Outline On Multiple Personality Disorder

Some Physical differences each alter within a multiple have their own history, personalities that are unique to them, body movements, facial expressions, how they express their communication verbally, also tone and pitch. Another indicator of a symptom of (MPD) Multiple Personality Disorder, is handwriting style differences. Time loss is another symptom. The final symptom of (MPD) Multiple Personality Disorder is depression that includes suicide and self-mutilation. With self-mutilation, it includes body memories and nightmares. This symptom is the most common in the breakdown of symptoms.

Multiple personality Disorder, (MPD) was first recognized in the 1700’s but was not understood so therefore was soon forgotten. Many cases showed up during the years, but was overlooked, or misdiagnosed as either schizophrenia or psychosis. Many in the medical profession did not believe that a person could have more than one personality in a body, unknowingly, even after the 1950’s. In 1993, records show that three to five thousand people were being treated for MPD, compared to the hundred cases reported ten years earlier. The disease is commonly found in adults who were abused mentally, physically, emotionally, and or sexually as children, between birth to eight years of age. The child uses a process called disassociation to separate himself/herself from the abusive situation. This is when the child makes up a personality to take control of the mind and body. During abuse, usually there is a personality for every emotion and feeling when the abuse is taking place. Symptoms of the disease include: amnesia, hallucinations, depression, and suicidal thoughts, and tendencies, and there can be anywhere from two to over a hundred different personalities. Usually each personality will fall into one of the following categories: host, core, child, teenager, artistic, adult, animals, intimate members, self-helpers, persecutor, rescuer and helper. The child is usually under the age of twelve, with according behaviors,

commonly diagnosed as a form of schizophrenia because these people tend to have a loss of connection within the brain which can cause hallucinations, delusions and disorganized thinking. Multiple personalities can function completely separate of each other. In other words, one of a person's personality will have no recollection of the others doing (Bob 141). Thus, the severity and the frequency of traumas to a child will have great impact on the depth of DID that a person will suffer.

Can someone have more than one personality lingering within them? Is it possible for someone to have missing pieces from their memories because another person within them is taking over at certain periods of time? These are all questions that many psychologists and psychiatrists find themselves asking within the psychology community. This is a topic filled with controversy still to this day. Psychology is a field that has been around for a long time, but we are still discovering new illnesses all the time. One mental illness that is becoming more apparent is dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, but some argue that this illness is not real.

With having multiple personality disorder, the individual may become out of tune with their emotions or feelings. They become less aware of their self-identity. For example, they begin to forget who they truly are. Most importantly, they experience extreme

In 1954 Drs. Corbett Thigpen and Hervey Cleckley reported one of the first contemporary cases of multiple personality(DID) was discovered. The case study of Eve was made into a movie, famously known as “The Three Faces of Eve.” Which is a good example of this disorder. The patient (Chris Seizmore) had

Clinicians usually have a difficult time diagnosing dissociative identity disorder due to the fact that numerous clinicians do not receive enough training about the disorder and there is still some skeptics today on whether DID actually exists. According to Putnam (1989), dissociative identity disorder comes with a large amount of symptoms which include depressed moods and mood swings, different personalities in a person’s psyche, amnesia/time loss, anxiety and exhibit phobic-like behavior, substance abuse, hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder, suicidal behaviors and may self-mutilate, may exhibit catatonic behaviors, and may display transsexualism and transvestism behaviors (p.57-65). The reason for depressive symptoms is because individuals with personalities disorder tend to demonstrate low self-esteem and have a terrible outlook on life. According to Putnam (1989), these depressive symptoms are the most common in DID

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is a mental illness where there is a disruption or breakdown of awareness, identity and/or perception. These escapes are involuntary and these resulting symptoms can interfere with a person’s general functioning, including social activities, work functions, and relationships.

When most people think of mental disorders, many tend to think of depression, bipolar disorder, or even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The one thing these three disorders have in common is they all can be associated with a disorder called Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). A person with MPD “behaves as if under the control of distinct and separate parts of the personality at different times” (Bull). As research has advanced on the studying of MPD, researchers have deemed the official diagnostic name as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Although a great deal of research has been done, the exact cause of DID/MPD is still unknown. Current ideology states that dissociation in someone is generally caused by childhood abuse or trauma. Abuse and/or trauma may contribute to the development of Multiple Personality Disorder (Passen).

In my opinion, I believe that Multiple Personality Disorder does not exist. The fact that it increased in popularity after being brought into the public's eye via media is very suspicious. "In North America, the number of diagnoses exploded from only 2 reported cases per decade from 1930 to 1960, to more than 20,000 in the 1980's" (McHugh). I believe that the idea of MPD goes along with Sigmund Freud's theory of repression. Repression was thought to be a defense mechanism that concealed terrible experiences and painful memories from consciousness. The theory of repression was later discredited after studies proved that high stress events enhance the memory making negative, traumatic events remembered well. I believe that people diagnosed with MPD have a form of Schizophrenia or Autism and when portraying themselves as an alternate personality they are simply acting like someone they may have

According to the researchers of mayoclinic.org, Multiple Personality Disorder, also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, is characterized by a “switching to alternate personalities”. The host of the disorder feels the presence of one or more people living within their head. The disease was first discovered by “Dr. Jean- Martin Charcot, (the) chief physician at Salpetriere Hospital in Paris”. The disease was first thought to have been a mixture of epilepsy and hysteria, thus its original name being Hystero-Epilepsy. The early symptoms of the disease were: contortions, convulsions, fainting, and impaired consciousness (psycom.net).

treatment techniques (such as believed to be the case with Sybil Dorsett and being so,

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, did many studies of the mind and its abilities to repress emotions. His opinions on hysteria and repression overshadowed the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder in the early 1900’s. Until the 1980s, it was disregarded, then suddenly it bloomed into a large area of study. In the next decade, it is estimated that forty thousand people were diagnosed with multiple personality disorder, twice as many than the previous century.

Multiple personality disorder is when a person has a lack of connection in the brain. This lack of connection forms alternate states of mind inside the individual’s head and can sometimes take control of the individual. The individual also suffers severe memory loss when the personalities shift, leaving no evidence that the other personality did anything

     Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), which is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), is a Dissociative Disorder. This disorder is when a person has two or more distinct personalities that often control the person’s behavior. This disorder has many controversies because of the fact that it is not scientifically proven.