Transforming Trauma: Episode 043

In this episode of Transforming Trauma, our host Sarah is joined by Clinical Mental Health Counselor Erin Lewis, a trauma therapist from North Carolina who specializes in Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Erin herself has been treated for DID and is committed to promoting education and supporting the needs for traumatized individuals, including those with DID. Her mission is to further treatment across the US in terms of how we view and treat DID.  She is a strong proponent for using NARM in her efforts. Erin recently opened NC Cutting Edge Counseling, a clinical practice that specializes in the interplay of Complex Trauma and Dissociative Identity Disorder, as well as other associated disorders. NC Cutting Edge Counseling is also the first group of clinicians in their state to offer DID clinical groups.

Erin aims to educate professionals in the mental health community about DID and how it relates to early pervasive trauma. Her personal history with DID has been a motivating factor in her professional work. Erin first noticed her symptoms of DID when she was in her early teenage years, although she was not properly diagnosed with DID until much later in life. She shares that she first noticed her symptoms and the severity of them when she began comparing herself to her peers in middle school. She also noticed that time would go by without memory, what some refer to as losing time. “On the inside it’s like time is going too fast,” Erin says.  

Sarah and Erin explore the history of DID and how, at one time, it was known as Multiple Personality Disorder. The disorder is defined as having at least two distinct personality states. Erin talks openly about two of her distinct personalities, one of which is “all about finance.” Erin explains, “When she comes on, I know it, because all of my thoughts are all of a sudden about the stock market.” Through a NARM-informed lens, she relates one of her personalities to the “Connection Survival Style”. In NARM, “Connection Survival Style” is a term used to understand how a person may have had to adapt in their early environment if they did not have their early connection needs met. Erin helps Sarah understand the difference between having these different personalities versus schizophrenia. 

Erin not only wants to help others who are impacted by Dissociative Identity Disorder, she wants to change the stigma and educate those who might not otherwise know about it, including medical and mental health professionals. Erin shares, “I cannot tell you the amount of times I have received the comment, ‘DID doesn’t exist.’ and ‘People with DID are disabled and will never be able to live normal lives.’ or the most common, ‘Ohh, ya, people with DID are crazy.’ I’ve heard that from a clinical supervisor, doctors in the community, colleagues, clients, society, the APA, etc. This is why I am fighting the stigma with my own story.” 

Erin shares her perspective that DID is feared among clinicians due to their lack of education and awareness. “So I kind of started this vendetta of squashing the stigma,” she says. Sarah and Erin explore the reasons behind why DID has been stigmatized by professionals, in similar ways that professionals used to relate to trauma, by denying that it exists.  She postulates that if people deny its existence, then they are protected from the reality of the horrible things people do to other people, often those in close relationship, including parents. The two both agree that the lack of education around complex trauma plays a large role in why someone may not get a proper DID diagnosis. Erin explains that getting the actual diagnosis can take a significant amount of time, anywhere from five to fourteen years. 

Erin, who recently completed the Level 2 NARM Therapist Training, describes how the NARM framework for understanding complex trauma is so helpful in working with individuals with DID. She has been integrating NARM with Internal Family Systems (IFS) in her practice. Erin has studied other clinical theories and approaches and feels strongly that many miss the mark. She shares that she really appreciates how NARM addresses consent, specifically how NARM starts sessions with inquiring about what the client wants for themselves. “I wonder how many times they got consent from their parents? Probably very little, or from other therapists? Now we’re just going around in a circle of trauma.”  Erin reflects on how much this has helped her in her work with clients. The gentle, yet direct relational approach that NARM provides helps to create structure for the fragmented self. 

As the interview concludes Sarah shares with Erin that she’s really been impacted by their time together. Sarah says, “I feel an expansion happening right now, you’ve really educated me and I can’t wait to follow your career and see what you do.”

At the NARM Training Institute, we’re excited to unveil a new video series we’re launching this month in the NARM Inner Circle online program.  Over the course of the next year, the focus of Senior Faculty Brad Kammer’s demonstration sessions will be on NARM and DID.  Erin has made herself available to demonstrate how NARM can be applied in working over multiple sessions with a client with DID.  The June 2021 NARM Demo is the first in a series of these NARM demos with Erin and Brad that will continue in the Inner Circle every other month this year. 

To celebrate our growing NARM international community, we’re offering a special 50% discount for new annual members of the Inner Circle online program. For those interested, go to www.narmtraining.com/innercircle to sign up and use the checkout code: JUNE2021 — offer available until June 30th, 2021.