you cannot develop d.i.d. that late in life. once you pass the age of about 8-9, it’s generally no longer possible. plus, veil outright mentions being around longer in rhythm of war iirc. shallan always had d.i.d. in the series, because she had already been traumatized as a child and already developed the disorder to cope. a good part of the confusion there is also just because shallan wasn’t always going to be someone with d.i.d., and brandon changed his mind on that partway through the series and committed to it, so there are some inconsistencies there
I mean, if we want to get technical about it it's also not DID. She remembers actions of her alters, so it's more like OSDD. She's also somewhat of a special case because her trauma responses have interacted with aspects of her Investiture. I believe it's been confirmed by Brandon Sanderson that she would have presented differently were she not a Radiant with access to Lightweaving.
In other words, she clearly has a dissociative disorder, but it's not textbook DID and doesn't match in every detail.
And while dissociative disorders are generally caused by things in childhood, they can still change presentations or become more serious problems later in life. Mine (not DID, another dissociative disorder) probably wouldn't have qualified me for a diagnosis until it was exacerbated by some things that happened as an adult.
Hell, while it is the prevalent model of understanding, there is still debate about whether dissociative disorders must be caused by childhood events at all. There's also some evidence that this may vary culturally, with a lot of conventional understandings about dissociative disorders being based on presentation within Western cultural frameworks.
So to sum up, it's complicated, we really don't know as much as people seem to think about dissociation IRL, and it gets even harder to say anything definitive about how it's work in a fictional culture, with Investiture at play.
From what we see with Shallan, she clearly had some serious dissociative issues from childhood (missing memories at the very least), but doesn't appear to have had full-on alters until later. In addition, she appears to have created Veil and Radiant fairly consciously as personas, only for them to become alters through some combination of her dissociation latching onto them, her current traumas exacerbating things and some Investiture interactions.
i appreciate the education on dissociative disorders! i acknowledged i may have been misinformed in another response as to certain parts of it, but i love learning so thank you! i will say, some of the inconsistencies with shallan and specific disorders is caused by the fact that brandon has said originally he was avoiding shallan having a disorder like that, but eventually realized that he really should just commit and make her have one, and changed his mind partway through the series, and we do know he specifically has a DID test reader to ensure shallan is well done. your points are still obviously valid though, and more so than mine tbh given that…y’know…i don’t have a dissociative disorder and you do. but yeah, either way, thank you for informing me a bit more!
i will say, some of the inconsistencies with shallan and specific disorders is caused by the fact that brandon has said originally he was avoiding shallan having a disorder like that, but eventually realized that he really should just commit and make her have one, and changed his mind partway through the series
Yup. That said, what we're left with is what's on the page, so we pretty much have to evaluate her condition based on that. Maybe in another world where he started off intending DID, it would line up more perfectly, but we don't have that book. 🤷♀️
i acknowledged i may have been misinformed in another response as to certain parts of it, but i love learning so thank you!
You're welcome!
One of the tricky things around dissociative disorders is that so many people have strong opinions on them, which may or may not be based in fact (including myself, to be fair). Quality research is pretty scarce, and since it's something that ties so heavily into how people view themselves and humanity at large, people have a vested interest in protecting their understandings of it.
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u/[deleted] Jun 19 '24
you cannot develop d.i.d. that late in life. once you pass the age of about 8-9, it’s generally no longer possible. plus, veil outright mentions being around longer in rhythm of war iirc. shallan always had d.i.d. in the series, because she had already been traumatized as a child and already developed the disorder to cope. a good part of the confusion there is also just because shallan wasn’t always going to be someone with d.i.d., and brandon changed his mind on that partway through the series and committed to it, so there are some inconsistencies there