One of the common confusion most people have is ‘what is multiple personality disorder’? Multiple personality disorder is a disorder in which the person has more personalities additional to one distinct identity. At least two of such personalities take control over the conduct of the person affected.

Each state has a name or personality, its own past and a distinct self-image. Pine stand personalities different temperaments, likes and dislike different things, express themselves differently, have a different vocabulary. Personalities may differ even at physical characteristics: e.g. different positions and different body language. It is very common for alternative personalities to be different genres, different sexual orientations, ages and nationalities.

Identities can deny that they know each other, can be critical with each other or be in conflict switched on.

It takes only two distinct personalities or identities to make the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder, but there are cases in which a person has 100 alternate personalities, 50% of patients less than 11 identities.

Despite the presence of several distinct personalities, there is a primary identity that uses the name that was born the patient and tends to be quiet, dependent, depressed and possessed by guilt. Alternative identities typically have names and characteristics that contrast with the primary identity – are hostile or controlled. More passive personalities have lower life memories and the aggressive complete life. A person who is not in control can still have access to conscience by producing auditory or visual hallucinations.

For alternative personalities take to turn control of consciousness and behavior, affected patient may experience memory long goals, goals that are higher than normal forgetfulness episodes. This means that a person with this disorder is aware of an aspect of his personality and completely dissociated, unconscious of its other aspects.

HOW TO TRANSIT FROM A PERSONALITY TO ANOTHER?

Typically, a person replaces the other in seconds, but in rare cases the transition may be gradual. In all cases, however, leaving the surface of a personality withdrawal is often triggered by a stressful event.

WHAT IS MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER-TREATMENT

Multiple personality disorder treatment can last from 5-7 years in adults and is usually effective if combined different forms of treatment.

A. PSYCHOTHERAPY

Individual psychotherapy is the main component of multiple personality disorder treatment. Clients are guided to find a way to make their personalities to coexist and all work together. They also learn techniques to prevent crisis and ways to cope with memory gaps that occur during periods of dissociation. Order to achieve a peaceful coexistence of multiple personalities is quite different from their reintegration into a single identity state.

Psychotherapy for multiple personality disorder typically has the following stages:

Initial phase in which personalities are identified and their characteristics:

• * Aminitrilor traumatic treatment phase
• * Phase approximation of personalities
• * Phase acceptance and co-operation along the otherness

Family therapy is recommended to help the patient’s family members understand what multiple personality disorder and the changes that occur in individual therapy.

Patients with multiple personality disorder should be treated by a therapist with specialized training in dissociative disorders. This training is important because the transition from one personality to another can be confusing and shocking. In addition many patients with multiple personality disorder, suicidal or hostile personality alternatives.

B. MEDICATION

Some doctors will prescribe sedatives or antidepressants for alternative personalities may have anxiety or affective disorders. Other doctors prefer to minimize the drugs that these patients can easily become addicted. In addition, many patients have at least one person, who is addicted to drugs or alcohol, substances that are most dangerous in combination with sedatives.

C. HYPNOSIS

Although not always necessary, hypnosis is a standard method of treatment in multiple personality disorder. Hypnosis helps to recover repressed memories and ideas and to control problematic behaviors such as self-mutilation or food disorders, for example, bulimia nervosa. In advanced stages of therapy, the therapist may use hypnosis to merge alternative personalities in the process of reintegration. Hypnosis is sometimes used to find out more information about the symptoms / feelings of identity and thus increase patient control that it has on those states when the transition takes place from one personality to another.

Often understanding ‘what is multiple personality disorder’ gets difficult and such cases must be referred to experts who have experience in treating people with such disorders.

You may be wondering whether there is a multiple personality disorder test that will accurately diagnose the condition. But before we proceed any further, let us first get acquainted with the condition.

Multiple Personality Disorder, otherwise known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, has been found to be a result of severe trauma occurring during early childhood. The traumatic incident endured by the child has been repetitive and extreme, which may be physical or emotional in nature.

The disorder is a severe form of dissociation that results to a lack of connection within the patient’s thoughts, feelings and memories and even the sense of identity is lacking as well. It is a form of coping mechanism so that the patient can deal with the traumatic incident in his life.

The condition is quite rare, which affects approximately 0.1% to 1% of the general population although more than 33% feel like they are watching themselves at times and around 7% remained undiagnosed.

Symptoms of the condition may present as:

• *Major depression
• *Volatile temperament characterized by mood swings
• *Suicidal ideation or tendencies
• *Sleep disturbance such as insomnia
• *Development of phobias; anxiety or panic attacks
• *Obsessive compulsions
• *Psychotic presentations like auditory and visual hallucinations
• *Eating disorders

Usually, the multiple personality disorder test involves looking at the symptoms of the patients and basing it on the DSM-IV or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition.

However, the diagnosis will take time. Statistics showed that patients stayed within a mental health facility for seven years before getting accurate diagnosis. The reason behind is because the symptoms present are similar to other forms of mental health disorders. In fact, secondary conditions such as anxiety, depression and panic disorders have been found on the same patient.

Even if an accurate multiple personality test has not yet been formulated due to this difficulty, DSM-IV has provided several criteria, which the diagnosis of the condition has been entirely based. It includes the following:

1. Having two or more identities or personalities present during a form of multiple personality test or evaluation in relation to perception, interaction and thought processing about self and the environment.

2. Having at least two of the personalities repeatedly take control over the patient’s thoughts, emotions and behavior.

3. The patient has had some gaps in memory especially in recalling important information, which is too extensive to be explained and described by usual forgetfulness.

4. The condition is not a result of external effects such as alcohol intoxication, substance abuse or physiological confusion like blackouts; it should also not be the result of secondary medical condition like seizures.

There really “no cure” for multiple personality disorder yet long-term therapy and treatment has shown positive results as long as the patient stays committed and dedicated to the treatment plan. Treatment includes hypnotherapy, psychotherapy, some medications and adjunctive therapies.

The medications utilized for the disorder are usually similar to treatments given for other disorders due to the resemblance of the symptoms presented. Usually, antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications are given so that patients will benefit more.

Finally, since no accurate form of multiple personality disorder test has been formulated, seeking medical help is imperative.

Do multiple personality disorder stories really exist? This question remained unanswered for many years until this condition also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder was formally identified in the first years of the 20th century and gained popularity in recent years wherein more than 200 cases were registered. Since childhood, we are obsessed by the fairy tales which we hear from our parents and grandparents however as time goes by, most of us forget them and start living in reality however there are some who are left behind in the shadows of darkness wherein they keep on looking for a magic door and lost kingdoms.

Different stories concede various mesmerizing insights which raised challenging questions about the unconscious mind. Do we all have an alter ego??? Is there any relationship between remembering and forgetting? What do people exactly mean by personality development???? These questions aroused when people heard different multiple personality disorder stories.

Researchers found theories based on these stories which believe that there is a second self, which is separate
from a one’s original personality. The separate and diverse personalities marked in these multiple personality disorder stories features unique behavior and professional interests. In order to study of the disorder, scientists used to monitor distinctive patterns with different inspiration activities of the multiple personalities. There are many people who are related to these multiple personality disorder stories and have captured everyone’s attention and have been described through books and films.

One was Sybil, a girl with the sixteen separate personalities emerged over a period of 40 years. This disorder was developed because of the result of horrendous childhood abuses. As per the researchers, the disorder is more common among females compared to males with ratio deviating from 9 to 1. The normal age for the start of the disorder is in early childhood however once this disorder is established, it will last for a lifetime if not treated at right time. The other symptoms in this disorder are depression, abuse, personality and eating disorders etc. There’s another story of Karen Overhill whose story got published in mail online few years ago. She was a victim for the same reasons. She had 17 alter egos aged from two to 34 to bear the burden of the abuse. She was physically abused by her father and grandfather during her childhood. She also drew a sketch of her all 17 alter egos. The doctor who is helping her in recovery got inspiration from her and had written a book to tell his experiences. There’s a famous movie of 1957 based on the true story of Chris Costner Sizemore, also known as Eve, a woman with 22 personalities. Joanne Woodward played the role in motion picture “The Three Faces of Eve”. And also Corbett Thigpen wrote the book with the same name title. Chris Costner Sizemore wrote a book titled I’m Eve, sharing her experiences as a multiple personality disorder patient.To conclude it won’t be wrong to say that treating our facts with imagination is one thing, however imagining them is different thing. So, whether multiple personality disorder stories exist or not, there are people who experienced it in their lifetime.

Sometimes we find us forget where we last put our belongings; this may not be one among multiple personality disorder cases. But when we do not just forget things, but also begin to hear voices or feeling that our bodies are not our own, or waking up in unfamiliar places then this may be a multiple personality case. Studies have shown that multiple personality disorder cases occur more in women. Sometimes the onset occurs in childhood stage of life because of some deep-seated trauma or some physical abuse. The causes may be different but the nature of the disease remains the same. The only variation seen is the extent of awareness of the disease.

Multiple personality disorder is more commonly known today as dissociative identity disorder. Multiple personality disorder cases are usually seen as having two or more alternate personalities and may have different ways of talking.

Multiple personality disorder is an individual’s strategy to cope up with unbearable trauma. The intensity of the trauma would result in upsetting memories and feelings in person, forcing him to frequent a made-up fantasy world where he could forget his fears and break free from his pain. A person with multiple personality disorder is a person who lives through his mind.

In multiple personality disorder cases, there is a restructuring of the personality in order to help the person cope with mental trauma. This can often be healed through the power of the mind. Functional impairment varies from mild to severe.

Multiple personality disorder cases vary in the extent to which they are aware of their personalities. Some are aware that they have many personalities in them while some don’t even know about their inconsistent behavior.

Clinically, multiple personality disorder is to be treated by means of integrating all of the alternate personalities of the individual. Here the alternate personalities recognized by the analyst as a separate people who have a right to be heard, but are also expected to respect the host personality and therapist. One personality is not allowed to do things without the permission of the other personality. When not all personalities are fluent in expressing themselves, they are allowed to use other media such as magazines, toys and computers.

Integration sometimes goes beyond the contract. For example, it may be incorporated into cognitive therapy where the person is put in a calm disposition, allowing the therapist to call the personalities and negotiate with them. Soon the person realizes that all personalities are only part of his fantasized personalities. The realization changes the mind and thereby creates changes in the person.

Visualizations as part of the cognitive hypnotherapy allows the person to see themselves healing from their pain, and later experiencing the healing process. In this way, huge amount of change is felt all through the person.

When healing through the mind is done, a sense of unity is usually felt by the person, and he no longer hears other voices or actions leading to inconsistent behavior. The split portions of the mind tend to integrate and the person comes back to his own personality.

In most multiple personality disorder cases, the person is back to his real self, healed and able-bodied.

How To Identify

People diagnosed positively in Multiple Personality Disorder have terrible nightmares. Those who have a strong tendency to mental illness also constant nightmares.

The official psychiatric diagnostic criteria for Multiple Personality Disorder symptoms are complex and patient requires a lot of attention to confirm them. According to the DSM IV-TR include the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states, at least two of these identities repeatedly control the behaviour of the person, and the inability to important personal information that’s expanded recall can be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.

There are a three mayor criteria that must be met before the diagnosis:

- Two or more distinct identities must present themselves, each with their own patterns to interpret & think about the environment as well as themselves.

- At least both of these identities are periodic inspection of the person’s behavior.

- The person is unable to recall important personal information is too important & significant for the regular oblivion.

Symptoms aren’t due to the direct effect of a substance, licit or illicit, or a general medical condition such as epilepsy.

Quite often, MPD patient will be described as Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, it means that in one moment a person may seem very passive & submissive, and in one blink of an eye totally impatient, aggressive or self-destructive person arises. It’s quite common for a person with dissociative identity disorder to change personalities like that. Most of the time it will take from four to seven years before dissociative identify proper identification. General fault diagnosis given is Bi-Polar Disorder or Borderline Personality Disorder.

Multiple Personality Disorder Symptoms marks on each personality. This is an example when each personality state may be experienced as if it has a distinct personal history, self-image & identity, including different names. I’ve customers that’ll write a left-handed person with a beautiful handwriting, while another person will insist that he she can only use the right hand to write. To talk to an adult 1 minute & a young, rebellious teenager to another is quite common.

Multiple Personality Disorder Curing

The assessment process includes a detailed history of the infancy of the person & other mental disorders. The tester will ask for an volledig physical examination by a doctor for any physical ailments.

After the elimination of any physical disease doctor next exclude psychotic disorders. If the doctor still suspects DID, a screening test, the Dissociative Experiences Scale is followed by specific additional testing.

When you find symptoms of Multiple Personality Disorder in someone in your family, your friends, or even the most closer one- don’t be neutral about it. Try to analyze and look for first symptoms. After confirming those symptoms you should contact with your doctor and inform him about current situation. He will exactly tell you what to do next. Your fast reaction can help this person and stop it from suffering from DID.