12 Roads to Happiness

Most of us never access our inner artist — let alone 12 of them. But that is precisely how Kim Noble helps manage living in the day-to-day with dissociative identity disorder. She paints in 12 different styles, each so distinct its hard to imagine they are produced by the same body.

After years of misdiagnosis ranging from schizophrenia to anorexia to depression, Noble's mental health was finally properly assessed in 1995, when a psychotherapist recognized she was in fact suffering from DID. The Daily Mail reports that during later treatment, at University College London with memory expert Professor John Morton, Kim learned her condition was unusually severe. She said: "He did a lot of memory tests and told me he had never met a DID sufferer with so such strong divisions between the personalities. He found no memories existed between some of them."

Look at Nobles' paintings and you will need no further evidence to support the doctor's findings. The styles are remarkably varied and reflect each of her personalities. Bonny, the maternal personality, paints happy and colorful works, and Judy, an emaciated teenager with an eating disorder stares at her reflection of a chubby girl. Her range is truly remarkable.

In 2005, her caretaker Debbie McCoy suggested to Noble that painting might help her relax. In just a short time, the 47-year-old and mother of one has produced over 200 pieces and has shown her work in exhibits all over the world.

While living with DID is often painful and challenging, Kim is able to find some gratitude in that it has opened the door to her evident talent. "Painting is a way that some of the personalities can come together so it has really helped me. It is something many of them have in common and a way for them to bond," she told the Mail.