Secret Window
The movie, Secret Window, is a psychological thriller that is based on a novella called Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King. Like most psychological thrillers, the character that has a mental illness is portrayed in a very exaggerated and dramatic way. Some portrayals can be very accurate while others are simply for reeling in the audience. For the purpose of this paper, I will discuss the accuracy of David Koepp’s portrayal of Dissociative Identity Disorder in the main character of Secret Window, some symptoms that are clear and maybe not so clear, as well as treatment options for DID. Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as “multiple personality disorder”, is a mental disorder in which a
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Along with those symptoms, people with DID may experience depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, sleep disorders, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, alcohol and drug abuse, compulsions and rituals, and auditory or visual hallucinations. Headaches, time loss, trance, and “out of body experiences” are also not unheard of in people with DID. According to the DSM-IV-TR, the person must meet certain criteria in order to be diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder. This includes two or more distinct identities or personality states being present, each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self, at least two of these identities or personality states recurrently taking control of the person’s behavior, the person having an inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness, and the disturbance not being due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (such as blackouts or chaotic behavior during alcohol intoxication) or a general medical condition (such as complex partial seizures). Now that you know more about Dissociative Identity Disorder, I will discuss how it is portrayed in the character, Mort Rainey, in the movie Secret Window. In the movie, Mort Rainey is a famous author. He moves to Tashmore Lake with his dog after finding his wife cheating on him with another man. During the time he is
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.
Dissociative Identity Disorder is a severe psychological disorder characterized by at least two or more distinct personalities or different identities. The different personality states are said to occur spontaneously and involuntarily and function more or less independently of each other. The person suffering from the disorder also experiences memory loss that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. Many people who experience this type of behavior are unaware that they have more than one personality because they can not remember anything that is happening while one of the mind alters are
Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personalities. Each may have a unique name, personal history, and characteristics. The behavioral aspects are: impulsivity, self-destructive behavior, or self-harm Mood: anxiety, feeling detached from self, or mood swings. The psychological aspects consist of: altered consciousness, depression, or flashbacks. Also common: amnesia or blackout. The only treatment is talk therapy. The therapies are: cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy, psychotherapy. Dissociative Identity Disorder is often confused with Schizophrenia, but they are very different. Schizophrenia is a violent mental illness involving chronic psychosis, made distinctive mainly by hearing or seeing hallucinations and thinking
This mental disorder affects the patient in every way because their mind is "broken into pieces". Like the article mentioned, patients with DID experience periods of amnesia and periods of depersonalization. It affects every aspect of that person's life, for example: they might meet people that know them, however they have no recognition of. The alters are kind of like a defense mechanism, when the host isn't capable dealing with a certain situation a personality more fitted to handle the situation
Dissociative identity disorder, or DID for short, is a controversial subject in the clinical medical world. It is often ruled out as a diagnosis because most physicians do not believe it exists. Gilig (2009) explained, that 80% of patients were forced to be discharged from a hospital even though the patient show extreme suicidal evidence. Another reason for this
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.
Psychotherapy includes forms of cognitive therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and Alderian Therapy. These forms of psychotherapy are a big component of closely monitoring for individuals with the disorder (Haddock 2001). Psychotherapy allows for the patient to comfortably discuss their past, as well as, periods of their life in which they experienced amnesia. It is critical to understand that DID is not a curable disorder, but with therapy the individual can be taught to suppress the personalities that intermittently take over the host’s actions. There are also several medications used for the treatment of DID as well. These include antidepressants and anxiolytics (Fey et al.,
Dissociative Identity Disorder, commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is characterized by an involuntary escape from reality characterized by a disconnection between thoughts, identity, consciousness, and memory (Dissociative). An example of mild everyday dissociation is when you are given a list to accomplish throughout the day, but forget some along the way. The dissociation experienced in MPD is more involved in the long-term memory. Symptoms are the reaction of enduring a traumatic event, commonly expressed in abuse and military combat. DID has a vast variety of symptoms including mood swings, dissociative amnesia, distress, and sleep loss. Dissociative amnesia is also tied to what most patients refer to as “blackouts”. Even
This paper will discuss dissociative identity disorder which is one of several dissociative disorders. Dissociative identity disorder has not been around as long as many other mental disorders, the earliest cases of persons reporting dissociative identity disorder symptoms were not recorded until the 1790’s. (Frey R.J., Ph.D. Cataldo L.J., RN, Ed.D. Longe J.L., 2015.). Even though it has not been around for that long psychiatrists are debating whether dissociative identity disorder was previously misdiagnosed and underreported, or currently over diagnosed. (Frey et al 2015.). Psychiatrists may not find out wither if it is over, under or misdiagnosed but people need to know what DID is. People also should
What are the symptoms of DID? After much research I have prepared a list of what I feel are to be the most common symptoms of DID. The symptoms that require further explanation are explained to the right. They are listed in order of incidence and are as follows:
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.
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
Dissociative Identity Disorder (D.I.D.), formally known as Multiple Personality disorder, is one of the most controversial disorder in the psychology field. Some psychologist believe that it is a real disorder, while other psychologist believe it is a made up disorder even though it is present in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (D.S.M.), the “standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals in the United States” (DSM, 2015). Also, could the portrayal of this disorder in show and movies create an even bigger stigmatism? Due to the facts and symptoms about this disorder not being represented correctly.
The presence of dissociative identity disorder in the media is more common than one may presume. In the media, the portrayal of the disorder is very negative. The way the media shows the disorder only builds on the stigmatization already made for the disorder which is harmful and negative towards the people diagnosed with the disorder. Some of these portrayals include the movie Split and the television show Criminal Minds. Both of these and many other films show negative portrayals of people diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder.
The definite cause of DID is unknown, but one main cause of the disorder is believed to be severe and prolonged trauma experienced during childhood, including emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. Symptoms of DID can include: an inability to remember large parts of childhood, sudden return of memories, as in a flashback and/or flashback to traumatic events, episodes of feeling disconnected or detached from one's body and thoughts, hallucinations, changing levels of functioning, from highly effective to nearly disabled, depression, anxiety, alcohol and/or drug abuse, headaches, and eating disorders. DID is a serious mental illness that occurs across all ethnic groups and all income levels, but has been proven to affect women nine times more than men. Research has shown that the average age for the initial development of alters is 5.9 years old. Statistics show that DID occurs in 0.01 to 1 percent of the general population (Mayo, 2014).