SPLIT PERSONALITY?

Dissociative identity disorder

Dissociative identity disorder (DID), as defined by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a condition in which a single person displays multiple distinct identities or personalitiesalters), each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment. The diagnosis requires that at least two personalities routinely take control of the individual's behavior with an associated memory loss that goes beyond normal forgetfulness; in addition, symptoms cannot be due to drug use or medical condition. Earlier versions of the DSM named the condition multiple personality disorder (MPD).

Signs and symptoms

Individuals diagnosed with DID demonstrate a variety of symptoms with wide fluctuations across time; functioning can vary from severe impairment in daily functioning to normal or high abilities. Symptoms can include:

• multiple mannerisms, attitudes and beliefs that are not similar to each other
• headaches and other body pains
• distortion or loss of subjective time
• depersonalization
• amnesia
• depression
• derealization
• flashbacks of abuse/trauma
• unexplainable phobias
• sudden anger without a justified cause
• lack of intimacy and personal connections
• frequent panic/anxiety attacks
• auditory hallunications of the personalities inside their mind

Patients may experience an extremely broad array of other symptoms that resemble epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, and eating disorders.

Causes

The causes of dissociative identity disorder have not been identified, but are theoretically linked with the interaction of overwhelming stress, traumatic antecedents, insufficient childhood nurturing, and an innate ability to dissociate memories or experiences from consciousness. A high percentage of patients report child abuse.

Others believe that the symptoms of DID are created iatrogenically by therapists using certain treatment techniques with suggestible patients, but this idea is not universally accepted. Support for the iatrogenic nature of DID comes from observations that a small number of therapists are responsible for diagnosing the majority of individuals with DID; that patients do not report sexual abuse or manifest alters until after treatment has begun; and the alternative explanation of the "alters" being rule-governed social roles rather than separate personalities.

Treatment

Treatment of DID may attempt to reconnect the identities of disparate alters into a single functioning identity. In addition or instead, treatment may focus on symptoms, to relieve the distressing aspects of the condition and ensure the safety of the individual. Treatment methods may include psychotherapy and medications for comorbid disorders. Some behavior therapists initially use behavioral treatments such as only responding to a single identity, and using more traditional therapy once a consistent response is established. It has been stated that treatment recommendations that follow from models that do not believe in the traumatic origins of DID might be harmful due to the fact that they ignore the posttraumatic symptomatology of people with DID.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-personality