When the Devil Knocks

Update 2026: full length documentary now included here: When the Devil Knocks

When the Devil Knocks is the intimate story of a woman suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality.

The film premiered at the 2010 Vancouver International Film Festival and will have its World Broadcast Premiere on CBC News Network’s The Passionate Eye on Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 10 pm ET/PT.

Hilary Stanton gave the filmmakers unlimited access to more than 40 hours of videotapes of her psychotherapy, filmed over 10 years. The therapy tapes reveal a cast of supporting characters, “alters”, who kept Hilary alive by taking over from her during times of crisis. As Hilary says, “For years, my alters went to therapy and I wasn’t there for more than five minutes.”

Until her mid-40s, Hilary Stanton lived with big gaps in her memory that she thought were normal. Then Hilary had a breakdown, started therapy, and gradually discovered that – during those gaps in memory that she thought were so normal – other personalities (“alters”) were taking over from her.

The documentary When the Devil Knocks opens as Hilary barrels down the highway towards a family reunion. Alter Tim takes over the wheel and makes a U-turn at high speed. Hilary ‘comes to’ as she’s losing control of the car.

More to read on Beyond Meds:

• Dissociation and psych drugs
• Dissociation, psych drugs and chronic illness
• Dissociation- On finding the way home
• Forms of dissociation are common to all human beings
• Meditation and Trauma: Untangling the Tangle of Contemplative Dissociation
• Healing brain injury. Delusion and dissociation. Herbs, herbs, herbs.
• Working with “parts” and “subpersonalities”

***

Support Everything Matters: Beyond Meds. Make a donation with PayPal or if you’d like to contribute to food as medicine, a Kroger eGift card works too!