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We discuss the theoretical and clinical issues of the mechanism of dissociation through the case study of a young woman presenting herself as having multiple personalities. According to the psychoanalytic perspective, dissociation has a defensive value and protects the subject against unrepresented parts. Contemporary research conceptualizes other registers of transference than those related to repression. Subjects presenting dissociative experiences have led us to consider a transference that is related to cleavage, revealed through the use of the object rather than producing a relationship to the object. Identifying the modality of transference allows us to approach differently the diagnostic question, and to better understand the psychic processes the patient undergoes.