Dissociative Identity Disorder - Essay

Dissociative identity disorder, DID, commonly known as multiple personality disorder is best characterized as a condition in which an individual displays at least two personalities that   routinely control said individuals personality and behavior. Often times, theses personalities are associated with memory loss. In order for one experiencing multiple personalities to be diagnosed, the symptoms must not be a product of drug use or a general medical condition.
DID is often the result of severe trauma during early childhood commonly an extreme, constant physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse.   According to psychologist   Pierre Janet’s study of   dissociated patients,   44%   presented a history of trauma   (Cromwell et al, 1996).   Also In the renown case of   Shirley Ardell Madison, commonly known under the pseudonym, Sybil Dorsett, the disorder was brought on by excessive physical and emotional abuse by her mother during early childhood. The product of this abuse was sixteen different personalities, two of which were male.
A person diagnosed with this disorder may frequently show multiple attitudes and beliefs that are considerably different from each other. It is theorized that high-dissociators are different from both mentally healthy people and those with mental disorders in the way they analyze the world, relationships, and various events in their life. When dissociates are conflicted with certain contradictory outcomes they do not practice the conventional method of changing their self- constructs (Cromwell et al, 1996)   instead they resolve the conflict by creating multiple personas, also known as alter egos, to cope with the situations. When a DID patient   changes into their alter ego they may believe that they are a different age, race and/or sex. Each personality or alter provides a different resolution for the current predicament in the mind of the subject. The alters can have different posture, handwriting, mannerisms and even ways of speaking. Both the...