Dissociative Identity Disorder Among College Counseling Clients

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.

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).

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a severe psychological disorder characterized by at least two or more distinct personalities or different identities. The different personality states are said to occur spontaneously and involuntarily and function more or less independently of each other. The person suffering from the disorder also experiences memory loss that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. Many people who experience this type of behavior are unaware that they have more than one personality because they can not remember anything that is happening while one of the mind alters are

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

The mental illness called dissociative identity disorder or DID brings up many controversies in the world of psychology. Many psychologists have their doubts as to whether it is a "real" diagnosis or not. In the article "Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Controversial Diagnosis" the author goes into detail, providing facts that have been collected from many sources and gives information as to why it is such a controversial topic. The article answers many questions regarding the topic, providing the reader with enough information to understand why there is such a controversy surrounding this topic.

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

Dissociative identity order Dissociative identity disorder is a fairly new diagnosis in the world of psychology, appearing first in the DSM-II as hysterical neurosis. Now, it has grown into a single disorder under an entire dissociative subtype (Spiegel et al., 2011). Of these diagnoses, dissociative identity disorder is one of the more controversial with much evidence supporting that, under the right psychological influence, certain individuals can fall into a state that resembles dissociative identity disorder. Psychologists are not in complete unison on what even causes DID making the diagnosis that much more challenging. Generally, there are three main areas where most psychologists look to diagnose DID: post-traumatic model, socio-cognitive model, and the biological model.

Counselling is thought to be the best way to handle this disorder as well as something called supportive care which is mainly focused on making the patient feel more comfortable (Dissociative Identity Disorder, 2018). Additionally, The condition usually persists without treatment. (And) It is believed to affect about 2% of the general population and 3% of those admitted to hospitals with mental health problems in Europe and North America. DID is diagnosed about six times more often in females than males. The number of cases increased significantly in the latter half of the 20th century, along with the number of identities claimed by those affected ((Dissociative Identity Disorder, 2018). With the small amount of diagnosed DID patients, linkage of this disorder to people already suffering from mental illnesses, and inconsistent symptoms, it is easy to see why this is such a highly disputed disorder in the medical

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

Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously called multiple personality disorder, is a severe form of separation. It is the most dramatic, least common, and most controversial dissociative disorder (King, 2012, p.569). Individuals that suffer from this disorder have more than one distinct personality, or identity. One of the identities is dominant, each identity takes over at different times. One identity may or may not be aware of the other, if someone has more than two, the identities may be aware of only certain others or none at all. If a situation is thought to be too violent, traumatic, or painful to assimilate with their main personality, the person with dissociate themselves and switch to another identity.

The opposing side of Dissociative Identity Disorder claims DID is not a real condition and should be taken out of DSM-V for reasons concerning patients faking their symptoms, patients misdiagnosed and the treatments used on them. The first evidence used to show DID is not a real condition says patients diagnosed are faking their symptoms. David H. Gleaves of Texas University, author of The Sociocognitive Model of Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Reexamination of the Evidence, claims, “Individuals who are diagnosed as having DID are generally attention seeking and it is obvious in the clinical presentation” (43). The opposition believes patients may want to fake their symptoms for a diagnosis to avoid being identified as insane by others around them. It has been said DID symptoms are easily recognized, but patients diagnosed may show symptoms that are difficult to follow. Inexperienced clinicians still diagnose these patients as having Dissociative Identity Disorder. Inexperienced clinicians may also not recognize that some of these symptoms are linked to other disorders that they may be less familiar with. “Dissociative symptoms have been found to discriminate patients with DID from those with a variety of other disorders, including schizophrenia, eating disorders, panic disorder, borderline personality disorder, partial complex seizures, and simple posttraumatic stress disorder” (Gleaves 44). Dissociative Identity Disorder is a disorder that doctors can diagnose patients with if they are unsure what else this could be. This can be unbeneficial to the patients who are misdiagnosed because they are not actually receiving the correct treatment they need for the condition. Gleaves also states the treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder can create or worsen the disorder by clinicians putting thoughts into the patient’s head.

Dissociative Identity Disorder, commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is characterized by an involuntary escape from reality characterized by a disconnection between thoughts, identity, consciousness, and memory (Dissociative). An example of mild everyday dissociation is when you are given a list to accomplish throughout the day, but forget some along the way. The dissociation experienced in MPD is more involved in the long-term memory. Symptoms are the reaction of enduring a traumatic event, commonly expressed in abuse and military combat. DID has a vast variety of symptoms including mood swings, dissociative amnesia, distress, and sleep loss. Dissociative amnesia is also tied to what most patients refer to as “blackouts”. Even

s characterized by the presence of two or more personalities. In most cases, DID can be an effect of severe trauma in their childhood and also ongoing sexual, physical and emotional abuse. DID is a severe form of dissociation, which is a mental process that lacks the connection in a person's memories, thoughts, actions, feelings, or sense of identity.

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