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Dissociative identity disorder is a diagnosis described as the existence in an individual of two or more distinct identities or personalities, each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment. At least two of these personalities are considered to routinely take control of the individual's behavior, and there is also some associated memory loss,...

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Does our consciousness have a moral guideline?

Wheezie
Wheezie
I will start this off by saying I am agnostic.I have no religious dogma that governs my thought porcesses.I base my conclusions about life and recovery on scientific proof and logical reasoning.Recently I was speaking with a friend and we were talking about splitting and how we split at a very young age.My first full memory of abuse was at 18 months old and I know many people who have recovered memories before that age.This would suggest that our consciousness or soul does have a moral guideline. I know at that time when I was 18 months old I had no clue what was being done to me was wrong.I was too young to understand but my consciousness fragmented anyway.I also know of many survivors that were programmed to believe that their abuse was natural and normal but still their consciousness fragmented as a result as well. This would suggest that we are born with and inherit moral guideline and if those lines are crossed no matter what age we are or what programming an abuser has instilled in use we still fragment.What do you guys think about this?
john12as
john12as
great question!
not sure if we can conclude we have a moral compass at birth. I think instinctually, we are born with safety awareness (or danger more specifically). Pre-programmed over time in the human brain as a survival mechanism.
morality is usually taught, but survival instinct is part of the brain.
So perhaps its merely that an infants brain can dissociate as a coping mechanism because the brain is born with the capacity to interpret trauma (part of the stress hormones and neurotransmitters).

Regarding beliefs: I have yet to find a universal principle that cares what my individual god is or belief system is...humans usually are forced into learning truth the hard way and it's up to us to incorporate what we learn to be true into our current belief system.
tyzz27
tyzz27
After studying 12 weeks of life development as part of my counselling course I have no doubt that infants have a moral development of their own that proceeds what they are taught by their environment. Studying theorists such as Freud and Erickson clearly identify that children who cannot verabalise their experiences can identify what is wrong and what is right. The lives of pre verbal children are based on getting their needs met and they soon learn who will feed them, provide them water, somewhere to sleep and love. It doesnt matter who is meeting these needs as long as the needs are being met. So if a perpetrator is meeting these needs the child will have a disoriented attachment to their perpetrator. In my opinion the infant may likely dissociate when around the perpetrator because they need their needs met even though this perpetrator is bringing great harm to this child, As always a great question wheezie but with all the literature there is out there about child development one could write many books on this very question.
stephanietram
stephanietram
Great discussion. I don't know that I believe fragmenting is caused by an understanding of right/wrong. I think it has more to do with like/dislike, pain/pleasure, trust/mistrust, expectations broken. Yes, I believe even as an infant, a person has expectations of those around them. We learn quickly that grown-ups provide food, warmth, physical comfort. When one of them betrays those expectations and the trust that is built from their fulfillment, we are broken. I (opinion only) believe that is where the fragmenting comes from. I believed fully that what was being done to me was right; that I was wrong for feeling objections to it. I truly believed I was the one who was wrong, but I knew I hated it. It was painful and confusing. I think the confusion caused more of the splitting than the pain even. Just my own thoughts on the matter.