Yes.
Neglect is inherently traumatizing to children. Being forced to act as a parent to oneโs self, having your needs left unmet by the caregivers, who you are forced to depend on because you are a childโฆ these things are traumatic.
Aย big component in developing DID is โdisorganized attachmentโ. This happens when the caregiver of a child fails to create a stable, safe environment where their needs are met. Children instinctively know to seek help from/rely on the adults around them, however, so they will still seek care from their distant caregiver.
To put the connection with DID into the simplest terms, when a child is neglected by their caregiver, they cannot form a stable attachment. The urge to bond with the caregiver and be close is still there, but the caregiverโs responses are atypical and/or erratic. So a child may act in many different ways in order to get the attention/care thatโs so necessary or to avoid the hurt of not receiving care as it should be given.
A child may be overtly 'needyโ and whinyโ, angry and explosive, sullen and withdrawn, or express any other number of personality traits/strategies for receiving the care they need. The child cannot incorporate the various disorganized strategies and feelings they need to cope with a distant, neglectful caregiver into a single coherent personality. So DID forms.
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