Dissociative Identity Disorder Essay

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).

Dissociative identity disorder was formerly known as multiple personality disorder (MPD). DID was and is a very controversial disorder. Researchers argue whether or not the disorder is really validated because there are not fact stating tests revolving around the disorder. There are several similarities between dissociative identity disorder and borderline personality disorder, which is why some researchers had denied the existence of DID. (Gillig, 2009). Researches now realize that DID is on the same spectrum as borderline line personality disorder, but the symptoms are more severe. Symptoms of DID that coincide with borderline personality disorder include insomnia, sexual dysfunction, anger, thoughts of suicide, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse, anxiety, paranoia, somatization, dissociation, mood altercations and changes in relationships and the loss of ties. (Gillig, 2009).

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a disorder distinguished by the existence of two or more distinct personality states. It is also known as DID or Multiple Personality Disorder. It is very rare, with only 20,000 to 200,000 known US cases per year. Currently, there is no known cure, but treatment can sometimes help. Many believe that DID can be caused by a significant trauma and is used as a coping mechanism to help avoid bad memories. The disorders most often form in kids victim to long-term physical, sexual or emotional abuse or, sometimes just a home environment that 's frightening or highly unpredictable. The stress of war or natural disasters close by also can bring on dissociative disorders.

I would like to further my knowledge on the controversial mental illness identified as Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID. More commonly known as multiple personality disorder, it has been a mental illness which gained attention from being the main focus in a variety of Hollywood’s films, aside from what has been portrayed in films I have little insight to what this disorder is.

date as being released in 1956 or 1957. The movie had a profound effect on

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’”

The DSM 5 elaborates on cultural background as an influence for some clinical presentations of DID. Numerous components of dissociative identity disorder can be affected by the individual 's social foundation. People with this issue may give unmistakable restoratively unexplained neurological side effects, for example, non-epileptic seizures, incapacitates, or tactile misfortune,

People diagnosed with this disorder experience an inability to recall important personal information. This is largely due to being taken over by the other alters or personality states. People often find themselves in another place with no knowledge of how they got there. They describe feeling separated, detached or floating above their body during dissociative episodes. It is also not uncommon for people to feel, “That they are sharing their body with others. DID is based on the idea that an individual has more than one distinct personality and people with DID usually experience the sensation that others are living in their body” (Stickley). Despite this feeling, patients are usually unaware of these other identities and even the people close to them may not notice the changes in personality. Some of these alters may be violent, but almost exclusively towards the host. These people are often violent towards themselves and suicidal as one personality attempts to kill off another. DID is a dissociative disorder which most of the time are a response to stress. Most clinicians view dissociation broadly, “With nearly everyone having some experiences of being lost in a daydream, reverie, book, or movie, and relatively few having the experience of complex and chronic dissociative experiences resulting in functional impairment”

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a mental disorder. It’s with a person having one or more personalities or identities that are distinctly different. These states alternately show in a person's behavior, accompanied by memory impairment for important information not explained by ordinary forgetfulness. These symptoms are not accounted for by substance abuse, seizures, or other medical conditions, nor by imaginative play in children. Dissociative symptoms range from common lapses in attention, becoming distracted by something else, and daydreaming, to pathological dissociative disorders. Symptoms vary over time.

When children do not get diagnosed with DID at a young age, it can cause the disorder to intensify the personalities as an adult. Adults who have DID have multiple identities within them. These various personalities could range from the typical personality of the person to a change in sex, voice, race, and age (Multiple Personality Disorder). While switching from one personality to the next, a person will enter a dissociative state, which is the disconnection or separation of the mind from physical encounters. This allows a person to feel a sense of safety by having a “defense against the trauma” (Cherry). However, dissociation hinders a person’s ability to remember, and the host will not recall how he/she behaved while in an altered identity. This forgetfulness is part of the amnesia symptom. Even though people with DID have numerous characters inside their bodies, only a select few can remember how other alters act while the dominant personality is gone. Typically the host does not know how each identity behaves. Dissociation and amnesia could also hamper with an individual’s normal functions and cause problems with social interaction

Dissociative identity disorder used to be considered a rare disorder. Between the years 1816 and 1944 there was only seventy-two diagnosed cases (Freeland). It wasn't until the release of Sybil, written in 1973 about

Dissociative identity disorder, which was formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is a disorder that a person seems to experience at least two or more personalities. Dissociative identity disorder is usually the effect of severe trauma during a person’s early childhood. This trauma is usually repetitive physical, sexual, or emotional abuse to a child. The children that are the receiving end of this abuse tend to use this dissociative aspect as a coping mechanism. Some people who suffer from dissociative identity disorder also may have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The different personalities of a person with dissociative identity disorder, have their own race, sex, and age. They

Once physical conditions are ruled out, mental health specialists are usually called in to make a final evaluation. Due to her abusive past with her parents, she was massively affected to the point of developing dissociative identity disorder. She was brought to a psychiatrist since many of the doctors she’s visited in the past believed she was suffering from mere pseudo-symptoms. Yet when consulted properly, she was thought of as a landmark of women who experience similar emotions. Her diagnosis would have gone through a different process in modern psychology, especially with the use of the MMPI test. And despite the strides in the machinations of diagnosing disorders, the rarity of dissociative identity disorder can make a diagnosis extremely difficult to complete. In an American study, there was “29% of 149 outpatients...had a dissociative disorder, including 6% who had DID” and research showed that “previously undiagnosed DID can be detected through structured diagnostic interviews in the general population” (Ross, 2006).

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