Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Psychological Analysis

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).

Diagnosing this disorder is difficult because it is so closely related to PTSD (Frey et al., 2012). The DSM-V is used to diagnose the condition. Many of the individuals diagnosed with the condition have a history of being sexually or physically abused as children. These individuals begin developing personalities as early as the age of three because this is when the majority of individuals start forming memories. A combination of treatments is what is most effective for DID; the most common being a combination of psychotherapy with the use of an antidepressant such as SSRI (Haddock, 2001). The prognosis of DID is not clear and this is primarily because the diagnosis of and treatment varies by

Dissociation is defined as “a mental process, which produces a lack of connection in a person 's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity” (Grohol, 2016). The Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a severe condition in which two or more separate, distinct identities or personality states are present in an individual. In other words, a person has, what seems like, actual distinct and contrasting people in their head and these “alters” are able to take control of an individual’s mind and body at any time and act as a completely different individual. Each alter is capable of having its own set of likes, dislikes, talents, memories, and personal experiences. The alters’ usually have a specific name, age, gender and possibly race. According to Psychology Today (2014), the alters’ characteristics are typically very different from the primary identity, including their history, self-image, vocabulary, knowledge and predominant mood. The primary identity tends to be passive, dependent, guilty and depressed. A person with DID experiences extensive memory loss which is typically more extensive than what would be experienced by ordinary forgetfulness. For instance, if an alter were to take over, once the individual is back in control of his or her own body, they typically report not remembering anything that was done or said. Some individuals report feeling “familiar” with the conversations or experiences that were had by the alter, but as if they had only overheard

Dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder) is thought to be a complex mental condition that is likely brought on by numerous variables, including serious injury amid early adolescence generally compelling, repetitive physical, sexual, or psychological mistreatment. The greater part of us have encountered mild dissociation, which resemble wandering off in fantasy land or losing all sense of direction at the time while taking a shot at an undertaking. In any case, dissociative personality issue is an extreme type of separation, a mental procedure which delivers an absence of association in a man 's musings, recollections, emotions, activities, or feeling of character. Dissociative character issue is thought to originate from a blend of components that may incorporate injury experienced by the individual with the confusion. The dissociative viewpoint is thought to be a method for dealing with stress - the individual actually separates himself from a circumstance or experience that is excessively brutal, traumatic, or difficult to absorb with his cognizant self.

Dissociative identity disorder involves Two or more distinct identities in only one human being, it’s been called Multiple Personality Disorder previously. Most of the view tend to believe DID is triggered by stress, and people who has a terrifying childhood experience, is so much likely to have DID. Some clinicians believe dissociative disorders under the umbrella of post traumatic stress disorder. That means it is a Self-defense Mechanism, a response to something tremendous harmful to the person, and his brain somehow do not think the main identity is able to confront. then create another identity to deal with that. Therefore, DID could cause by tremendous pressure, horrible experience, and huge challenge.

Schizophrenia patients away from their reality and dissociative identity disorder meanwhile not affect the relationship with her. The split personality in Dissociative Identity Disorder occurs internally, the sufferer creates his alters from conflicting interactions in his own mind, in schizophrenia this phenomenon is seen externally as the voices coming from abroad to manifest and is therefore not hallucinations and personality

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is characterized by the apparent emergence of one or more personalities within a single person. Since its first entry in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the home of every psychological disorder, psychologists have argued whether or not this disorder exists. Due to this disorder being a homegrown culture syndrome, having inconsistencies in diagnosis, and suggestive techniques used by therapists during the diagnostic process, dissociative identity disorder does not exist. Instead of therapists diagnosing their patients with DID, they should look into different psychological disorders so that their patients can receive the treatment that is needed.

Imagine being one person one day, and another person another day, but having no recollection of being either persons. This is a common reoccurrence when someone has Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID. The loss of memory is unforgiving and can be dangerous. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a psychological/memory loss disorder that can stem from early childhood abuse which includes extreme physical, emotional, and sexual abuse against the child. Not all children who experience abuse as at risk for the disorder. Statistics show that only 0.5 to 1.0% of our society’s population are diagnosed with having DID (Slogar, 2011). People who experience DID usually have several different alters that are contained in their psyche and each alter has an

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, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder has intrigued a wide variety of individuals from psychiatrists, Hollywood directors and even teenagers dreaming of treating the disorder such as myself. DID, as abbreviated, is sometimes thought of as fake, this disorder has been proven an actual disorder and is described in the DSM-5. This paper will include a description of Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID, an exploration into the typical course of the disorder, the prevalence rates, and differential diagnoses. In addition, the correct treatment of the disorder including psychotherapy treatments and psychotropic medication will be discussed.

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

Furthermore, the symptoms of DID are closely related to a variety of other disorders. Thus, the complexity of selecting the right diagnosis, the clinicians and psychiatrists would be cautious when choosing the primary symptoms of DID which is associated with memory and consciousness of the individual’s identity. Other symptoms would be amnesia, lack of awareness, and depersonalization. Followed by intense situations being triggered by the trauma is through the immense repetitive exposure and witnessing of any deaths (may it be actual or threatened), severe injury or maltreatment of physical, emotional or/and sexual. Similarly, severe neglect being inflicted as a child growing up will have a poor understanding of their identity, due to lack of guidance which leaves the child to be confused, vulnerable and alone (Paetzold, Rholes, & Andrus, 2017).

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) also commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is a severe form of dissociation, a mental process which produces a lack of connection in a person’s thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. The dissociative aspect is a coping mechanism of people who may have experienced serious trauma and abuse. The person dissociates themselves from the situation or experience that has been traumatizing for them and made a “companion” within themselves to either protect them, or help them cope with the trauma. Dissociative identity disorder has always been at the top of the list when it comes to the aspect of it being real or not. Some mental health professionals believe that dissociative identity disorder is a phenomenon of another psychiatric problem. The abused person uses a coping mechanism such as creating a people to handle the situations that are happening, and they feel they cannot handle. In one case a person will create a personality to be a protector if they cannot physically defend themselves, or they will a

People with DID develop subpersonalities, each with unique set of memories, behaviors, thoughts and emotions (Comer, 2015, p. 200). Lieber explained the symptoms before DID was discovered were contortions, convulsions, fainting, and impaired consciousness (Lieber, 2016). Other symptoms include inability to remember childhood, not remembering getting to a location, “lost time”, flashbacks, feeling detached from one’s own body, hallucinations, out of body experiences, self-harm, handwriting differences, and levels of functioning (Pais, 2017). Kathy lost time when she could not remember how the fire started and not remembering having sexual relations with her husband. Her level of functioning changed after her subpersonality “Debby” took control at age 14.

Imagine waking up in a new house, town, city, even state and not knowing how you got there. Now add onto that thought of forgetting almost a year of your life because someone else, or something, has taken over your body. That is just a look into dissociative disorders in general. Dissociative Disorders are ‘extreme distortions in perception and memory” (Terwilliger 2013). Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), or previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is often the most misunderstood dissociative disorder of them all. It has always been somewhat of a mystery. Seeing videos of the disorder can really give you an insight on what happens with the person who suffer from it. Almost everyone in the