What do you know about DID, or Dissociative Identity Disorder? … Did you know it was formally referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder? I hope so. More common in women by far, this disorder is still debated amongst psychologists as to whether it is a legitimate condition.
Alright, so say it isn’t a real problem. The people with several distinct personalities are just a seriously extreme case of a Gemini of the zodiac? Being a Gemini myself, that is very disturbing.
In all seriousness (also in nutshell version), it is a condition in which an individual typically has been through some sort of trauma and has developed one or more other distinct personalities to cope. As a personal observation, this reason and heredity seems to be the only two causes of any real issues. Now, the most interesting part about this for me is that when an individual shifts from one personality to the other, not only are their ideas, views, and reactions noticeably unlike the others…but their bodies change as well.
Heart rates, blood pressure, even blood flow to the brain can vary between one personality and another. This has been the bit where the science can’t fully deny its existence. Keeping in mind, the reputation for this problem is tainted due to some people pretending to have it for personal gain in the court system; there are tests to determine the difference between the real thing and a faking faker-pants.
Here’s something else I found extremely enlightening in this subject, albeit not surprising: the treatment. First, we’ll go over the things that sort of work or just tend to fail.
One option is a psychotherapy in which the therapist attempts to reintegrate the personalities back into one single identity. Why it doesn’t always work is the person being treated can often react negatively to someone trying to ‘kill’ the other parts of them. I suppose that would be scary if you really did think of yourself as more than one person.
Another option involves medication. This usually doesn’t go well because once again, the person being treated will feel as if others are trying to control them. This leads to the patient being re-traumatized…making things worse.
Alright, so both of those can work but this option is what tends to work first, possibly allowing one of the previously mentioned treatments with time. This option is sort of a stepping stone on to leading a more productive life because the focus is to work on each of the personalities co-existing more seamless. Usually the first problem for people with DID is that their various identities don’t always get along. The best way to work on recovery of this is to get all the people in that person’s head to play nice with one another.
There is no cure for DID, I’ve listed the main treatments, but people with this problem are not some sort of lost cause. According to any resources I could find, people with multiple personalities do not tend to be violent…just misunderstood. They can lead fairly normal lives with the exception of not being the exact same person from day to day. For the moment, it is an interesting thought to put oneself in their shoes, or in their very crowded minds.
(Credit for the pictures goes to individuals that can be found on deviantart.)
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