Creating selves to surviveCreating selves to survive
All In The Mind
Our guest, Rhonda Macken, tells her remarkable story—a testament to the power of human creativity and resilience in the face of unimaginable childhood trauma. Rhonda created a complex jigsaw of multiple personalities as protection against her harsh reality. Now in her 70s, and after years of intense psychotherapy, she's fully integrated and enjoying the love of her family.
29:08•27 Oct 2019
Creating Selves to Survive: Rhonda Macken on Dissociative Identity and Healing
Episode Overview
- Creating multiple personalities allowed Rhonda to store traumatic memories in separate "sealed" parts so her core self did not have to experience them directly.
- A long-term, respectful therapist who believed in multiplicity and let each part tell its own story was central to Rhonda’s gradual integration.
- Writing, drawing and recording sessions before therapy helped her identify what was surfacing and made it easier to process intense material.
- Nature, animals and music provided grounding and comfort, both during trauma and later as ongoing tools to manage anxiety and triggers.
- Rhonda’s strategies and her decision to share specific traumatic events aim to help others understand dissociative identity disorder and see that recovery, though difficult, is possible.
“It's a very long and a very difficult journey but it's worth it and there is light at the end of a tunnel and everybody contains their own shining.”
Experience the emotional and inspiring tales of recovery as All In The Mind shares the story of Rhonda Macken, a woman who created hundreds of personalities to survive extreme childhood abuse. As a child, Rhonda faced relentless violence and sexual assault from her father, while her mother enforced a strict code of silence.
To cope, her mind split into what she calls a "huge jigsaw" of parts, each holding different memories and emotions so that "the person who was born really doesn't experience anything." Host Lynne Malcolm gently guides Rhonda through her memories of these parts: fantasy parents, children, teenagers and striking figures like Wicked Witch, Master Planner, the Jostler and Stones, who "loved the earth" and stayed outside the chaos.
Lucy copied other children so Rhonda could appear normal, while Mary and her "diamond" structure helped endure life‑threatening assaults. The episode focuses strongly on healing through long-term psychotherapy. Rhonda talks about finding a skilled therapist, Libby, who "always said that this is for you. You know what you need. I will be led by you," and who respectfully greeted each alter as a real person.
Over 28 years of therapy, journalling, music and revisiting traumatic memories, Rhonda gradually integrated into one self, while still honouring parts like Stones and Rebecca in her daily life. Now in her 70s, Rhonda describes living a loving life with her husband Bruce, their children and grandchildren, and shares why she wrote her memoir Hope Street and created a table of strategies for working with dissociative identity disorder.
Her message is clear: "It's a very long and a very difficult journey but it's worth it and there is light at the end of a tunnel and everybody contains their own shining." If you're curious about how the mind protects itself under unimaginable pressure, this conversation offers raw honesty, hard-won hope and a deep respect for human creativity.
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