Actually to meet the alter personalities of a multiple for the first time is both fascinating and disturbing. If the disparity between one personality and the next is great - as when an adult is replaced by a child, or a female by a male personality - one's first question may well be, "Is this real?" or "Is she (he) acting?"

This question has been posed throughout the history of psychiatry, and in specific cases one cannot definitively answer "Yes" or "No" immediately. Diagnostic issues aside, however (they are discussed elsewhere in this bulletin), it is interesting to note that what gradually impresses one meeting a true multiple is less the obvious differences between personalities and more the nonverbal, intangible dimensions of personality that are rich, subtle and difficult to fake. These qualities of being tend to be subconscious and are usually perceived subconsciously; it is the discrepancy between them from one personality to another in a multiple that eventually shakes one's sense of what is real and what is not.

Still, the differences among alters can be impressive. In the notorious case of Billy Milligan - described by Daniel Keyes in The Minds of Billy Milligan - Milligan's 24 alter personalities included:

• Arthur, a 22-year old Englishman who is rational, emotionless and staunchly conservative. Arthur is expert in physics, chemistry, and medicine, and speaks with a British accent. He also reads and writes fluent Arabic. The first to discover the existence of all the others, he dominates in safe places and decides who will come out and hold the consciousness. Wears glasses.
• Ragen Vadascovinich, 23, the "keeper of hate." His name is derived from "rage-again." Yugoslavian, he speaks English with a noticeable Slavic accent, and reads, writes and speaks Serbo-Croatian. A weapons and munitions authority as well as a karate expert, he displays extraordinary strength, stemming from his ability to control his adrenaline flow. His charge is to be protector of the family, and of women and children in general. he dominates the consciousness in dangerous places. Ragen weighs 210 pounds, has enormous arms, black hair, and a long, drooping mustache. He sketches in black and white because he is color-blind.
• Adalana, 19, the lesbian. Shy, lonely and introverted, she writes poetry, cooks and keeps house for the others. Adalana has long, stringy black hair, and since her brown eyes occasionally drift from side to side with nystagmus, she is said to have "dancing eyes."
• Christene, 3, the corner child, so called because she was the one to stand in corner in school. A bright little English girls, she can read and print, but has dyslexia. Likes to draw and color pictures of flowers and butterflies. Blond shoulder-length hair, blue eyes.
• The Teacher, 26. The sum of all twenty-three alter egos fused into one. Taught the others everything they've learned. Brilliant, sensitive, with a fine sense of humor. He says, "I am Billy all in one piece," and refers to the others as "the androids I made." The teacher has almost total recall.

Milligan's alter personalities referred to being in control of the body as being "on the spot." One explained:

"It's a big white spotlight. Everybody stands around it, watching or sleeping in their beds. And whoever steps on the spot is out in the world... 'Whoever is on the spot holds the consciousness.'"

A multiple named Cassandra who was interviewed at the First International Conference on Multiple Personality/Dissociative States revealed a similar range of personalities. Several of her alters (she claims to have more the 180 personalities or fragments in all) spoke openly about their experiences and abilities.

• Larry is an adult male who sits on what Cassandra calls her Inner Council, whose purpose is to provide guidance and moral direction for the "family." As are several other members of the Council, Larry is an American Indian. Thoughtful and direct, he has a strong masculine face and manner and will not enter the body if Cassandra is wearing characteristic feminine attire. Larry is responsible for protecting the body from physical harm, a function he fulfills even when he is not in control of the body by virtue of being co-conscious.
• Celese is a 14-year old member of Cassandra's family who has detailed knowledge of human anatomy and physiology, obtained through her study of medical textbooks. Formerly a selfmutilating personality, Celese now serves as the body's healer. She claims to have healed third-degree burns, internal organ damage, and even brain damage using visualization, which she practices with exceptional refinement personality, which means that she does not experience pain, and with men she is a delightful adolescent flirt.

• Chris is a 10-year old boy with all the normal interests and ambitions of boys that age. he enthusiastically tells stories of playing ball and of going fishing, and looks forward to being able to drive when he grows up. Presently forbidden to do that, since he cannot see over the dashboard when sitting in the driver's seat, he nonetheless admits to once taking the car anyway. Purportedly he drove it by stationing four other alter personalities on its two front and two rear corners to direct him!
• Stacy is a shy little girl who plays incessantly with her hair, often hiding her face beneath it. She speaks in a high-pitched voice with a strangely archaic syntax and vocabulary, and controls the body only briefly. Stacy's name is derived from her function, which was to "stay" and "see" what happened when Cassandra was abused.