Dissociative Identity Disorder

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.

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

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a mental disorder where an individual experiences two or more distinct personalities. When an individual is diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, one personality has dominant control of an individual. This personality controls how a person may act and how they live everyday life. A person diagnosed with this disease may or may not be aware of their alternate personalities. Each personality is contrasting of each other with distinctive likes and dislikes. They can differ in eyesight, prescriptions, language, and education levels. Many people who suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder have experienced severe childhood trauma. Many Psychologist and others argue

Dissociative Identity Disorder, commonly referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder, has been one of the more controversial diagnoses in psychology and psychiatry. On one side of the debate, many psychologists and psychiatrists believe the disorder to be an actual phenomenon that occurs in individuals that have suffered through some traumatic experience. On the other side of the debate, however, are the many psychologists and psychiatrists that believe the disorder is simply the result of a therapist’s suggestion and guidance. The present paper, therefore, aims to look into this debate. In particular, the paper discusses the criteria in which one is diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, explores the history of the disorder, and presents both sides of the controversy of the disorder.

If a person describes a pathological trance or possession trance of external spirits or entities taking control over his body, then he would get a diagnosis of Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified instead of DID. DID resembles other disorders such as Schizophrenia, other Psychotic Disorders, Bipolar Disorder with Rapid Cycling, Anxiety Disorders, Somatization Disorders and Personality Disorders; however, DID can be distinguished from the aforementioned disorders by the presence of clear-cut dissociative symptomology. Additionally, DID is differentiated from Malingering when a person seeks forensic or financial gain. Lastly, DID is distinguished from Factitious Disorder which is when there may be a pattern of help-seeking behavior.

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

According to “Healthy Place”, 89% of people who suffer from Dissociative identity disorder (or Multiple Personality Disorder) are misdiagnosed (B.J.). Therefore, Dissociative identity disorder is labeled as “The Hidden Epidemic,” because it is never diagnosed as it really is, but hidden by other illnesses (Slack pg. 43). Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is often triggered with traumatic events like experiencing severe abuse. People with Dissociative identity disorder can come to a realization that they are diagnosed if they start having symptoms such as self harm, mood swings etc. Some people think it is some other disorder or disease, but majority do not know what DID is or of they are diagnosed with it. Although DID is incurable, there

To begin to understand what happens within a person with dissociative identity disorder, it is important to first explain what the disorder is exactly. As defined by a forensic psychiatry and forensic psychology book: “Dissociative identity disorder (DID or multiple personality disorder) represents a ‘disruption of identity’ in which ‘two or more distinct personality states’ (also referred to as ‘alters’) occur. Further characteristics include: ‘marked discontinuity in the sense of self and sense of agency, accompanied by related alterations in affect, behavior, consciousness, memory, perception, cognition, and/or sensory-motor functioning.’ There may be gaps in recall of every day events, important personal information, and/or traumatic events inconsistent with ‘normal forgetting’”

Psychotherapy includes forms of cognitive therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and Alderian Therapy. These forms of psychotherapy are a big component of closely monitoring for individuals with the disorder (Haddock 2001). Psychotherapy allows for the patient to comfortably discuss their past, as well as, periods of their life in which they experienced amnesia. It is critical to understand that DID is not a curable disorder, but with therapy the individual can be taught to suppress the personalities that intermittently take over the host’s actions. There are also several medications used for the treatment of DID as well. These include antidepressants and anxiolytics (Fey et al.,

Dissociation is defined as “a mental process, which produces a lack of connection in a person 's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity” (Grohol, 2016). The Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a severe condition in which two or more separate, distinct identities or personality states are present in an individual. In other words, a person has, what seems like, actual distinct and contrasting people in their head and these “alters” are able to take control of an individual’s mind and body at any time and act as a completely different individual. Each alter is capable of having its own set of likes, dislikes, talents, memories, and personal experiences. The alters’ usually have a specific name, age, gender and possibly race. According to Psychology Today (2014), the alters’ characteristics are typically very different from the primary identity, including their history, self-image, vocabulary, knowledge and predominant mood. The primary identity tends to be passive, dependent, guilty and depressed. A person with DID experiences extensive memory loss which is typically more extensive than what would be experienced by ordinary forgetfulness. For instance, if an alter were to take over, once the individual is back in control of his or her own body, they typically report not remembering anything that was done or said. Some individuals report feeling “familiar” with the conversations or experiences that were had by the alter, but as if they had only overheard

Approximately 43 million Americans suffer from some kind of mental illness. Although this statistic suggests it’s a normal and accepted fact, the reality of the situation is that mental health does not get enough awareness as it should. This is because a lot of people believe that these ailments such as depression and bipolar disorder are “all in their heads.” Technically speaking, these people are not wrong since these things do occur in the brain, hence the name “mental” illness. One disorder that has grabbed my inner psychologist’s attention is dissociative identity disorder also known as DID. Dissociative identity disorder is a controversial disorder because psychologists are split on its existence and validity.

Dissociative Identity Disorder formerly known as multiple personality disorder is a disorder that researchers and doctors have shown immense interest in over the past century. Even though DID has evident symptoms and causes, some professionals in the healthcare system doubt that this disorder is real or it even exist. Dissociation is something that happens to every one of us; most of the time this is like day dreaming or being lost in thought while doing something like a project. However, DID is a more complicated form of dissociation. In this state, there is a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity or perception of the environment (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV). When this

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

This research paper aims to explore the mental disease known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder. I explore the meaning, symptoms, and effects of DID. My research describes those diagnosed with DID and the probable reasons of why they have the disorder. This study also explains the many different treatments and the effects those treatments might have on a person that has the disorder. I include a research study done on someone diagnosed with DID, the method used to help treat her, and the results of her treatment. Lastly, I state my opinion on DID and the methods I believe with help people prevent, treat, and cope with