Karen Overhill first visits Doctor Richard Baer on January 11, 1989. She has faced a lifetime of sexual, physical, emotional, and mental abuse at the hands of those meant to protect and love her. Though she is initially visits Baer for treatment of severe depression, in the next four years it will become incredibly clear that Karen suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, or, more commonly known, Multiple Personality Disorder. The rest of her treatment becomes dedicated to uncovering the reasons her mind has constructed these personalities and reveal the truth hidden in the periods of time she’s lost. Karen suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, a mental illness characterized by “ a disruption of identity characterized by two or more distinct personalities” “ that alternate control of an individual’s behavior” (Bell, Jacobson, Zeligman, Fox, & Hundley 151). These personalities are often adopted as a sort of coping mechanism to persistent, extreme trauma faced throughout childhood, sexual abuse being the most common. An individual with Dissociative Identity Disorder will often experience several “blackout” episodes where time escapes them and they lack any sort of remembrance of where they are or how they got there. This, as is the case for Karen, creates a cycles of panic where she has no clue as to why she’s in a department store buying a hat for her son when she intended to go grocery shopping (Baer 27), or to extremes such as not remembering having sex with
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
Karen Horney is one of the preeminent figures and founders of modern psychoanalysis. Although her ideas are not widely taught today or accepted as a basis of psychoanalysis in and of themselves, her ideas of social and environmental influences are “integrated into modern psychoanalysis therapies and personality development theory” (Quinn). She was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and was one of his early followers. Yet Horney joined the class of neo-Freudians after her research and writing led her to develop and establish psychoanalytical theories that ran counter to Freud's ideas. She objected to the Freudian psychology of women, which instigated the search for her own theories for the causes of neurosis. This in turn led to her
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.
The psychological trauma experienced by Larry and Karen (n.d.) in the sudden, unexpected death of their one-year-old son is enough to threaten their sense of security, make them feel vulnerable to dangers in life and can cause them to lose all sense of direction in their life. Karen experienced a dissociative disorder known as dissociative amnesia (APA, 1994). The sudden onset of her son’s death was an extremely traumatic event that caused her to experience a temporary amnesia of the events of the previous week including the death of her son. The extent of the emotional trauma results in temporary impairment but it can be
The film Frankie & Alice starring Halle Berry is based on a true story of a woman who is living with a dissociative identity disorder. Set a number of years back (likely the 1970s or 1980s), this film provides the audience with a close up look at what it might be like to live with a mental health disorder. While watching the film, I put a great deal of effort into understanding the symptoms and episodes of the disorder, as the main character experienced them. Through my findings, I have a greater understanding and appreciation not only of dissociative identity disorder but also of mental health in general.
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.
She constantly tried to harm her brother and showed signs of dominance when she would abuse him and hurt his genitals. Since she was so engrossed on her body and discovering herself, she became stuck in this stage and as a result of not being able to move on she became aggressive, abusive, and wanting to harm others. Since she was so fixated on harming others, it led to this sadistic behavior and she had this conflict between the drives of the Id and the drives of the Ego. She had impulses to harm others as a result of her being harmed as a child. Being as though she wasn 't cared for and nurtured, she didn 't have loving relationships. She didn 't have the ability to trust others nor did she have the ability to be caring, towards anybody. Since she dealt with a lot of traumatic experiences, she’s been having the same recurring nightmares. She said she has this nightmare where “a man is falling on her and hurting her with a part of himself.” This was a familiar story that I 've once done but on Hysteria with a girl by the name of Bertha Pappenheim. She suffered from hysteria her symptoms are often the surface manifestations of deeply repressed conflicts. I later wrote about her in Studies in Hysteria” (1895). Bertha’s symptoms of this surface manifestation were due to her being sexually abused.
Growing up in a rural area in Old Monroe, Missouri, Karen Sachs was a very opinionated individual that grew up based upon the morals of her family and church. Not only did she have her family and church background, she also had a father who was a military man. With her dad being involved in the military there was a lot of structured and strict lifestyle that was brought into the household.
Robert Oxnam published an autobiography called A Fractured Mind in order to educate more people about his illness and to introduce a deeper understanding of Dissociative Identity Disorder. In an article written by Bruce Weber of the New York Times, Oxnam explained how writing the book was a timely challenge because each of his alter personalities wrote their chapter of the story in a first-person narrative (Weber, 2005). The reader learns about Dissociative Identity Disorder by being introduced to Oxnam’s alters, watching their interrelationships develop and recognizing the integration of his fragmented mind.
Chapter 7 covers the fundamentals of somatoform disorders and dissociative disorders. After reading this chapter, I became really interested in somatoform disorders. Somatoform disorder is physical pain due to psychosocial reasons and often misdiagnosed. Just like the story in the beginning of the chapter described the man who was paralyzed but did not have any physical wounds. This a strong example of how powerful the mind. This was discussed briefly in previous chapters, but I better understand the concept of this somatoform disorders. People with hysterical somatoform disorder have changes in their physical functioning. Conversion disorder is a psychosocial conflict that affects the voluntary motor and sensory functioning. Somatization disorders have a long lasting physical
The first patient to be discussed will be the main character, Susanna Kaysen, a middle-class woman, who is admitted to a mental hospital after attempting suicide by “taking a whole bottle of aspirin and finishing it with a bottle of vodka.” In the beginning, Susanna refused to admit to the psychiatrist that it was a suicide attempt which holds evidence to her prognosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). According to the text, BPD is a personality disorder characterized by repeated instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and mood by impulsive behavior. This holds evident throughout Susanna’s stay in the hospital as well as in her flashbacks during the movie. During
The author explains the troubles of Lucy Adams who has Dissociative Identity Disorder and the struggles, effects, and how she deals with it. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a disease that changes a personality from one to the another one. The disease is made by the host’s mind to protect itself from the abusive life style they went through. And the only way to get this disorder is by a complex trauma. The only way for her to switch personalities is for an extreme amount of stress. As of now Lucy has 36 personalities from dissociative identity disorder and there not all human or female. For instance, one of her personalities is a cat named Mewsy. A male personality, is the Irish sheep farmer named Paddy and has a dog named Rusty. And sadly
Sexual molestation, beating, neglect, burning, and verbal abuse. All of these horrible happenings are believed to be linked to a condition known as Multiple personality disorder (MPD). Multiple personality disorder, also known as dissociative identity disorder, is a mental illness in which a person has two or more identities or personalities. Single personalities randomly take control of the individual's behavior. Usually, the sufferer gives the personalities their own names. These multiple personalities almost always have characteristics that greatly differ from the person's primary identity. A person with this disorder always experiences some amount of amnesia. Most of the time the individual forgets
Karen Overhill visits Doctor Richard Baer for the first time on January 11, 1989. Behind her lies a lifetime of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at the hands of those meant to protect her. Though she seeks treatment for severe depression, in the next four years it will become incredibly clear that Karen suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, or Multiple Personality Disorder as it is more commonly known. The rest of her treatment becomes dedicated to uncovering the basis from which her mind has constructed these personalities and reveal the truth hidden in her lost time.
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