Rikki looked over at me.“Why now?” she asked, looking back at Early. “Why is this happening now?"" Hard to say." Early [therapist] replied. "DID usually get diagnosed in adulthood. Something happens that triggers the alters to come out. When Cam's father died, and he came in to help his brother run the family business he was in close contact with his mother again. Maybe it was seeing Kyle around the same age when some of the abuse happened. Cam was sick for a long time and finally got better. Maybe he wasn't strong enough until now to handle this. It's probably a combination of things. But it sure looks like some of the abuse Cam experienced involved his mother. And sexual abuse by the mother is considered to the one of the most traumatic forms of abuse. In some ways it's the ultimate betrayal.

First Person Plural: My Life as a Multiple