ABSTRACT
In Greek mythology there is a famous tale about a woman, Panclora, who was entrusted with a special box and the safe keeping of its contents by the god Zeus. For adults living with dissociative identity disorder, lifting the lid of their box and uncovering and releasing a host of horrors can be equally devastating. The world remained an extremely bleak place until one day Pandora chanced to revisit the box again, and, lifting the lid a second time, the box's remaining occupant—hope—flew out in the form of a dove, thus making life in the world worthwhile and bearable even in the face of horror and tragedy. The level of suffering and pain continues to be so great, as Laura and other dissociative identity disorder clients recover co-consciousness and are no longer largely protected from their history but are having to face it and own it as theirs and integrate it.
