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I immediately perk up. “Who is it?”
“It’s a psychologist. I’m hoping she can shine some light on our situation.”
Jumping off my bed, I don’t care that I’m still in my pajamas at 11 o’clock in the morning or that I’ve been sulking in my room for the past two days. “I’ll get dressed and be right down.”
My dad nods and closes the door behind him before I quickly get dressed to meet him out in the hallway. Together, we walk downstairs to his office, where a tall blonde woman is waiting for us.
She gets up from her chair as we enter.
“Hello, you must be Scarlet,” she greets me, holding out her right hand for me to shake. “I’m Dr. Stone. I’m a licensed psychologist specializing in dissociative identity disorder.”
“Dissociative identity disorder?” I repeat while taking her hand.
“Yes, that’s the clinical term. You might know it as multiple personality or split personality disorder,” she explains with a bright smile on her red painted lips.
“Please sit,” my dad offers as he takes his own seat behind his large wooden desk.
Dr. Stone sits down, and I take the seat next to her.
“Dr. Stone, could you tell us a little more about this disorder?” my father asks.
“Of course. Dissociative identity disorder or DID for short is a very rare mental disorder that affects less than 2% of the entire population. It’s more common in women, but men can definitely suffer from it as well. People who have DID will have at least two very distinct personalities. Some have up to one hundred personalities inside of them.”
“One hundred?” I ask, astounded by the sheer number.
“It’s rare, but yes, there are cases documented with these numbers. Though it’s more common to have two to ten personalities.”
“Ren has two. He calls the other one River,” I explain.
Dr. Stone takes a notebook and pen from her purse and lays them on her lap. She opens the book and scribbles down something on the paper.
“Would the person not know they have DID?” My dad questions.
“Not necessarily. Some patients do, some don’t. The mind is a tricky thing, Mr. Rossi, and DID often comes along with a few other symptoms like memory loss, hallucinations, anddelusions. It is possible that neither of the personalities knows or that only one of them does.”
“Ren doesn’t know; he believes River is real. He even talks to him on the phone. I don’t know if River realizes it or not. I only interacted with him a few times. I think he only called himself River once in front of me.”
Dr. Stone nods while she continues to write stuff down on her paper. “Usually, the separate personalities will be very distinct, with unique character traits and even mannerisms.”
“Yes, I have noticed that. Ren is always kind, easygoing, and fun. River is almost the complete opposite of that. He is angry, distraught, and very hard to reason with.”
Dr. Stone keeps nodding like everything I’m saying makes complete sense to her while my father seems to be unhappy about this new revelation. Or maybe he doesn’t agree with my description of Ren. I’m sure we’ll have a conversation about it later.
“That all sounds pretty textbook DID to me. Often a person creates a new personality or alter ego, if you will, to personify all the feelings they don’t want to feel or maybe they just can’t handle them. Of course, I can’t make an official diagnosis without actually talking to the patient.”
My father clears his throat. “As soon as we find him, you’ll be able to talk to him in person.”
I suck in a deep breath, relieved that my dad seems to want to help Ren and not kill him. I let that breath out slowly, getting ready for the biggest question of all.
“Is it treatable?” I ask hopefully.
“Yes,” Dr. Stone confirms, and I feel like a huge weight is lifted off my chest. My fear was that there’s nothing we can do about this. That Ren will forever be trapped by the demons that haunt him.
“DID can be treated with both medication and therapy,” she explains. “The most successful treatment is always to find the cause. DID is triggered by trauma and resolving that trauma is the best chance of treatment. It’s usually a lifelong process, and it highly depends on how willing the patient is.”
“He’ll be willing to work with you,” I state, not because I know it but because I have to believe it. I have to believe that Ren will try for me… for us.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Dr. Stone gives me a warm smile. “Do you have any other questions for now?”
