The Theory Of Multiple Personality Disorder

“People’s personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.”-Francois de La Rochefoucauld. This quote, having been stated in the 1600’s, shows that there was a recognition of different aspects of one person’s personality, even before multiple personalities were studied in the medical world. In 1886, a groundbreaking novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, explored the idea of multiple personalities.

A well-known girl with multiple personalities is one of many victims of this diagnosis. Many psychiatrist studied her behaviors, and learned from the documented history of her behaviors.

As a person without the disturbing disorder, I could only read about stuff and think whether MPD is real. But then, with so many accounts on people having multiple personality disorder, and then experts giving out their diagnosis whether they are still confused or not, I still believe there are people really with MPD. But then, we cannot discount the possibility that criminals can fake to have another personality and they are compelled to do the criminal act they did, right? I also cannot help but sympathize

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.

Multiple Personality Disorder is a condition that many people probably have not heard of. Among those who have heard of it, there are even less who actually know what it is. However, according to Piper (1997) there were about 6,000 cases diagnosed in North America alone in 1986. Some experts estimate that multiple personality disorder, or MPD, affects 5 to 10 percent of the population, or about 100 million people worldwide. For such a widespread disorder, the public's lack of knowledge about it is pretty shocking. One explanation for this lack of knowledge could be the fact that many people, fueled by the beliefs of many noted psychologists, do not believe the

     Sometimes people undergo traumatic experiences in their lives that are either physical or mental and maybe even a combination of both. If the experience was so intense, and so horrible, that the mind didn’t want to remember it, or possibly didn’t know how to deal or cope with it, then that one experience has the power to split a person’s mind into “another personality”. If this happens, the other personality or personalities come out when a person who has MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) is put in a situation that he/she doesn’t know how to handle or feels that the other personality can handle it better. People suffering from MPD also have the risk of developing some

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,

Avoidant attachment of a male present in a romantic relationship (Male super ego and madonna-whore complex)

Affecting about 1% of the population, schizophrenia causes more anxiety in the media, in the public, and even in doctors' offices more than any other mental illness. It is the most stigmatized and most misunderstood psychological disorder of them all, even among psychologists. Among the many fallacies that surround the disorder is the name in itself. Schizophrenia literally means, from Greek,“split mind” but contrary to popular belief, the condition has nothing to do with a split in personality or multiple personalities. The term refers instead to a “split from reality”, which is usually what inflicts what we stereotype to be “schizophrenics.” However, multiple Personality Disorder, now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, is the kind

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

The one case to put Dissociative Identity Disorder on the map and to actually get this disorder recognized was Sybil Isabel Dorsett’s (Sargent 2007). Sybil was put under severe trauma from her mother when she was a little girl. The way she counteracted the trauma was by making sixteen different personalities (Sargent 2007). She made more than anyone has ever recorded before. Sybil’s real name was actually Shirley Ardell Mason (Neary 2010). There was a book and a movie written about the case. Shirley was treated by a female psychiatrist by the name of Dr. Connie Wilbur (Neary 2010). Wilbur treated Shirley until her death in 1998 (Neary 2010). With Shirley Mason in therapy for Dissociative Identity Disorder, again back then it was named Multiple Personality Disorder, she tried to convince Dr. Wilbur that she was faking the sets of personalities and that she was in perfect health by writing her a letter:

Dissociative Identity Disorder, commonly referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder, exists as a bizarre mental disorder in which a person acquires two

The psychodynamic perspective focuses on the role of the unconscious mind in the development of personality. Freud believed that the personality develops in a series of five stages that develop the three divisions of personality. In the oral stage, the fixation is in the mouth, and would be the cause of his introverted nature; likewise, in the anal stage, Roberto would discover his reserved nature, while the phallic stage, he would further refine his reserved nature as a sense of humility in his actions, also defining his mild mannered portion of his personality. In the latency stage, his social skills would refined and he would become introverted. Freud would think that Roberto’s mild-mannered, reserved, and invertedness is caused by intense suppressing of the id by the ego, having Roberto adopt the personality that he does; however, Karen Horney would classify Roberto’s personality in respect to her theory of neurotic personalities- personalities typified by maladaptive ways of dealing with relationships- with moving away from people by withdrawing from personal relationships.

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

“We are influenced by our own internal forces, forces of which we are unaware, have feelings towards, or urges we do not quite understand “(Freidman, 2012, p. 17). This is the struggle that personality psychology tries to understand, how and to what extent the unconscious forces plays a role in human behavior. It is believed that people are responsible for their own actions. There is a continuous struggle with personality psychology and the comprehension of and to what extent unconscious forces play in human behavior. “Meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction both are transformed” (Carl Jung 1993, p.57). There are various questions that are asked about the issues in personality psychology such as, “How important are social influences on the self, such as parental deprivation or excessive praise? Is the sense of self merely an inconsequential epiphenomenon or secondary perception arising from other forces that really matter? What is the core of who we are? A second core issue with the studies of personality studies is does each person require a unique approach? “Gordon Allport argued that a key aspect of the study of personality must focus on the individual and thus be idiographic” (p.18). To generalize an individual is a complication in itself because the personality of each person is complex in its own way so how can we generalize? Obtaining an answer to that question is still a dilemma. Allport complained