^ Integration - Astraea

Sep 29, 2014 02:12 PM

http://astraeasweb.net/plural/glossary.html#median<--- Links within this note section found by clicking link to Astraea's original source)

Integration - A controversial act where all the people in a multiple system merge into one. As part of the psychiatric model, integration was thought to be necessary -- a part of the ultimate 'cure' for what was thought to be a disabling mental disease. At one point virtually every multiple system in therapy was guided toward integration. But it has since been revealed that many 'successful' integrations were not permanent, including those of Shirley Mason ("Sybil"), Chris Costner-Sizemore ("Eve") and Billy Milligan. A heated issue in the community, but most seem to feel integration is a matter of personal choice and should be a unanimous decision by the system in question. (Psychiatric)

Some people in multiple systems can integrate at will, forming a third or "compound" individual. Billy Milligan was described as being able to do this. All the groups we've talked to who can do this say it is a useful skill but not something they would recommend doing unless absolutely necessary. Like Milligan, they experience the whole as being less than the sum of the parts.