Somewhere in the Mist Painting

Patricia is a 44 year old women who from the age of 14 years old has spent 20 years in and out of hospital until she made contact with Dr Valerie Sinason and Dr Rob Hale at the Tavistock and Portman Clinics. 10 years ago she began therapy and was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (originally named multiple personality disorder). D.I.D is a creative way to cope with unbearable pain. The main personality splits into several parts each having an amnesic barrier between them. It is a conventional disorder but Patricia has had extensive tests over 2 years by leading psychology professor at UCL, John Morton , who has established there is no memory between the personalities and that she has the misfortune of representing the British gold standard over genuine Dissociation.

Having no formal art training, Patricia and 12 of her personalities (alters) became interested in painting in 2004 after spending a short time with an art therapist. These 12 artists each have their own distinctive style, colour and themes, ranging from solitary desert scenes, to sea scenes to abstracts, collages and paintings with traumatic content. Many are unaware that they share a body with other artists.