner advisors also
followed this pattern. Putnam stated that ISHs leave "when they
have reached the limit of their knowledge or authority" (1989, p.
204).

The potential of the nascent subliminal state may be discerned,
in part, in the case of Rev. Hanna. Sidis and other physicians
observed that in the second state Hanna's strength was herculean;
he had great mental power, his memory was extraordinary, and he
exhibited several paranormal traits. As Hanna's dissociation
locked him in this secondary state, it developed much as an
infant matures and adapts, and gradually became a personality.
Perhaps his diminution of strength occurred as he unwittingly
assumed self-limitations, adjusting to the conventions of
society, assuming that it is uncivil to be so adrenalized and
supernormally strong. Hanna's second state suggests that our
human potential extends far beyond accustomed limitations.
Perhaps part of the division between the ISH and quotidian
consciousness occurs when the quotidian consciousness is
influenced to limit itself by social convention or interpersonal
bias.

The most conspicuous and verifiable aspects of the observer/ISH
is its putatively constant alertness and extensive and continuous
memory. Many ISHs said that they never slept. Wilber called it
the Memory Trace because of this outstanding trait. Vicky (Sybil)
said "I watch everything everybody does. That's what I mean when
I say I know everything. In this special sense I am omniscient"
(Schreiber, 1973, p. 59). Some ISHs claimed memory or awareness
from before birth (Tammy/Babs, Allison). Sally (C. Beauchamp)
wrote an extensive autobiography for Morton Prince going back to
birth as did Tammy (Babs) for Allison. W.F. Prince (1916)
concluded that Sleeping Margaret's (Doris Fisher's) memory "was,
or appeared to be, potentially perfect . . . [and] her knowledge
of the thoughts of the others was not a transference but a part
of the content of her own observation" (p. 100). Van de Castle
(1989), summarizing his experiences with the ISH, Katherine,
wrote:

As would be expected from any respectable ISH or Center,
Katherine has total awareness of every facet of Susanna's past
and current life and often makes predictions about her future
actions which are always extremely accurate. Availability of such
detailed personal information about Susanna's personality might
be explained along non-parapsychological lines but Katherine
apparently also has total awareness of every facet of my life.
(p. 100)

Exception to this state of supernormal memory are those ISHs
reported by Ross (1994) in The Osiris Complex.

ISHs of two of the cases served primarily but imperfectly as
keepers of memory. In Flash and the Destroyer, Guide and Observer
presided over a community of alters and "held a record of all the
life experience of all the alters in their respective
communities, and also communicated with each other" (p. 143). In
the case titled A Chemical Dependency Problem, the inner self-
helper "usually knew much, but not everything about what was
going on . . . ." (p. 110). In A Case of Polyfragmented MPD,
"spirit helpers" Sarah and Rebeccah were "central" to the system,
guided her silently, and supposedly knew all that happened.
Perhaps it was not a failure of memory, but when the host began
to hear new voices and have blank spells, Sarah and Rebeccah did
not know what was going on. Ross wrote, "this meant to me that
they were not transcendent spiritual beings, but helper alter
personalities with an extensive but incomplete knowledge of the
personality system (p. 63). The same peculiar lack of awareness
occurred with Castle in Katherine, It's Time (Castle & Bechtel,
1989) when she uncovered a new layer of personalities of which
Michael, the ISH, was not aware.

The secondary state of Rev. Hanna is another exception to this
extensive recall. We would expect that in his secondary state he
would have access to all of his memories, but in fact, he had no
recall of anything prior to his fall. However, as if when all
content is erased from memory, the ability remains, it is
informative that his ability to observe details and retain
impressions and facts was phenomenal.

His doctors were impressed with the intensity of his mental
activity, his great power of reasoning, and the acuteness of his
memory.

This hyperalert state may reflect the state of the inner self.
Hanna, writing after his recovery, discussed his unusual mnemonic
ability.

When a number of people were brought to the room, a complete
mental picture was formed, so that I afterward could tell
everything each person had done, the articles of dress, and a
description of the features. This was the case even when there
was a large number of persons, strangers even to my former life,
and even when they remained but a moment in the room. (Sidis &
Goodhart, 1904, p. 213)

This keenness of a state of consciousness not yet overlaid with
appeasing accommodations to environmental influences suggests
that in some mental states it is possible to be far more
sensitive to events than is ordinarily experienced and that the
mind has a phenomenal retentive capacity. Binet's statement,
later seconded by Jung, that the unconscious sensibility of
hysterical patients is 50 times more acute than normal, is an
acknowledgment of this extraordinary sensitivity, however
accurate it may be. All of the ISHs in the cases reviewed had
very extensive if not supranormal or total recall. This trait
contrasts with the usual difficulty of other alters to remember
much more than their own particular experience.

Another cluster of unusual traits almost as often associated with
the ISH as their extensive memory are the ISH's maturity, their
objective, dispassionate wisdom, and their resistance to outside
influence and hypnotic suggestion. Ross (1989) speculated that
affect had been dissociated, "parceled out to the children and
others" (p. 114). Myers, Hilgard, Watkins, and Allison thought
that the observer/ISH was primarily an inner organizing
influence. Emotionality might be an impairment to its effective
inner functioning. Janet, while not assigning a organizational
role to subliminal states, reasoned that the last level of
somnambulism, the unconscious self, would be a state of perfect
psychological health because all phenomena would be united within
the same personal perception.

The magnetizers were impressed with the distinctly different
appearance of the somnambulistic person (the coconscious observer
state/ISH magnetically evoked) noting their wisdom and higher
moral character. Gregory, one of the magnetizers, underscored the
distinctiveness and the contrast, emphasizing "that the general
bearing may change radically to reveal a person of a much more
elevated character than the same sleeper seems to be when awake"
(quoted in Crabtree, 1993, p. 285). Puysegur said of Victor Race,
"When [Victor] is in a magnetized state, he is no longer a naive
peasant who can barely speak a sentence. He is someone whom I do
not know how to name" (quoted in Crabtree, 1993, p. 39). "When he
is in the crisis, I know no one as profound, prudent, or clear-
sighted" (p. 43).

W.F. Prince (1916) described Sleeping Margaret as having a
"highly analytical and logical turn of mind" (p. 87). She was
also resistant to outside influence. "Tenacious of her opinions,
she was amenable to reasoning, as any sensible person is, but
none of the little devices which were effective upon the others
had any influence upon her. She showed her rare displeasure only
by reticence or silence" (p. 87). W.F. Prince described her as
the maturest of all the alters. "Her facial expression was
usually that of philosophical calmness though she would
occasionally smile sedately, or even laugh at some antic of M."
(p. 86). Flournoy (1900) described Leopold as:

a wise friend, a rational mentor, and as one seeing things from a
higher plane, he gives her advice, counsel, orders even sometimes
directly opposite to her wishes and against which she rebels. He
consoles her, exhorts her, soothes, encourages, and reprimands
her; he undertakes against her the defence of persons she does
not like, and pleads the cause of those who are antipathetic to
her. In a word, it would be impossible to imagine a being more
independent or more different from Mlle. Smith herself, having a
more personal character, an individuality more marked, or a more
certain actual existence. (p. 78)

As to the wisdom of Leopold's advice, Flournoy noted that In his
role of watcher over the health of Mlle. Smith . . . [he]
concentrates his attention upon certain special functions . . .
.His office seems to be confined to knowing beforehand their
exact course and to see that Helene is not guilty of any
imprudence which may impeded them. Leopold . . . shows a
knowledge and prevision of the most intimate phenomena of the
organism which has been observed in the case of secondary
personalities, and which confers upon them, in that respect at
least, an unquestionable advantage over the ordinary personality.
(p. 133)

Jung (1963) wrote in his autobiography that he was instructed by
the daimons of his unconscious. "In my fantasies I held
conversations with him [Philemon], and he said things which I had
not consciously thought . . . .It was he who taught me psychic
objectivity, the reality of the psyche . . . .[H]e conveyed to me
many an illuminating idea" (pp. 183-184). More recently, Bliss
wrote that when Andrea's ISH, Sister Jeanne, emerged, her face
"became expressionless, and the voice . . . reflected that lack
of expression. There was no emotion here--nothing to obscure or
subjectify observation. She was only intellect--a thinking
machine" (Bliss & Bliss, 1985, p. 126). Allison described Bab's
ISH, Tammy, as "logical, intellectual and unemotional" (Allison &
Schwartz, 1980, p. 123). 

However, Allison (1978) did not think all ISHs were bright. He
thought they were a reflection of the host personality, "bright
if the patient is bright, and not so bright if the patient is
dull." He extended this concept to aggressive or passive behavior
also, writing that "they are shy or aggressive depending on the
nature of the main personality" Comstock (1991) summarized this
cluster of traits, writing that although the ISHs often present
themselves as emotionally flat, they have the capacity for and
later often demonstrate, the full range of human feelings. They
are oriented more toward task accomplishment and other alters
than toward themselves, and they seem either to have a better
ability to tolerate their feelings or a better ability to
distance themselves from their feelings than do other alters.

(p. 169)

Not only do the above traits distinguish the ISH from the other
personalities as viewed from outside the multiple, but the
qualities of the ISH are also said to be different from the
perspective of the other alters. ISHs are regarded as simply
different sometimes, but much more usually they emanate psychical
qualities commented on by the alters. Ross (1994) noted that the
host personality, Pam, did not regard Sarah and Rebeccah as alter
personalities. They were "spirit helpers" and "central" to the
system. Further, and typical of the ISH, Ross (1989) wrote, the
host "insisted they could never be integrated, but would always
be there to help her" (p. 61).

"Twelve" (Truddi Chase, When Rabbit Howls) asked Ean if he was
what was called God, sensing that there was something "so
peculiar, so all encompassing, so terribly without end, without
beginning" (Chase, 1987, p. 73). He answered,


"No . . . .Believe as y' will, but god, if he be a'tal, is not a
single, far-off entity teachin' through fear those less than he
be. There is nothin' t' teach. The knowledge is inside each man
on earth, merely waitin' t' be tapped.

Are you that knowledge?

Aye. Some say that it is so.

My god, said Twelve. What an enormous ego you have.

Aye. This is true. But I am no more than every man himself possesses. I do not
strut my ego. I merely use it. (Chase, 1987, pp. 73-74)

Michael (of Katherine, in Katherine It's Time) said he was
"created specifically as guardian and healer of this child. I
cannot tell you if I have been gifted with all knowledge.
I can tell you that when a question arises, the answer is
provided, for me as well as for her" (Castle & Bechtel, 1989, p. xiv). 

Michael was not integrated.


Van de Castle (1989), wrote:

Most of the psi manifestations were associated with Katherine,
who presented as a spiritual entity sent from The Source to
facilitate eventual integration of Susanna's personalities . . .
.Katherine insists that she is not a part of Susanna and I do not
include Katherine as being one of the personalities, as it has
become abundantly clear to me that her existence is definitely
not bound by any physical parameters and her origin cannot be
accounted for by any psychodynamic factors, as can the other
personalities. (p. 99)

The ISH seems to have no interest in participating in the
activities of the world they observe with the sometimes exception
of aesthetic pleasure such as music. Often they state that they
can come and go at their own discretion and this absence may be
noticed or felt by the person. In the case of Alma Z., one ISH
left and another came presumably because the second ISH, The Boy,
was better suited to the more mature role that Alma had assumed.

With Jung's daimons, one presence succeeded another outside of
Jung's volition. W. F. Prince noted that Sleeping Margaret would
"go away" or go to her "own place" more often as Real Doris
acquired better control of the consciousness. Prince did not want
to state definitely that Sleeping Margaret did go away, but, he
wrote, the actuality of some profound inner displacement at these
periods was very strongly indicated. For example, when S.M. first
"went away" at a season when R. D. was conscious and awake, the
latter invariably became nervous and restless, and experienced a
sensation of loneliness or emptiness, as though something or
someone were missing . . . the "going" did not seem to depend
upon the psychical dynamics, but upon the will of S. M. (1916,
pp. 116-117)

From the above descriptions of the alter's experience of their
ISH selfmate, the frequent explanation of the ISHs
distinctiveness is that it is a spirit. While most who have
written about the ISH note that the ISH may demure when asked
about its spirit pretensions, the ISH often states that it is
from another dimension or is of some transpersonal nature. Adams'
(1989) research found that 75% of the therapists in her study
reported ISHs identified themselves as "different in nature from
the other alters" (p. 142). Four of the seven most common
adjectival names were "Archives, Higher Self, Floating Lady, and
Angela" (p. 142), suggesting spiritual proclivities. Estelle's
ISH, Angeline (Despine), claimed to be one of a choir of angels
and Despine seems not to have disputed the assertion. Morton
Prince (1970) said that Sally's abilities seemed greater than
those from whom she arose; therefore she was either a discrete
alter personality or a spirit presence. Sally herself maintained
(late in therapy) that she was a spirit and when she was squeezed
out she would, "go back to where she came from" (p. 230).

Jung (1963) characterized Philemon as a spiritual psychagogue who
"represented a force that was not himself" (p. 183). Ka was "an
earth demon, a spirit of nature" (p. 184). Leopold (Helene Smith,
Flournoy), claimed transpersonal origins as did Tammy (Babs,
Allison), The Lady in White (anon, Helen Watkins), The Dark Ones
(Toby, Mayer), The Board of Directors (Rebecca, Mayer), Ean
(Chase, Phillips), Michael (Katherine, Walton), Katherine
(Susanna, Van de Castle), Cosmos (Margaret, Ross), Sarah and
Rebecca (Pam, Ross), Jonathan (Jennifer, Ross), and Gloria
(Kessler, Bryant and Shirar). I am aware of no ISH who, when
subsequently investigated, was found to be fused with the person.
Perhaps there was a functional integration. Some, like Truddi
Chase, remained unintegrated.

W. F. Prince (1926), who felt that it was his duty to cling as
long as possible to the view that Sleeping Margaret was a
subliminal remnant of dissociation, wrote that he could not
explain her presence as a dissociated fragment of Doris's mind
because of certain supranormal characteristics. She claimed to be
a protective spirit who had never lived in a body of her own upon
the earth and whose existence so far as she knew would come to an
end. She did not have the instinctive desire of "earth spirits"
for continued existence. ( p. 38) W. F. Prince listed 10
considerations that he could not account for if she was a
"dissociative remnant." His reasons indicate how carefully he
considered Sleeping Margaret's nature. They were, in brief: 12
years after integration Sleeping Margaret had not disappeared.
She was never affected by the therapeutic treatment. She was
unsuggestible.

"For a considerable time Sleeping Margaret refrained from
claiming that she was a spirit, but would occasionally tell
things which as a part of the girl's mentality she could not be
expected to know and showed embarrassment and evaded reply or
made an insufficient one when asked how she knew" (p. 38). When
she did acknowledge herself to be a spirit it was not as a spirit
Margaret would have been familiar with but as a spirit who never
had a body and whose existence so far as she knew would come to
an end when her special purpose as guard of Margaret was
completed. When Margaret was dazed with opium, "Sleeping
Margaret's intellect was unclouded and she calmly commented and
advised upon the situation as though she were a physician by a
bedside" (p. 38). She seldom referred to occult matters, and when
she did, she was consistent. Prince remarked on the
"impressiveness of the laconic, oracular unwavering consistency
through the years" (p. 39).

She was always mature, with "remarkable sagacity and prescience"
that seemed to transcend the experience and knowledge of Doris.
Doris was always able to tell when Sleeping Margaret was with her
and when she was not and he found that all the secondary
personalities subtracted something from the primary personality.
Sleeping Margaret did not. In the main, W.F. Prince summarized
from one case what many other cases seem to be confirming.

If this entity is transpersonal, two questions immediately pose
themselves. First, if the ISH is a spirit or spiritual, why
doesn't it cure the dissociative responses itself? Second, which
is another approach to the first question, why does the ISH need
a therapist for the healing process? The literature poses these
questions but does not answer them. An interesting reply by The
Dark Ones to Mayer, who posed this question was "that they had
only the power of argument" (1988, p. 149). Ross wrote that ISHs
"only help by knowing, not by doing" (1989, p. 114). Watkins and
Beahrs had similarly concluded that "understanding is dissociated
from power for action" (Beahrs, 1982, p. 118). M. Prince (1970),
perhaps the first to make this observation, wrote that "in normal
mentation . . . they have no volition . . . are entirely passive
and have no direct control over the subject's voluntary actions"
(p. 365). I will return to this problem in chapter 3.

What ISHs have done and, we can infer, what they may be capable
of doing can be conjectured from the literature. At one end of
the spectrum are the coconscious personality states discovered by
Morton Prince, B. of B.C.A., and Sally of Christine Beauchamp.
B.'s thoughts strongly influenced the behavior of A. and C., and
Sally was able to manipulate B I, B II and to some extent, B IV.
Morton Prince called the condition Sally could create in the
others aboulia, an ability to inhibit the will so that the person
is unable to do what she wishes. She could position her selfmates
in distressing positions and freeze them there. She could create
hypnogogic illusions such as hands missing, legs ending in a
bloody stumps, gross creatures in her food, etc. to terrify
Christine. Sally, an ISH-personality, was rather impish, even for
an ISH-personality. Such devilish behavior seems not atypical of

ISHs, who work more by influence and subtleties of intuition.

It is not unusual for an ISH just to shut off consciousness as a
means of control. Ross (1994), although he did not attribute the
effect to an ISH, stated that an alter had the "interesting
ability to 'pull everyone in' . . . put them to sleep internally
and render the body catatonic" (p. 152). Sleeping Margaret (Doris
Fisher, W.F. Prince) would "pull in" Margaret. She would "drag
Margaret unwillingly into the depths" (Prince, 1916, p. 115).
Allison (1977) described the operation as "pulling the plug and
causing the alter personality to faint." W.F. Prince (1916)
described the resulting condition: "While the state lasted the
body lay like a log except for slight breathing, and if it lasted
as long as ten minutes cataleptic rigidity gradually supervened"
(116).

W.F. Prince (1916) also described Sleeping Margaret's practice of
"jolting . . . producing in the consciousness of M. the hallucination
of receiving a heavy blow upon the forehead" (p. 115). This deterrent
was seldom used and later discontinued. More often, the ISH is felt as
a form of influence. Comstock (1991) wrote: Initial communication
between patient and ISH need not include a dramatic presentation of
the ISH. It may be dramatic, but more likely, the patient will first
experience the presence of the ISH as a hunch, a physical feeling, an
ordinary voice, a sudden thought, a phrase of a song, a poem, or
prayer, a picture, a memory of a scene, or a pervasive feeling of
peace or comfort. (p. 172) ISHs may influence or create dreams. Salley
(1988) reported a single case study in which the ISH, Self,
communicated with the alters almost entirely through the creation of
dreams. Sleeping Margaret influenced Doris through dreams. Van de
Castle was told by the ISH, Katherine, that "dreams are a channel
which are often used by spiritual beings to send imagery which will
facilitate spiritual awareness and personal growth" (1989, p. 101).

The last constellation of effects attributed to ISHs is
paranormal phenomena, primarily telepathy but sometimes including
clairvoyance and telekinesis. In the doubled consciousness cases
of the magnetizers, telepathy was commonly attributed to the
rapport between magnetizer and somnambulist.

Often the somnambulist could read the magnetizer's mind. Puysegur
said of Victor: I do not need to speak to him. I think in his
presence, and he hears me and answers me. When someone comes into
the room, he sees them if I want him to; he speaks to them,
saying things that I want him to say, not always what I dictate
to him, but whatever truth demands. When he wants to say more
than I believe prudent for the listener, I stop his ideas, his
sentences in the middle of a word and totally change his thought.
(quoted in Crabtree, 1993, p. 43-44)

The magnetizers reasoned that the normal consciousness operated
predominantly with the five senses, which had the effect of
smothering the sixth sense. In the somnambulistic state, the
sixth sense was unfettered in the "union of souls" (Tardy de
Montravel quoted in Crabtree, 1993, p. 74). In doubled
consciousness it may be that the paranormal phenomena is a
characteristic of the second state or subliminal self; the second
state may not be a true inner helping state. In MPD, often one or
some of the alters are psychic and some are not, and there may be
no clear evidence of whether the ISH is or is not. Ean (Chase,
1987), for instance, may well have been telepathic and
telekinesic, but from the book as written one cannot say for
sure. We are told that "Twelve" was telepathic. When her
therapist asked if she read his mind, she replied, " . . . we
don't read minds, Stanley. We get right into them. We've been in
yours" (p. 393). Doris Fisher was able to read W.F. Prince's
mind, " . . . it was goin' through your mind like a p'rade" (W.F.
Prince, 1926, p. 21), but Prince doesn't mention that quality
about Sleeping Margaret while Doris was a multiple. Other
observers did report paranormal phenomena linked to Sleeping
Margaret.

Jung (1902/1957) reported thought-reading by Ivenes/S.W. His
explanation was to quote Binet's calculation that "the
unconscious sensibility of a hysterical patient is at certain
moments fifty times more acute than that of a normal person" (pp.
80-81). He also reported that "at the beginning of many seances,
the glass was allowed to move by itself" (p. 30). This he did not
explain. Mayer (1988) felt that the Dark Ones read his mind (p.
148). Van de Castle (1989) was amazed that Katherine (Susanna)
"apparently . . . has total awareness of every facet of my life"
(p. 100). He also described psychokinetic phenomena initiated by
Katherine. Other psychokinetic phenomena have also been reported.
Flournoy wrote that Helene produced apports, which are, Flournoy
(1900) wrote, "the arrival of exterior objects in a closed space,
often coming from a considerable distance . . . (p. 375). He did
not witness them, but others of indisputable repute had observed
their coming. As of 1900, they were collected in a museum in
Geneva. In midwinter roses showered upon the table, handfuls of
violets, pinks, white lilacs, etc., also green branches; among
other things there was an ivy leaf having engraved upon it in
letters, as though by a punching-machine, the name of one of the
principal disincarnate spirits at play. Again, at the tropical
and Chinese visions sea-shells were obtained that were still
shining and covered with sand, Chinese coins, a little vase
containing water, in which there was a superb rose, etc. (p. 378)
Katherine, in Katherine, It's Time (Castle & Bechtel, 1989), was
frequently given sea-shells like calling cards by Michael, her
ISH. She had jars filled with sea shell from his visits.
Foreshadowing the integration dance of the farandola, she was
given a string of translucent pods and sea shells in a necklace
still wet from the sea. Mary Magdalene, the ISH of the nun,
Jeanne Fery, announced her presence and gave instructions to the
Archbishop in a written document that appeared in Jeanne's mouth
when she emerged from being plunged in holy water to cure her
malady.

The last feature of multiplicity perhaps connected with the ISH
and certainly associated with the doubled consciousness reported
by the magnetizers is the rapport that is constellated between
somnambulist/magnetizer and the patient/therapist. Ellenberger
(1970), discussing psychiatric healers from Puysegur to Janet,
noted that "whatever the psychotherapeutic procedure, it showed
the same common basic feature: the presence and utilization of
the rapport" (p. 152). In this summary let it be enough to point
out that in many of the cases cited the rapport was profound. In
some cases (Flournoy and Helene Smith, Breuer and Anna O.), the
outcome was unfortunate when the rapport was abruptly broken off
(Breuer) or misused (Flournoy). In other cases (W.F. Prince and
Fisher, M. Prince and Beauchamp, M. Prince and B.C.A., Sybil and
Wilber, Kessler and Bryant), the consequences were satisfying.

Puysegur's rapport with Victor Race is prototypical of the
rapport the magnetizers and the early psychical researchers
Janet, Myers, and Flournoy reported when the subliminal or
somnambulant self was out. The magnetizers "understood that the
rapport was the central phenomenon in magnetism and somnambulism
and that its influence extended far beyond the actual seance"
(Ellenberger, 1970, p. 76). The rapport and doubled consciousness
constellated the paranormal phenomena, telepathy and
clairvoyance, especially the sensitivity to diagnose the illness
of self and others. In the altered state the somnambulant might
prescribe treatment, and predict the course of the illness and
the time of cure. Puysegur was first to use the rapport as
psychological treatment. He introduced the concept of a
pathogenic rapport. He was the first to observe that as the
patient got well, the rapport decreased. His cure of Alexandre
was, Puysegur thought, a procedure that interrupted a toxic
rapport between Alexandre and his mother, transferred the rapport
to himself and then dissolving the rapport and freeing Alexandre.
Despine's cure of Estelle was a like case of separating Estelle
from a toxic rapport with her mother. Janet elaborated a theory
of rapport and developed a therapeutic protocol of first taking
complete command of the patient's mind and then teaching the
patient to live without the therapist (Ellenberger, 1970, p.
155).

Comstock (1991), in her comprehensive article on the inner self
helper, described conscious and unconscious contact and
communication between ISH and patient in a style analogous to the
rapport between the therapist and patient. She wrote,
"Communication with the ISH can occur verbally, but can occur
non-verbally through intuition, a hunch, a felt sense of knowing,
projection, projective identification, parallel processing, or
any other form of patient unconscious to therapist unconscious
communication" (p. 172). She proposed that "the therapist can
help the ISH learn to help the patient" (p. 171). Allison
(personal communication, March 21, 1993) has speculated that the
ISH packages itself to the therapist in a way that insures the
best treatment for the multiple. In a statement to the same
effect, Jung (1946/1966c), in The Psychology of the Transference,
theorized that fascination with inner and outer subjects denotes
an unconscious identity of the ego with some unconscious figure .
. . and because of this the ego is obliged, willing and reluctant
at once, to be a party to the hierosgamos . . . . This aspect is
always trying to deliver us into the power of a partner who seems
compounded of all the qualities we have failed to realize in
ourselves. (p. 318) If the unconscious is the creative spirit,
and if the ISH is viewed as subliminal consciousness, then the
subliminal consciousness may be an aspect of the unrealized
potential and the rapport may be an elegant instantiation and
resonance of inner and outer psychic processes, (subliminal
consciousness with quotidian consciousness, patient with
therapist) that is needed to heal the fissuring of the psyche.

The ISH and the ISH-personality are not the flower of personality
however much they acquire sentience and actuality. While they can
encourage and support the creative assertions of consciousness
that are personality, constitutionally they appear to be from a
different dimension of the psyche. At the conclusion of therapy
most coconscious personifications recede as the healthy
personality emerges. For some ISH-personalities who assumed a
measure of executive control and expressive existence, the
dissolving rapport with the doctor and the waning usefulness as a
personality is understandably regrettable.

The interaction and embodiment confers a quality of
distinctiveness and a measure of effectiveness not inherent to
the subliminal state. For instance, Sally, the impish ISH-
personality of Christine Beauchamp, for all of her defiance and
mischievousness, valued the rapport between herself and her
doctor, Morton Prince. She assisted and resisted the process of
therapy that would, as she put it, send her back to where she
came from. Sally's distress about being dismissed from
personality and awareness was evident in her complaint when
Prince (1969) said she was "pathological . . . and had no analogy
in normal life" (p. 153). Knowing he wanted to squeeze her out,
to send her back where she came from, she pleaded with him to
reconsider. When I've written out the nights for you are you
going to drop me and just have C. all the time? Isn't there going
to be anything else you want me to do? I think I'd rather do
psychological things than never, never talk to you. (Prince,
1969, p. 56)

When the splitting and separateness ends, the rapport diminishes.
The waning rapport is a consequence of integration. Both Puysegur
and Janet had observed that the intensity of the rapport
diminished with improved mental health. In Christine’s case,
Sally’s complete disappearance may have been a consequence of
Prince’s uncertainty about what role Sally, “who had no analogy
in normal life,” might play in Christine’s world. While the ISH
recedes into the margins of the mind upon integration,
theoretically, it does not cease to exist.

A decisive question for a person, divided or whole, is whether
the person is related to something transpersonal--something
infinite--and whether the infinite universe is friendly. The ISH
is an experience of a positive answer. Dialogue with a
manifestation of the subliminal consciousness, the inner self, or
as some would have it, an angel, awakens the quotidian
consciousness to a more encompassing perspective and a capacity
for cohesiveness and unity. This particular dialogue and rapport
was created between the doctor, priest or therapist and the
patient in the stories related above. The rapport is part of that
experience. Carl Jung (1946/1966c), emphasizing that
psychological healing and wholeness takes place in a genuine
encounter between two human beings, wrote: The unrelated human
being lacks wholeness, for he can achieve wholeness only through
the soul, and the soul cannot exist without its other side, which
is always found in a "You." Wholeness is a combination of I and
You, and these show themselves to be part of a transcendent unity
whose nature can only be grasped symbolically, as in symbols of
the rotundum, the rose, the wheel, or the coniunctio Solis et
Lunae. (pp. 244-245)

Psychological healing occurs in an alliance between people. In
relationship, in being known and named and personified, the inner
self acquires distinctiveness and amplification. Making it real
makes it effective. To be in sentient connection with the other
and with the inner self is psychotherapy. Healing the split is
the drama of soul-making. Coconsciousness and the ISH seek
incarnation in consciousness even as consciousness is enriched by
coconscious prehensions. The one comes into being through the
other. The soul, Jung (1946/1966c) wrote, "is a function of
relationship" (p. 267). The elements that are out of awareness
press for incarnation according to their qualities. Through the
ISH as personification of the multiple's capacity for
objectivity, wholeness, and creative inspiration, the doctor and
patient collaborate at the subliminal level of the soul.


Traits of the ISH
CHARACTERISTIC			1	2	3	4	5a	5b	6	7
Extraordinary memory	Y	?	?	Y	N	N	Y	Y!

Greater ability to 
observe and comprehend 
than host personality	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Objective, rational, 
intellectual			Y	Y	Y	Y	N	y	Y	Y

Calm, psychologically 
mature				Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y

Continuous awareness	?	?	?	Y	Y	Y	?	Y

Seen as different by 
other alters			Y	D	Y	Y	Dbl. con.	?	Y

Could influence or 
moderate other alters	Y	D	?	Y	Dbl. con.	Y	Y

Resistant to influence, 
held opinions in 
conflict with therapist 
and other alters		Y	Y	Y	Y	?	?	Y	Y

Therapist claimed 
useful				Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	y	Y

Prescribed treatment	Y!	Y	Y!	Y!	N	N	Y	Y

Remained after 
integration			?	NI	?	?	NI	NI	NI	Y

Claimed to be a spirit	Y	N	N	N	N	N	Y	Y

Evidence of 
clairvoyance or 
telepathy				Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

Evidence of telekinesis 
and/or apports			Y	Y	N	N	N	N	Y	N

Rapport				Y	Y	Y	Y	?	?	Y	Y

ISH - Patient				Therapist		Date
__________________________________________________
1. Mary Magdalene / J. Fery	The Archbishop	1584
2. ??? / Victor Race		Puysegur 		(1784)
3. Angeline / Estelle		Despine 		(1836)
4. Observer brain / Anna O.	Breuer 		1882
5a. Twoey / Alma Z			Mason 		1893
5b. The Boy / Alma Z		Mason 		1893
6. Leopold / H. Smith		Flournoy 		(1900)
7. Sleeping Margaret / Fisher	W. F. Prince 	1911

Y = yes; N = no
! = a cardinal trait
NI = never integrated
? = insufficient data
xxxx = date of initiating therapy
(xxxx) = date of publication



100
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Traits of the ISH (continued)
CHARACTERISTIC			8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Extraordinary memory	?	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y!	y	Y!

Greater ability to 
observe and comprehend 
than host personality	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y!	Y	Y!

Objective, rational, 
intellectual			Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y!	Y	Y!

Calm, psychologically 
mature				Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y!	Y	Y!

Continuous awareness	?	Y	Y	Y	?	?	y	?

Seen as different by 
other alters			D	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y!	Y	?

Could influence or 
moderate other alters	D	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y!	Y	?

Resistant to influence, 
held opinions in 
conflict with therapist 
and other alters		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y!	Y	Y!

Therapist claims 
useful				Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y!	Y	Y!

Prescribed treatment	N	N	N	N	N	Y!	Y!	Y!

Remained after 
integration			?	Y	Y	?	?	Y!	Y	?

Claimed to be a spirit	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y!	Y	Y!

Evidence of clairvoyance 
or telepathy			N	Y	Y	Y	?	Y!	?	Y!

Evidence of telekinesis 
and/or apports			N	N	N	N	?	N	Y	Y!

Rapport				N	Y	Y	Y	Y 	Y!	Y	Y!


ISH - Patient			Therapist			Date of publication

8. Brown / Miss Damon	M. Erickson		(1939)
9. Janette / Karen		Allison			(1980)
10. Tammy / Babs		Allison			(1980)
11. Sis. Jeanine / 
Andrea				Bliss			(1985)
12. Dark Ones / Toby	Mayer			(1988)
13. Ean / Truddi Chase	Phillips			(1987)
14. Michael / Katherine	Walton			(1989)
15. Katherine / Susanna	Van de Castle		(1989)


101
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Traits of the ISH (continued)

CHARACTERISTIC			16	17	18	19
Extraordinary memory	?	Y	Y	Y!

Greater ability to 
observe and comprehend 
than host				Y	Y	Y	Y!

Objective, rational, 
intellectual			Y	Y	?	Y!

Calm, psychologically 
mature				Y	Y	Y	Y!

Continuous awareness	Y	Y	?	Y!

Seen as different by 
other alters			Y	Y	Y	Y!

Could influence or 
moderate other alters	?	?	Y	Y!

Resistant to influence, 
held opinions in 
conflict with therapist 
and other alters		Y	Y	?	Y!

Therapist claimed 
useful				Y	Y	Y	Y!

Prescribed treatment	?	Y	?	Y!

Remained after 
integration			Y	Y	Y	Y!

Claimed to be a spirit	Y	Y	Y	Y

Evidence of clairvoyance 
or telepathy			?	?	?	Y!

Evidence of telekinesis 
and/or apports			?	?	?	N

Rapport				Y	Y	?	Y!

ISH-Patient						Therapist - 	Date of Publication
16. The Board of Directors / Rebecca	Mayer		(1991)
17. Gloria / Kessler				Bryant, Shirar	(1992)
18. Sarah, Rebeccah / Pam			Ross			(1994)
19. Becky / anon					Allison		(1995)


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Table 3.
Traits of the Coconscious Subliminal State Assuming Personality


CHARACTERISTIC			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

Extraordinary memory	y	y	y	y	?	Y!	Y!	?	Y!	Y

Greater ability to 
observe and comprehend
than host personality	Y!	Y	Y	y	Y	Y	Y!	Y	Y	Y

Objective, rational, 
intellectual			Y	?	?	N	?	N	Y	Y	Y	Y

Calm, psychologically 
mature				Y	Y	y	Y	y	y	Y	Y	y	Y

Ultimately remained in 
2nd state				N	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N	N

Seen as different 
by other alters		Dbl consciousness	Y	Dbl. consciousness	Y

Could influence or 
moderate other alters	Dbl consciousness	Y!	Dbl. consciousness	Y

Resistant to influence, 
held opinions in
conflict with therapist 
and other alters		Y	?	?	Y	Y	Y!	Y	?	?	Y

Therapist claimed useful	Y!	Y	na	?	?	y	?	?	Y	?

Prescribed treatment	Y!	Y!	na	N	N	N	N	?	N	N

Ultimately became the 
dominant personality	N	N	Y	Y	?	N	N	N	N	N

Claimed to be a spirit	N	N	N	N	N	Y	N	Y	N	N

Evidence of 
clairvoyance or 
telepathy				Y	Y	?	N	N	N	Y	Y	N	N

Evidence of telekinesis 
and/or apports			N	N	N	N	N	N	N	?	N	N

Rapport				Y!	Y!	na	N	N	Y	N	N	Y	Y




Subliminal State - 		Therapist 	Date
Patient	

1. ???/Victor Race		Puysegur	1784 Doubled consciousness ISH-personality

2. ???/Alexandre Hebert	Puysegur	178- Doubled consciousness

3. ???/Mary Reynolds	no 		1836 Doubled consciousness	
					therapist

4. ???/Felida X.		Azam		1858 Doubled consciousness

5. Blanche II/Blanche	Jules 	187- Doubled consciousness	
					Janet

6. Sally/Beauchamp		M. Prince	1898	ISH-personality

7. ???/Rev. Hanna		Sidis	(1904) Doubled consciousness ISH-personality

8. Spanish Maria/Oliver	Cory		(1919) Doubled consciousness

9. B./B.C.A.			M. Prince	(1926) Doubled consciousness	ISH-personality

10. Vicky/Sybil		Wilbur	(1973)	ISH-personality

(xxxx) = date of publication; 
xxxx = date of initiating therapy


103
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Table 4.
Characterizations of the Coconscious Observer State or ISH

Altrocchi
Inner Self Helper
Calm, super-rational, organized, rather limited affect. Claim to
have all the memories and work to keep system organized and
prevent from spiraling out of control. A force towards health.
Most generally an ally in therapy. Their niceness seems to limit
their powers of intervention. Suspects an ISH in every multiple.
Has found an ISH-like mental state in nonmultiple patients.

Barach
Iatrogenic artifact
A reflection of the patient's dissociated wish for specialness.


Becky
Formerly an Allisonian ISH.
ISHs do not have feelings and are not personality. They are
intelligent energy. ISH is the first split and creates all alter-
personalities. There are "supervisors" above/beyond the ISH. ISHs
are in constant contact with other ISHs. Distinguishes between an
ISH in MPD developed before the age of seven and an ISH-like
function in nonmultiples that she calls an Essence. ISH becomes
the "Essence" of the person when charge is integrated. Emphasised
meed to be sanctioned by therapist. ISH cannot undo what it
created.

Bowman
ISH or observing ego
Detached, intellectual, emotionless. Observing, intellectual
splits of the personality that represent a person who really has
some ability to maintain perspective on him/herself.

Calof
Core
The architect of the system. It may influence therapy via dreams,
feelings, thoughts. May change in advanced states of therapy--it
may grieve. It may have limited energy/ability to remain in
consciousness. While it exists in its own right, therapy may
potentiate it, crystalize it, coalesce it. The form of its
presentation may be a response to the demand from the therapist.

Comstock
Center Ego State
A process, place, or potential. A quality like an athletic
ability. A unifying force. May create a personality to talk
through but that is not what they are about. Presents itself as
something separate from the person, sometimes as a spirit from a
past life, or an angel, or a separate part of the person closest
to God, or as a distinctive, pure, least contaminated part of the
person.
Is less emotional than other alter-personalities.
Can communicate through non-verbal, unconscious processes.
Changes in therapy.

Coons
Memory trace
May be an iatrogenic artifact to please the therapist. Is not
distinctly different from other alters.
May be intact memory part dissociated from affect.


Fraser
Center Ego State
A logical state of mind--possibly the first split. A reality
principle. "A state of flux that acts as the observing ego to the
enormous issues of continuity and continuity of existence, though
sometimes it will influence other ego-states, which deal with the
various aspects of personhood, and will also deal with the
interactions with nature and other people" (appendix G).
Resembles Dr. Spock in Star Trek.

Is a preview of evolving personality.
Changes in therapy.


Goodwin
Highly abstract, highly intellectual, more mature, more adult,
with relative deficiencies in sensation and affect.

Groesbeck
ISH
An internal entity maintaining the overall survival of the
organism. A manifestation of the Self. Minimizes the destructive
elements of the shadow aspects.

Kluft
Does not use labels.
Perhaps is an interactional and egosyntonic artifact. Responds to
clues from therapist.

May be helpful convincing patients they have something good
inside. Is truthful, helpful, can be relied on. Is serene,
rational, affectless.

As other than ISH, can be a powerful helper personality. Finds
this phenomenon more clearly in nonmultiple patients.

Torem
Center-Core

The unifying self that develops and strengthens the conscious sense of
unity, mastery, and wholeness. 

Preserves the logical, mature, rational, and objective thinking. 

Can be a place or thing. Either same age/gender or ageless/genderless.

Demeanor is relaxed and relatively emotionless, calm and matter-of-
fact.

Wise, insightful, interested in therapeutic change.

Lacks energy or influence to initiate or maintain change.

Is fundamentally different than other alters. Changes over time as it
learns to apply knowledge. Is transpersonal in the sense that was
untouched by trauma and not distorted by reality.


J. Watkins
The observer

H. Watkins
May be on a continuum from little power or influence but accurate
observation to active influence with relatively less acute
observation.
A cognitive control system, neutral and objective, sees both
sides of conflicts, not emotional, may have little feeling of
responsibility for the individual.
Finds observer in nonmultiple patients



Table 5.
List of Names for Subliminal States Closely Resembling or
Equivalent to the Inner Self Helper
Name of Subliminal State					Therapist(s) Who Coined the Phrase

The perfect crisis in somnambulistic state	The physicians who used magnetism
  Example: The second state of Victor Race

Subliminal consciousness					Frederick Myers

Coconscious State						Morton Prince
  Example: B of B.C.A.

Daimons								Carl Jung
Fantasy figures of the unconscious
Anima/Animus and Wise Old Man
Mercurius
The Great Man
  Example: Jung's personal daimons: Elijah,
  Philemon, Solome, the black snake and Ka.
  Also, Jung's second personality.

Memory Trace							Cornelia Wilbur
  Example: Vicky in Sybil

Inner Self Helper						Ralph Allison
  Example: Becky (appendix B)

Hidden Observer						Ernest Hilgard
  Hypnotically elicited in university 
  students

Observer								John and Helen Watkins
Hypnotically elicited in patients

Center Ego State						Christine Comstock & George Fraser

Center-Core							Moshe Torem

Core									David Calof

Subliminal Coconsciousness (SC)			James Gunn


172



Page 23
Chapter 5
Conclusions

The review of the literature established that the mind has a
capacity for coconsciousness. From 1584 to 1919, most of the
cases of MPD described a state of consciousness that is
unmistakably and characteristically different from the normal
state of awareness and distinctly different from alter-
personalities. The literature and interviews conducted with
leading specialists in the treatment of dissociative disorders
confirmed that this coconscious observer state or ISH is often
present and appears with a stable set of unusual, hard-to-
simulate characteristics. Its attributes are so consistent that
it seems to be stereotyped. It is described as astute, objective,
and rational, exhibiting a superior memory, generally insightful,
having greater emotional stability (including perhaps an
invulnerability to hypnosis and hypnotic suggestion), having a
greater alertness to and a wider recognition of events in the
environment than other ego states, and, more debatable, having a
sixth sense. It does not refer to itself as personality, and its
selfmates generally acknowledge that it is not like them.
Although it cannot cure the personality, it can help with the
process. Some theorists assign the ISH/observer state a central
organizing function coordinating the activities of the other ego
states. This constellation of qualities, found in the cases of
doubled consciousness and in 50 to 80 percent of multiple states
of consciousness, suggests that the phenomenon is not an
idiosyncratic production, a delusion, or an iatrogenic artifact.
Rather, it is a part of mental organization indigenous to MPD if
not to humanity in general.

Although these characteristics clearly distinguish this
coconscious state as an entity separate from other manifestations
of consciousness, two or more different states or a continuum of
states may be defined by these characteristics. One state defined
by Allison is the ISH. The other state that seems not to have all
of the characteristics of the Allisonian ISH I have called the
coconscious subliminal observer. This state has also been called
the Hidden Observer, the Observer, the observing ego, and a
memory trace. Somewhere, either in one camp or another, or on a
continuum between an Allisonian ISH and a coconscious subliminal
observer, lie Fraser's and Comstock's Center Ego State, Torem's
Center-Core, and Calof's Core. The distinguishing difference, if
indeed a difference exists, is that at one pole an ISH is
distinguished by a keen awareness of itself, an awareness of The
Creator, and from the beginning an ability to exert more
influence over the divided psyche. At the other pole, the
subliminal observer in its nascent form is often unaware of
itself and exerts little influence over the alters' behavior. The
description varies somewhat, but whether observer or ISH, its
presentation is still distinctly unlike alter-personalities and
its impact on therapy varies no more than the uniqueness of the
individual patient. All of the above named states become more
active as they are acknowledged and utilized. Most of those
interviewed who actively work with the ISH/observer concept
thought that it served an interior organizing function. 

Myers, Hilgard, and Jung had earlier proposed a similar idea.
Myers (1903/1961) proposed that the subliminal self maintained
free and healthy interchange between the psychic centers. Hilgard
(1977) thought that the hidden observer was the fraction of a
central regulating mechanism "responsible for the facilitations
and inhibitions that are required to actuate the subsystems
selectively" (p. 217).

Groesbeck (appendix I), reflecting a Jungian perspective, thought
that the ISH may be a reflection or an emanation of the
archetypal self. This would be consistent with Myers' and
Hilgard's observations. Such an archetypal personality would have
"the potential for integration of the total personality . . .
.The self functions as a synthesizer and mediator of opposites
within the psyche and the self [is] the prime agent in the
production of deep, awesome, 'numinous' symbols of a self-
regulatory and healing nature" (Samuels, 1985, pp. 91-92). Jung's
(1921/1971) description of the true self embraces what has been
attributed to the ISH/observer's organizational function--wisdom
and an impersonal yet caring nature:

The true self is beyond all personal judgments conditioned by
external experience. . . . It is the light which pervades the
world . . . . It is love for mankind, immortal, all-knowing, good
. . . . [It is] the self-regulating function, the mediator and
uniter of the opposites . . . it is in fullest accord with the
Indian idea of the "wise old man who dwells in the heart." Or as
Wang Yang-ming, the Chinese father of Japanese philosophy, says:
"In every heart there dwells a sejin (sage). Only, we do not
believe it firmly enough, and therefore the whole has remained
buried." (p. 218)

Whether the phenomenon in question is an ISH or a coconscious
observer state, clinicians agree that it has the potential to
mediate subliminal processes, holding diverse perspectives or ego
states in a rational, cohesive flux or integrative atunement.
Torem and Gainer (1993) summarized this perspective, noting that
it develops and strengthens the conscious sense of unity,
mastery, and wholeness.

It is beyond the scope of this paper to firmly establish the link
between the ISH/observer and experiences of soul, but the
inferences are plainly there in the awesome and numinous
experience that the presence of the ISH has had on both patient
and therapist. Further, the statement made by the Allisonian ISH,
Becky, that she is what others might call soul, strongly suggests
that the healing relationship mediated by the ISH is therapy
engaging deep levels of the psyche. It does not seem unreasonable
to call this dialectic engaging the core of the self, soul-
tending.

I propose that the nascent form of the observer/ISH is not a form
of personality. Completely subliminal functioning may be pure
process. Supporting this, Comstock and Torem (appendices B and K)
said that this state was not an entity but a process and might be
experienced not only as a personification but as a potential, a
thing, or a place. Comstock said, "It is a tendency, not a person
. . . .I do not believe any particular forms are the real
expression of them." Torem and Gainer (1993) wrote that the
Center-Core can be experienced as a place, or a thing such as
pure light, or an energy field. The subliminal coconscious state
may organize events and feeling through imaginal, mythopoetic,
and spontaneous processes. It may create perspectives on events
that give otherwise unrelated, senseless, and sometime tragic,
destructive, and evil events a sense of psychic orderliness and
coherence.

The subliminal may foster a meta-perspective that deepens
otherwise tragic and trivial events into drama and meaning. The
concluding story told by Ean in When Rabbit Howls (Chase, 1987)
which satisfyingly destroys the father-abuser and the dance of
the farandola, introduced by Michael (Castle and Bechtel, 1989)
which created so much heat that Kit was transformed, may be
representative examples of this dramatic process. Allison (1993)
and Fraser (appendix G) noted that this subliminal state may
create or interpose a False Front (Allison), or a Central
Delegate (Fraser), to protect the subliminal state of self and to
interact with the therapist. Torem and Calof suggested a similar
process, without labeling the personality factor. Most of those
interviewed thought that this process or entity could best
participate in therapy if personified. Naming them reifies them.
As persons, they appear to become more effective, a point to
which I will return later. Fraser, Torem, Kluft, and Calof
observed changes in those aspects of the ISH/observer that
participated in executive consciousness over time. These changes
may be a new point of equilibrium shaped in the interaction
between subliminal consciousness, the quotidian consciousness,
and the physical realities of the world.

In the summary of the literature section, I drew attention to the
unusually committed bond or rapport that frequently developed
between MPD patients and their therapists. W.F. Prince adopted
Doris Fisher and said of Sleeping Margaret (her ISH) that he
would not dismiss her even if he could. Morton Prince developed
most of his psychological theory observing and in collaboration
with multiples Christine Beauchamp and B.C.A. Cornelia Wilber,
like Morton Prince, launched her career based on the
psychological principles she developed beginning with Sybil.
Their relationship continued past the therapeutic protocol of the
analytic interview into a friendship of mutual respect and
psychological discovery. Ellenberger (1970), in his history of
the discovery of the unconscious, noted that "in addition to
their own personalities, the most important source of achievement
for dynamic psychiatrists lies in their relationship with their
patients" (p. 891). He observed that "whatever the
psychotherapeutic procedure, [the therapeutic channel] showed the
same common basic feature: the presence and utilization of the
rapport" (p. 152). His comments emphasized the rapport as a
common denominator, indeed, perhaps it is the underlying affinity
upon which healing of the dissociative psyche is founded.

Since 1973 and the Wilber/Sybil relationship-rapport, five
single-case and two multiple case-books were inspired by the
therapy, discoveries, and relationship between therapists and MPD
patients. In the prologue to The Flock (Casey, 1991), Wilson,
therapist and author, summarized the effect of the rapport for
her. "It is the story of people who found each other at the right
moment in their lives and performed magic. [The story is] about
two women who changed each other and about three people who
became a family" (p. v). Therapeutic relationships between
therapists and their MPD patients has historically been profound
and have led to remarkable cures and to remarkable discoveries in
psychiatry. The reciprocal influence is to be expected.

Janet emphasized that the somnambulant state of a patient was
strongly influenced by the character and beliefs of the
magnetizer/physician: "The second personality . . . takes on the
habits, manners and beliefs which have been inspired in him,
almost without knowing or intending it" (quoted in Crabtree,
1993, p. 316). The ISH/observer seems invulnerable to influence
and persuasion. However, Janet's comment and the behavior of
Victor Race (Puysegur), Blanche Wittmann (Charcot), Helene Smith
(Flournoy), and others, suggests that the subliminal state may
indeed be influenced by the attitudes of the therapist. This may
be because, as Allison indicated, "the patient's ISH may be
delivering a package that is acceptable to the observer in the
interest of the welfare of the patient" (personal communication,
March 21, 1993). The subliminal state may not be influenced as
much as adapting to the therapeutic milieu to experience an
empathetic response, an emotion so lacking in an environment
spoiled by narcissistic lack of empathy. The patient may
transmute the empathetic experience into a healthy self-esteem, a
capacity to self-soothe, and a cohesive sense of self.

Groesbeck (appendix I) and Fraser (appendix G) commented on the
ISH's propensity to withhold useful information until the
therapist specifically asks. Putnam (1989) and Calof (appendix D)
noted the ISH's delphic communication and enigmatic replies. What
purpose is served by withholding information and by enigmatic
replies? Comstock (appendix E) said that knowing a fact is less
important than thinking it through and developing perspective.
The withheld information and the enigmatic replies oblige the
therapist to engage more individually and develop a soulful
comprehension of the particular dynamics. Enigmatic replies serve
psyche's need to be known, not as a fact as much as a work or an
experience. Mystery and the lure of significant discovery is a
facet of the rapport.

In chapter 4, I proposed that one of the problems of people with
MPD is that they are unable to use transitional space, a term I
borrowed from D.W. Winnicott. This imaginal concept has
affinities to Jung's transcendent function. Like the joining of
alter-personality and ISH, Jung (1921/1971) conceptualized the
transcendent function as the "combined function of conscious and
unconscious elements" (p. 115). He saw it as a "living form . . .
[that is] constellated fantasy material containing images of the
psychological development of the individuality in its successive
states--a sort of preliminary sketch or representation of the
onward way between the opposites" (p. 115). Although the multiple
often is gifted with an ability to access this creative space,
the overwhelming demands of the abuser arrest the multiples'
ability to play in transitional space. What should be playful
products of fantasy become instead the fabrication and
concretization of alters, False Fronts (Allison), or False Selves
(Winnicott). A multiples' ability for imaginative play is tinged
by fear and/or is interrupted due to the demands of another. The
capacity to freely imagine is stunted. The as-if, independent,
and changeable attitude natural to being in transitional space
becomes adapted and compliant with the intrusions of the abuser.

Transitional space is spoiled by the presumptuous desires and
demands of an environment or of an abuser or mother (whoever
performs the mothering function) who has no empathetic ability to
understand the child's developmental needs. The multiple-to-be
cannot trust the environment enough to play in the imaginal realm
of transitional space.

The process of rectifying the loss of transitional space may be
begun in dialogue with the deeper, most profound levels of
fantasy, with the core of the self, with the least known and the
least knowable, and hence potentially the most fanciful: the
ISH/observer. Personifying the relationship makes it personal and
appealing. It evokes trust as well as mysterious awe and
trepidation. Perhaps we make them like us because they are us.
Jung (1921/1971) wrote of the fantasy figures: "It is not we who
personify them, they have a personal nature from the beginning"
(p. 42).

Torem, Kluft, Fraser, Calof, and Altrocchi emphasized
acknowledging, instructing, and working with the ISH/observer.
This serves a twofold benefit. At one level it models an
interactive dialogue for the patient who has difficulty turning
inward to work out answers. On another level, it strengthens the
core of self. Calof (appendix D) said, "The more you seek the
Core the stronger it gets." Fraser (appendix G) commented, "It
certainly becomes much more lively--much more interactive. And
much more accepting of itself as part of the system. It certainly
blossoms over the therapy time." Becky (appendix B) said that the
ISH "has to be sanctioned by the therapist."

At a deeper level, dialogue with the ISH engages the imaginal. If
dialogue with alter-personalities is fiction made too literal,
dialogue with ISHs restores the imaginal, interpreting what we
literally see or hear as psychical, divine, an angel, or an
imaginal guest. Further, the numinosum of the event deepens the
experience. Its presence is often experienced as "metaphysical,
spiritual . . . and/or mystical" (Bruce, 1993, p. 87). The
phenomenon is knowledgable, stimulating, and soulful. If the
therapist can accept the patient at the level of the ISH, then
the patient feels deeply understood. Mary Watkins (1986) in
Invisible Guests, wrote:

Instead of the real and the imaginal being opposed as the
imaginal distorts, condenses, rearranges and negates the real, it
is thought that through the imaginal the truer nature of the real
is manifested . . . .Dialogues with the "Angels" of imaginal
reality, far from being symptomatic of pathology, are understood
as teaching one to hear the events of the everyday symbolically
and metaphorically. (p. 75)

Expressing doubt damages the treatment alliance/rapport. When the
ISH is disbelieved, it often disappears. Its primary influence is
by agreement, affinity, and fact. Its constitution appears to be
both mythopoetic and objective, a conflict only possible outside
normal consciousness.

It seems to be a psychological principle that the ISH/observer
only demonstrates and utilizes the power that is acknowledged or
will shortly come to be acknowledged. The possibilities
fermenting in the margins of the mind cannot come to fruition
until the correct attitude and knowledgeable perspective combine
to make these realizations possible. The attitude, experience,
and opinions of the therapist probably have a greater effect on
the character and outcome of dissociative disorders than on any
other psychological disturbance. As one observer/ISH wrote to me,
"The soul only demonstrates and utilizes the power which is
acknowledged. The more a soul is recognized, validated, nurtured,
embraced, even integrated, the more its wisdom and power are
evident and manifested to the individual" (anonymous, personal
communication, 1994). The unknowable psyche is real. From the
psychological evidence, in psyche's shadows are the solutions, if
there are any, to the dilemma of divided consciousness. Admission
to those secrets is apparently solicited by our belief in their
existence and our respect for their reality.


Areas for further investigation

Clearly establishing the observer/ISH as a separate psychological
function from alter-personalities opens the door to other areas
of investigation. If the ISH is not an artifact and not a whim of
personality, some radical definitions and explanations of its
function can be more seriously considered. Although it is
currently a little-explored state and associated with
psychopathology, it may be a normal part of psychological
functioning. Altrocchi, Calof, Kluft, and Torem, (appendices A,
D, J, K,) said that the ISH is not restricted to MPD.

According to Kluft and Torem, the precondition for this
phenomenon to appear was the patient's ability to dissociate and
to be easily hypnotized. Supporting this conclusion are Hilgard's
(1977) Hidden Observer experiments, which were performed with
university students selected for their high hypnotizable
quotient. If this subliminal phenomenon is not limited to MPD, it
may play a role in other psychopathology. It may also play a role
in normal psychological development. 

How necessary is it to recognize the observer/ISH in therapy for
whatever power it has to be utilized for the benefit of the
patient? How effective can the observer/ISH be when two or three
(observer/ISH and therapist; observer/ISH, patient, and
therapist) are working together? Research is being conducted in
this area by Jan Hizar-Jorgensen and Rob Jorgensen (1994). Their
findings indicate that tasks undertaken in collaboration with the
ISH have a more certain and longer-lasting result.

This paper has shown that the observer/ISH is an entity and not
an artifact created to please the therapist. Given that the
observer/ISH is a preexisting mental function, is there something
about the therapist that invites or constellates the appearance
of the observer/ISH? Does the therapist influence the character
of the observer/ISH? To what extent is the observer/ISH
iatrogenic? Torem (appendix K) said that "creating these Centers
is like influencing the patient to be more functional, more
adaptive, more mature in their day-to-day living. . . . Of course
it's iatrogenic. That's what the essence of therapy is about."
Bowman (appendix C) thought that the therapist and the
transference influenced the presentation of the ISH/Center Ego
State, depending on the capacity of the patient to respond. Kluft
(appendix J) noted that the idea that the ISH may resonate with
the style of the therapist is another version of the maxim that
"Jungian patients have Jungian dreams and Freudian patients have
Freudian dreams." In such a manner Becky (appendix B) may have
been influenced by Allison to be or talk about Allisonian ISHs.
The observations of Torem, Fraser, Kluft, and Calof noting the
changes of the observer/ISH in therapy also indicate some sort of
core transformational process.

These changes are apparent, but how can we measure how much they
change in the gestation period prior to or at the moment before
the first contact? Regardless of their imperturbable,
intellectual presentation, it is hardly imaginable that as they
affect the therapist and therapy, they remain unaffected.

Is the ISH the stuff of quantum psychology? The quantum
physicists Heisenberg and Bohm theorized that measuring an
attribute actively transforms what is really there - quantumstuff
- into some form compatible with ordinary experience. Measuring
one attribute accurately obscures accurate knowledge of its
paired attribute. Heisenberg measured position/momentum.

Bohm theorized about electrons and “ordinary objects” and
demonstrated that electrons change their attributes (are they a
wave or a particle?), depending upon what or how they are
measured. The attribute is determined by the observer. Quantum
logicians view incompatible attributes (think of the saintly
alter vs the prostitues), as a quantum fact: a new form of
reasoning is needed so that the conflicting attributes appear
perfectly natural. The question I have asked in this
dissertation: Is the coconscious self an Angel and transpersonal
or only an dissociated ego state with a need to be special. For
some therapists it appears in many of their patients. Other
equally proficient therapists have never encountered this
radically different self. Is it indeed a product, an iatrogenic
artifact of the observer-therapist? Like quantumstuff, does
observing it create it or bring it into being?

According to quantum physics, there is no deep reality in the
same sense as phenomenal facts are real. The unmeasured quantum
world is a world of potentialities or possibilities that achieves
full reality status during the act of observation. In quantum
world psychology, the multitude of possibilities inherent to
psyche achieve reality status in enactment. When one quantum
possibility is singled out by intention and behavior the event of
measuring collapses the wave function and quantum potentia
(anything can happen) is transformed into ordinary experience
(one thing happens) by the observation. Awareness, as
measurement, collapses the wave function of infinite
possibilities and the phenomenal world is changed. Conscious
enactment creates reality. In this case, does the subliminal
observer come into being because the therapist knows potential
for it to exist? Does the individual observer/ISH become what it
is out of infinite quantumstuff possibilities, directed by the
interpretation of events, the personal psychology, the abilities
and fantasies of the patient, and the personality of the
therapist?

Another correspondence of quantum psychology to quantum physics
may be the observer's great capacity to know and general
inability to act. Quantum attributes always come in pairs.
Knowing and being/acting may be a quantum pairing. Bohm's theory
of quantum reality states that awareness of one paired attribute
necessarily changes or obscures the other attribute. If knowing
and being are paired attributes, Bohm's theory of quantum reality
applied to observer/ISH potentia means that accurate, absolutely
objective observation obscures, reduces, or denies the ability to
be and to act. Beahrs, John Watkins and Jung noted that the
coconscious subliminal awareness was usually dissociated from an
ability to act. There is one exception to the quantum either-or
choice of observing or knowing, acting or being, that is .
Creative awareness, joining personality/being with
transpersonal/knowing, may not only select events but also
prescribe events, and join objective observation with being.
Creative awareness may unite consciousness with the unconscious.
It does draw the observer/ISH into dialogue with ego-personality.
The quantum physicist, Von Neumann, argued that human
consciousness creates reality. Jung said that the psyche created
reality every day. Pairing ego-consciousness with transpersonal,
objective knowing, may direct nature and unite polarized aspects
(being/knowing, saint/sinner, an alter with its shadow opposite)
with subtlety, sophistication and purpose -- initiating a quantum
jump (as postulated by Von Neumann), previously unimagined.
Unimagined but perhaps present as the numinous, purposeful factor
anticipating the future and infusing events with meaning and
coherence. Observation of a quantum pair defines one attribute
while obscuring the other, and it is also a link between them. A
higher order of observation, creative consciousness/imaginal
consciousness such as occurs in transitional space, may change
the rules and may unite the pair in consciousness, thereby
creating a quantum jump, (a sudden change in the rules that
influence single events), and a new objectivity. Creative
consciousness may be conscious participation of creative ego-
consciousness with the objective observer/ISH, and embodying that
knowing as a tangible experience, an irreversible event.
Therapeutic dialogue with the observer may be a creative/imaginal
event of consciousness, allowing the pure and unformed potentia
of the observer to embody some aspects of its knowing as the
cognitive glue that bridges the opposition of alters and links
the seeming incompatibility of the quality of consciousness with
the quality of subliminal mentation.

Further, Bell's theorem of interconnectedness, that all systems
that have once interacted are joined in a manner that is
unmediated, unmitigated, and immediate, gives Becky’s statement
some credibility. Becky (appendix B) stated that when Allison
came up with the acronym ISH it went around her society like
wildfire. Quantum world psychology indicates that each situation
is a personal realization but influenced by other interpretations
elsewhere. The influences are immediate and also go backward in
time. Some therapists have observed that when the patient was
asked early in therapy if they had a part like the ISH the
patient said no. However, after identifying an ISH, the patient
says that the ISH had been part of them forever.

This restructuring of the past is completely in keeping with
quantum reality. It is also explained by dissociative dynamics
and memory theories. This curiosity resembling behavior predicted
by quantum theory is included here because it whets my
imagination and possibly it will be a point of departure for
someone else.

Could the ISH represent itself as an animal? If the ISH is a
process and can be imagined as a place or a feeling, (Comstock,
appendix E; Torem, appendix K) its manifestation as an animal is
not unreasonable. Some research supports this possibility (Hizar-
Jorgensen & Jorgensen, 1994). I have treated one case of MPD
where a naturalistic ISH-like helping force appeared to the other
personalities as a panther. There was no reflection or
deliberation about its intervention. Things just happened. If the
ISH is a representation of the Jungian Self (Groesbeck, appendix
I), Jung's (1956/1970b) comment that "the animal is the symbolic
carrier of the Self" (p. 214) is worth noting. The animal
symbolizes wholeness buried in profound unconsciousness.

Is the ISH the first split? Its world view appears to be more
objective and reality oriented than most, if not all of the
alter-personalities. Does it represent the reality principle? The
reality principle may not be the best description of this
function. Perhaps insight or subliminal-sight would better
describe the relationship between the two states of consciousness
where the subliminal can see and remember more and calculate with
more precision than the more focused and restricted quotidian
consciousness of the alter-personalities. In either case,
Winnicott (1971) observed that the child's development of reality
testing, the basis for the reality principle, depended on a
capacity to use objects which cannot be developed without an
ability to create transitional objects. In chapter 4, I suggested
that the multiple had difficulty creating transitional space and
transitional objects, which would extrapolate to considerable
difficulty testing reality. Fraser (appendix G) and Allison
(appendix B) both thought that the Center Ego State or ISH was
the first split of MPD. Becky (appendix B) said that the ISH
created all of the other alter-personalities. Fraser thought the
split separated the intellectual reality principle from the rest
of the personality system. If the observer/ISH is dissociated
from the development of the alter-personalities, this would
account for the observation that a multiple often does not seem
to learn from experience (Putnam, 1989, p. 85). If much of the
analytical ability is out of awareness, the personality system's
ability to assess and learn is lost.

Another indication that the ISH may be the first split is that
the doubled consciousness of the magnetizers and the early cases
of MPD probably represented a division between the quotidian
consciousness and either an ISH or a delegate of the ISH. Further
research may clarify what processes are represented by the ISH
and whether the ISH may indeed be the original split.

Is the ISH/observer state potentially telepathic, clairvoyant,
and able to move objects at a distance? Many psychological
investigators have thought this was possible. Myers (1961)
thought that the subliminal secondary self was telepathic and
able to communicate with transpersonal entities. Dessoir thought
that the underconsciousness presided over the powers of telepathy
and clairvoyance. Even earlier, the magnetizers frequently
reported that in the somnambulant state, the patient was in
telepathic and kinesthetic rapport with the physician. In the
somnambulant state, patients could often diagnose their own
illnesses, diagnose the illnesses of others with whom they were
put in rapport, prescribe treatment, and predict the course of
the illness and time of cure. To note just a few of the better
documented cases, Puysegur (Crabtree, 1993) discovered that both
Victor Race and Alexandre Hebert were telepathic and clairvoyant
when in the second state. Flournoy (1900) described Helene
Smith/Leopold's ability to diagnose her own illness and predict
the time of cure. She was also able to find lost objects and
reputable people said she produced apports. W.F. Prince was
convinced that Doris Fisher/Sleeping Margaret was psychic, and he
concluded this 11 years after her integration. Alma Z. and Rev.
Hanna demonstrated clairvoyance. More recently, Truddi Chase and
Kit Castle wrote about the paranormal manifestations associated
with their MPD and Van de Castle wrote about the ISH Katherine's
many paranormal abilities, including a prescient awareness of all
manner of personal things about him. Ross (1994) has noted that
"the ability to dissociate and the ability to have extrasensory
experiences are closely linked" (p. 134). Calof, Fraser,
Groesbeck, and Kluft (appendices D, G, I and J) described or
alluded to unusual psychic experiences with their MPD patients.
Except for Calof, these experiences do not directly suggest that
the ISH/observer is the conduit for extrasensory and paranormal
phenomena, but the ISH/observer is the state that, when pressed,
often acknowledges paranormal ability.

This paper clearly establishes that there is a singular
phenomenon or entity quite different from the other ego states
and that, except for imitations, impostors or delegated
ambassadors of the thing itself, this phenomenon does exist. It
is not clear, however, whether there is both an ISH and an
observer or whether the ISH and observer are on a continuum. Is
the ISH from its inception a conscious helping state and the
subliminal observer, who is often not aware of itself, some
aspect of subliminal organization never intended to function in
executive consciousness? Is there just one entity, the difference
being its awareness of itself and its participation in the world?
Torem (appendix K) noted that the therapeutic relationship was
the Center-Core's first relationship. Is the subliminal observer
state a potential ISH that has not been awakened by a collegial
relationship?

Finally, what is the observer/ISH? Is it simply an ego state, the
essence of which is the logical part of the person? (Fraser,
appendix G; Goodwin, appendix H). Is it that part of the
personality system that turned away from the trauma, that is
serene and rational and simply the most stoic of the alters? Is
it an artifactual reflection of the therapist or a jointly
created phenomenon of the therapeutic alliance? Is it the essence
of the personality, a prototype of what the person may become as
described in Allison and Becky's statement about the Essence/ISH
(appendix B)? Could it be a manifestation of core of the person,
beyond personality, like the archetypal Self (Groesbeck, appendix
I)? Could some inner helpers be transpersonal, angels perhaps?
Could the observer/ISH be a prefiguration of soul, waiting, in
some instances, with as little consciousness about itself as the
quotidian consciousness has few experiences of soul? And if the
essence of the inner helper is soul, is it constellated in the
rapport between therapist and patient? If so, is this an
indication that some psychotherapy with multiples is indeed what
the name implies, therapy of psyche/soul and soul-tending?

My examination of these issues leads me to believe that the ISH
phenomenon is subliminal awareness that appears as an organizing
and unifying entity when a person is splintered by emotional
trauma. The ISH appears to be a more active and self-aware
development of the coconscious observer state. The individual
characteristics of this phenomenon and whether it presents as ISH
or coconscious observer seems to be dependent on (a) the
unconscious material needing to be organized by the observer/ISH,
(b) the rational and imaginative capacity of the person, and (c)
the environmental milieu, including both its psycho-social
traditions and its representative, the therapist.

The ISH appears to be a subliminal consciousness reflecting
wholeness in potentia and made personality by either a
relationship or rare interpersonal insight and personification.
It is certainly transpersonal in the sense that it transcends the
quotidian personality and in the sense that its deepest roots are
in psyche beyond anything ego-consciousness can be aware of. With
its center in a supraordinate layer of the self, the ISH is an
anticipation of wholeness and an experience of meaning and order.
The ISH (or ISHs) is not a monadic entity or a center of the
psyche; rather, it reflects to the multiply-fragmented patient
the assurance that all "personalities" in one body are many
perspectives of one mind. The sense of unity is inferred by the
ISH and the therapist's vision and work towards integration and
the rapport's singularity and depth of experience. The rapport
and ISH-therapist work give reality and substance to the vision
of the unifying, creative spirit of the self. The vision and
reasoning of the observer/ISH bring mastery, meaning, and the
possibility of a wider and more fully realized consciousness to a
personality divided against itself.