Dissociative Disorders

An out-of-body experience is explained by few as a sense of being detached from one’s body, and if associated with other factors like a sense that the world is not real, far away, or even foggy. This with the combination of failure to recall significant personal information, or the content of a meaningful conversation forgotten from one second to the next are signs of a psychological disorder known as Dissociative Disorder. Considered as a rare and mysterious psychiatric curiosity, Dissociative Disorders will be the psychological disorder that will be discussed in this paper.

Along with those symptoms, people with DID may experience depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, sleep disorders, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, alcohol and drug abuse, compulsions and rituals, and auditory or visual hallucinations. Headaches, time loss, trance, and “out of body experiences” are also not unheard of in people with DID.

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a psychological condition in which a person will create one or more alternate identities. DID (formerly known as multiple personality disorder) is just one of three dissociative disorders. This disorder is set apart by the way the identities “switch” from one to another. Patients who suffer from dissociative identity disorder can often lead normal lives when diagnosed properly and treated accordingly; sometimes, they cannot. People suffering from dissociative identity disorder often have similar causes, symptoms, and treatments.

American Psychiatric Association (APA). 1994. Somatoform Dissociative Disorder, Dissociative Amnesia. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth Ed. Retrieved from http://behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/disamnesia.htm

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.

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a condition where there are two or more distinct identities that are and will become present in an individual. These personalities can and will eventually take control of the individual, many people consider having dissociative identity disorder an experience of being possessed. The individual can and most likely will experience memory loss that is more extensive than ordinary everyday forgetfulness (Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder). Around two percent of people will experience dissociative disorder, women are more likely than men are to be diagnosed with DID. "Almost half of adults in the United States experience at least one depersonalization/derealization episode in their lives, with only 2% meeting the full criteria for chronic episodes” (Dissociative Disorders).

The first myth is that Dissociative Identity Disorder isn’t real. This is false because in 1980 it was released into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). The second myth is that Dissociative Identity Disorder is the same as Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a psychotic illness which does not involve alternate personalities or dissociation. The third myth is that people with Dissociative Identity Disorder are violent, but they are no more violent than “normal” people. The last myth says that Dissociative Identity Disorder is a personality disorder. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a dissociative disorder because instead of extreme emotional reactions with the world, Dissociative Identity Disorder people lose contact with themselves (Peisley, 2017, 1). Dissociative Identity Disorder has also been depicted in many movies. For example, Me, Myself, and Irene with Jim Carrey is about a 17-year veteran of the Rhode Island Police and without his medicine his personalities come out. This is false because no medications can “get rid” of the disorder. Another movie about Dissociative Identity Disorder is Frankie and Alice starring Halle Berry who is a black stripper seeking therapy from an imperious white racist. These two movies are other great examples of misconceptions of Dissociative Identity Disorder.As stated above, this disorder has many different misconceptions of the true meaning of Dissociative Identity Disorder that everybody needs to be aware

There are three main types of dissociative disorders along with a fourth type that is less often categorized. The types of dissociative disorders are dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, dissociative identity disorder (DID), and depersonalization or derealization. Dissociative amnesia is characterized by extreme memory loss that is caused by extensive psychological stress. Individuals with dissociative amnesia can easily remember everyday tasks and procedural memories but they are unable to remember their own identity and

Dissociative identity disorder, or DID for short, is a controversial subject in the clinical medical world. It is often ruled out as a diagnosis because most physicians do not believe it exists. Gilig (2009) explained, that 80% of patients were forced to be discharged from a hospital even though the patient show extreme suicidal evidence. Another reason for this

National Alliance on Mental Illness says that there are many dissociative disorders some are dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, depersonalization disorder and dissociative identity disorder that was called multiple personality disorder (NAMI, 2016). This paper will look at dissociative identity disorder and what brain abnormalities occur. According to Mayo Clinic, dissociative identity disorder (DID) is written off as the swapping of alternate identities in one person. The person may feel like there are one or more other people living inside them or talking to them. They may have their own names and different personality accompanied by different voices and even gender. People with DID usually have dissociative fugue and amnesia as

Dissociative amnesia is a dissociative disorder where one’s consciousness has been damaged by a traumatic event. A person with dissociative amnesia tends to block out information from a traumatic event. They’re unable to remember the event, even though the memory is still in the brain. Often times, the traumatic event can be remembered on its own or the memory of the event can be triggered from similar events the person had faced

a.Dissociative disorders are diagnosed based on a review of your personal symptoms and your personal history. Tests are performed to rule out physical conditions such as head and certain brain diseases, sleep deprivation, and intoxication.

Imagine waking up in a new house, town, city, even state and not knowing how you got there. Now add onto that thought of forgetting almost a year of your life because someone else, or something, has taken over your body. That is just a look into dissociative disorders in general. Dissociative Disorders are ‘extreme distortions in perception and memory” (Terwilliger 2013). Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), or previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is often the most misunderstood dissociative disorder of them all. It has always been somewhat of a mystery. Seeing videos of the disorder can really give you an insight on what happens with the person who suffer from it. Almost everyone in the

Dissociative identity disorder is a type of dissociative disorder. A dissociative disorder can be explained as an individual becoming dissociative with his or her sense of self. These disorders disturb both memory and identity and usually have a psychological cause. Dissociative identity disorder is a disorder in which two or more identities or personality states are present in one individual. These identities alternatively take control of the individual. This causes frequent gaps in memory, which are believed to be caused by the other personality. When one personality takes control, the other one does not remember anything that took place. There has been continuing research about what causes the disorder. It is believed that the disorder is caused by intense physical or sexual trauma (Dissociative Disorders). The disorder was once called multiple personality disorder until 1994. This changed to reflect a better understanding of the

When a person has complaints about physical illnesses that cannot be explained medically and these claims lead to interference in their lives it is known as a somatoform disorder. Hypochondriacs fall into this category of disorders. People may also actually experience loss of motor or sensory functions that cannot be explained any damage or problems with their bodies. A dissociative disorder is involved more in the disturbance of identity or memory. People will sometimes forget traumatic events in their lives or forget who they are. Other cases involve the development of multiple personalities where a person assumes the identity of more than one person which are unaware of the other identities. This type of dissociative disorder is often