Biological Causes Of Gender Identity

Diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID) accounts for an estimated 1% of the general population and up to 20% of inpatient and outpatient psychiatric populations (Brand & Loewenstein, 2010). DID can also be triggered and manifested in individuals which is why trauma is especially prevalent in individuals diagnosed with DID; about 71% have experienced childhood physical abuse and 74% sexual abuse (Foote, Smolin, Kaplan, Legatt, & Lipschitz, 2006). Due to trauma being so prevalent in DID many individuals with dissociative disorders suffer from a multitude of psychiatric issues that may include

Introduction:The act of disassociating is undoubtedly common in our society today; especially in people who have endured a strikingly traumatic experience. Dissociation can most definitely change a person's outlook on life,sometimes leading to Dissociative Identity Disorder. Even though Dissociative Identity Disorder has a place in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the legitimacy of the psychiatric disorder is still very much a controversial issue . In these two articles, “Multiple Personality -- Is It Mental Disorder, Myth, or Metaphor?” published in the Huffington Post website by Frances(2014) and Dimensions of “Multiple Personality Disorder” by Murray(1994) published by the Proquest Central, they show two different

Dissociation is a major psychophysiological reaction to traumatization as it can happen at any moment (Levin, 2016). Dissociation is a safety-oriented cognitive mechanism process of distancing and detachment in which the individual attempts to avoid memories. What occurs is that men and women engaged in intimate and/or sexual intercourse without affection or even liking the partner they are with. Instead they are focused on certain body parts rather than the person as a whole.

We’ve all experienced the feeling that we’ve moved into a different life, dissociation from reality, just mild like when we daydream, delve into a good book or become engrossed with a project. But then after that, we do still come back to reality. However, some people are diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder or the popular multiple personality disorder (MPD). This differ from mild dissociation that all of us commonly experience. People who have this live a fairly complicated life. Sadly, people who have this experience traumatic physical, sexual or emotional abuse during their childhood.

In chapter 15 of Exploring Psychology, the author discuss the basics of psychological disorders. Within this assignment, the psychological disorder of my choosing is Dissociative Identity Disorder. The commonality of the disorder is rare. Although we’ve disassociated ourselves in some form or the other with our ability to daydream, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is more severe and is usually linked to trauma. Formerly the disorder was known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). Individuals who suffer from this disorder usually have more than one aspect of themselves or personalities, whom he or she is completely unaware of. Sufferers of the disorder have to deal with a variety of symptoms such as memory loss, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, black-outs, impulsiveness, and perception of being detached from the self. The severity of the trauma is usually extreme, repetitive, and long-term. The individual may have an extensive history of physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse.

Gender transition: The process in which individuals begin to live and identify with the sex

In class, we have learned and discussed how during the period of adolescence, it is known that this is the period of time where individuals are finding themselves and figuring out where they belong. It is during this time where individuals are the most sensitive and personal problems tend to arise more commonly during this stage. A major issue adolescents struggle during this stage is gender identity and sexuality. Adolescents are trying to figure out who they are attracted to and how they perceive themselves to be. While the norm is to identify oneself as their biological gender, there are those who develop gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is a reoccurring feeling that one’s biological gender is the opposite of one’s sexual identity (Cole,

Dissociative disorder is a disorder in which individuals feel detached from themselves or their surroundings and reality, experience and identity may disintegrate. Dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is characterized as a disorder in which up to 100 personalities or fragments of personalities coexist within one body and mind (Barlow). The client was diagnosed and given an assessment with the goal of determining the factors. In many cases, only a few characteristics are distinct, because the identities are only partially independent. DSM-5 criteria for DID include amnesia, as in dissociative amnesia. Dissociative amnesia occurs when a person blocks out certain information, usually associated with a stressful or traumatic event, leaving him or her unable to remember important personal information. With this disorder, the degree of memory loss goes beyond normal forgetfulness and includes gaps in memory for long periods of time or of memories involving the traumatic event. In DID, however, identity has also fragmented. How many personalities live inside one body is relatively unimportant, whether there are 3, 4, or even 100 of them. Through a process of discovery, the client's history finally revealed that the impotence was actually a result of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) caused by a past experience. People with PTSD fear re-experiencing a traumatic event and sometimes are unable to remember certain aspects (Barlow 138). However, through psychoanalytic therapy, this client illustrates a successful

With the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), participants answered a 28-item survey with a likert scale from 0 = none of the time to 4= all of the time. This scale was used to measure different dissociative experiences during the abuse itself, including the characteristic of absorption, dissociation, derealization, amnesia, and depersonalization. This section of the survey got participants to answer questions in the following categories, dissociative severity and what abuse characteristics influence the severity of dissociation during childhood sexual abuse. This survey demonstrated a sound internal consistency (ﰇα = 85). (Chard, Pike & Johnston,

Abdulraouf Abdulraouf Professor Matthew Mangold Expository Writing 1 October, 2014 Inducing Depression People often attempt to escape past trauma using two different, yet somehow similar means of escape: dissociation and splitting. Troubled people dissociate to forget their dark past or dull present, and live inside their souls in isolation according to psychologist Martha Stout, in her essay, “When I woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday”.

Dissociation can be incredibly damaging when it occurs due to non- traumatic events. Most people have experienced dissociation to a certain extent,

D.B Terhune and E. Cardeña's 2015 Dissociative Subtypes in Posttraumatic Stress Disorders and Hypnosis Neurocognitive Parallels and Clinical Implications outlines the current state of research regarding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the need for further research into a potential subtype with increased dissociative symptoms and how further research might facilitate developing novel, individualized strategies to treat PTSD instead of a "one-size-fits-all" approach. The authors compare the proposed PTSD subtype with increased incidence of dissociative symptoms with people who are more susceptible than normal to being hypnotized and the correlated trait of increased disassociation and hypothesize that there might be a common neurological

In order to evaluate the onset of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) it is important to define such a disorder. American Psychiatric Association, 1994 states that “dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the existence within the person of two or more distinctly different identities or personality states that from time to time take executive control of the person's body and behaviour, with accompanying amnesia”. The two overriding models that will be analysed and which have been the driving force as pre-cursors for DID is the posttraumatic model (PTM), that is, the idea individuals dissociate their personalities as a result of childhood trauma and the socio cognitive model (SCM) (Boysen and VanBergen, 2013). SCM is the notion that an individual consciously and unconsciously portray themselves as having multiple personalities as result of cultural influences rather than a product of trauma (Boysen and VanBergen, 2013). Since DID is a topic which has been under much scrutiny surrounding the lack of systematic research (Mersky and Piper, 2004), both approaches to a degree can be concluded as onsets for DID, however PTM is the more widely accepted model having far greater empirical evidence (Boysen, 2011). Therefore, this essay will evaluate both models and critically explain

People all over the world believe the notion that men and women were created to become companions to procreate the earth. In fact, each person is initially the same sex until the reproductive organs begin to externally develop around thirteen weeks of pregnancy. Prior to organ development, sex is determined by the fetus having an X or Y chromosome. Around 38 to 40 weeks of pregnancy, a full-term baby is born with either male or female physical attributes. This all seems to be what most would consider to be normal, but what about those who grow up not feeling as if their bodies represent who they are psychologically? Furthermore, gender dysphoria has become increasingly common and/or more people in the LGBT communities are speaking out about

However, studies have proven that many adolescents with Gender Identity Disorder grew up in families which at least at one time “cross-gender behavior was tolerated or encouraged, often viewed as ‘only a phase.” (Byrd 7)