Multiple personality disorder is a complex mental health issue in which the individual’s identity is divided into two or multiple personalities. Also known as Multiple Personality Disorder, it features an identity crisis that causes a lot of trouble for the patient as well as the people associated with him. Each individual’s personality showcases different behaviours and has distinct reactions to situations. He tends to get frustrated when people around him do not react as he expects them to.
In this article, we shall talk about Multiple personality disorder and discuss its causes, symptoms, and treatment options.
Dissociative Identity Crisis
As mentioned above, the patient with this mental health disorder tends to have multiple personalities despite having a single brain. At one point, he would showcase one personality; at the other moment, he would be something else altogether. A lot of people attribute this condition to the experience of possession. It is as if someone with a different personality has taken over the person’s body.
Owing to showcasing multiple personalities, the patient tends to get exhausted. His brain gets fatigued, which leads to intense memory loss. It is crucial to mention here that this is not the regular forgetfulness. Instead, the memory loss is so intense that the patient cannot recall something as simple as his home address.
There is a primary identity, which includes the name and specifications of the person. Apart from this primary personality, he has various other personalities that he occasionally showcases. But, it is not as simple as it sounds. When the patient alters his personality, he changes all aspects, including name, registered age, gender, language, and general knowledge.
Multiple personality disorder, now known as dissociative identity disorder, is arguably one of the most complex mental health issues that people have to deal with.
Symptoms of DID
Some significant dissociative identity disorder symptoms include:
- Shifts Between Different Identities
- Memory Gaps Or Memory Loss
- Alteration In Roles
- Depression
- Panic Attacks
- Anxiousness
- Suicidal Tendencies
Causes of Dissociative Identity Disorder
It is not possible to pinpoint a single cause or reason for DID. Instead, multiple reasons culminate into bringing it to reality. For instance, extensive childhood trauma, dysfunctional attachment, exposure to intense fear, and neurological factors can be considered to be some reasons behind the development of DID.
Let’s explore some of the possible causes of dissociative identity disorder in detail:
-
Childhood Trauma
Like a lot of mental health issues, dissociative identity disorder can have a pathway that connects it with childhood trauma. Anything that a child sees in the early ages of his development can immensely impact his personality. As far as it’s about DID, extensive childhood trauma can be a possible cause of it, as per psychologists. This trauma, most of the time, includes physical harm. This harm is not only extreme and repeated but is also from someone very trustworthy. For instance, when the primary caregiver inflicts damage on a child, his brain is not able to process this betrayal, leading to impacting his thought processes negatively.
Sexual abuse is also a form of childhood trauma. Children who go through intense sexual abuse tend to develop a second personality as a survival mechanism. They want to run away from the harsh memories and live in the body of another personality.
Ruthless parenting is also a reason for DID. Kids who have emotionally unavailable parents also go through extreme emotions as they feel unvalidated. Also, consistent humiliation and eventual abandonment lead to severe childhood trauma, causing DID.
According to psychologists, abusive caregivers, neglectful parenting, and a highly unpredictable environment of the home can impact the personality of a child severely, leading to a coping mechanism. This coping mechanism is DID, in which the child grows up to develop multiple personalities within himself, trying to get away from the emotional trauma he had to go through.
-
Acute Fear And Stress
Kids who grow up in stressed environments are prone to developing DID when they grow up. For instance, children living in war zones are constantly stressed. They lead a life of fear and unpredictability. They witness extreme violence, and it impacts their psychological state acutely. As they grow up, they want to keep away from these memories of childhood haunting them. Hence, they develop another personality that gives them peace and stability.
-
Neurological Factors
DID has some connection with the brain development of the individual as well. Compared to others, they tend to have different formations in specific brain areas, such as the hippocampus and the amygdala. These spots are responsible for managing a person’s memory and regulating his emotions. When these parts of the brain are not able to manage these essential functions, it leads to conditions like DID.
Treatment Options
Though a highly tricky mental condition, dissociative identity disorder is undoubtedly manageable. Psychologists use a variety of treatment methods to deal with patients with this disorder. Mental health experts at Sehatyab also use different treatment options to manage this problem.
Some options regarding the treatment of dissociative identity disorder include:
Psychotherapy
The primary treatment for DID is psychotherapy. Through talk therapy, psychologists help patients come out of the trauma that led to them developing this problem. They utilisee extensive approaches, including cognitive behaviour therapy, dialectic behaviour therapy, and Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing. By using a mix-and-match approach, these psychologists can manage the dissociative episodes of the patient and even integrate the different identities he has.
Medication
DID doesn’t come alone! Instead, most of the time, it is accompanied by extreme depression and anxiety. Psychologists at SehatYab provide antidepressant and antianxiety medications to the patients to manage these symptoms.
Providing Life Improvement Mechanisms
By bringing some simple changes in their lifestyle, dissociative identity disorder patients can manage their mental health issues a lot more easily. Psychologists recommend these measures, which include mindfulness, a healthier diet, better-sleeping patterns and even meditation. The mental health specialists at SehatYab help the victims of DID integrate positive changes in their lives and improve their lives for good!
Managing The Past Trauma
The main goal of mental health experts is to help individuals deal with the trauma that keeps bringing them back to their self-made personality and avoid confrontation. By assisting them in processing this trauma of childhood, the psychologists help them regulate their emotions.
Final Thoughts
There is no denying the fact that dissociative identity disorder, previously known as multiple personality disorder, is one of the trickiest and most critical mental health problems. It is a result of past trauma or some neurological issues that set the DID patient apart from others. Despite being tricky and vital, this problem is tackled by experts at SehatYab with great expertise. If you deal with this issue or know someone who does, it’s time to book an appointment with SehatYab and get things sorted!
