MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER (5/8)

  • Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID
  • Original Personality and Alters, and Switching happens when DID victim goes from one personality to another.
  • Sometimes, the first original personality isn’t aware of the other Alters.
  • It can happen to anyone, but it mostly happens to American children.
  • Mild Dissociation has to do with daydreaming and mind wandering. But DID is a severe version of this Mild Dissociation.
  • Men and women with this order tend to act differently, and men tend to become violent.
  • Many people with this disorder have experienced some kind of abuse, such as extreme neglect and emotional abuse when they were kids. Some these people might also have experienced sexual and physical abuse.
  • The younger the kid experiences these trauma-based abuse, the greater the dissociation.
  • In some cases, one of the personalities might have suicidal thoughts, tendencies or suicidal attempts.
  • They tend to be sexually promiscuous.
  • There is no cure for this disorder, although therapy helps.
  • Some possible therapies that help include hypnotherapy, talk therapy, and art and movement therapy, and each personality will be treated individually. (This reminds me of the movie Sybil, in which I think that character, played by Sally Field, had many personalities).
  • It can take a long time to diagnose this disorder. (This reminds me of the movie, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, in which the main character wasn’t properly diagnosed by her psychiatrist, and the she was given medication that wasn’t really helping her. Since she was Roman Catholic, she went to her priest for help. He took her off her current medication in order to perform an exorcism. During the exorcism, the character experienced an epileptic seizure and died. This movie was loosely based on a true story of a 19-year-old German girl who was Roman Catholic. Names were changed, and her real name wasn’t Emily Rose because I researched the real person on the internet a couple years ago).
  • People with this disorder don’t trust others as well as they fear rejection.
  • Switching happens when the person feels they are being threatened, and they search out an identity who can better handle the current situation.