Dissociative Identity Disorder Essays -- Biology Essays Research Paper

Dissociative Identity Disorder, commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is estimated to afflict at least a tenth of the American population. Patients with this disorder suffer from constant memory loss due to the presence of two or more other personalities that "take over" the patient's consciousness at random times of the day. This switching of personalities may last for a couple minutes, a couple hours, to up to several weeks at a time (1). In the past 30 years, the prevalence of Dissociative Identity Disorder has sky rocketed. The term dissociation refers to the disruption of one or more agents that constitutes "consciousness", such the formation of memories, making sense of them and maintaining a sense of identity (1). Dissociation results from forces beyond the patient's control. Proponents of Dissociative Identity Disorder believe memory loss occurs because the patient's consciousness is taken over by alter personalities believed to be formed during childhood (2). Personalities are usually found to be extremely different from the personality of the patient. The patient is usually shy, introverted and insecure, whereas some of her personalities may be flirtatious, outgoing, confident; and yet others may have issues surrounding anger management. Personalities may be older than the age of the patient, younger, or may have lived over a hundred years ago (1). Patients who suffer from DID are usually women who have had a history of sexual or extreme physical abuse, or who have experienced repeated trauma beyond her control (3). Because the child cannot physically escape the pain, her only option is to escape mentally: by dissociating. Dissociation is said to defend against pain by allowing the maltreatment to be ex... ...ts who come into therapy may have problems dealing with their emotions and self validation, and at the end of therapy, with the help and validation of therapists, discover multiple alter personalities. Does Dissociative Identity Disorder exist? Maybe. Yet, one who is unable to integrate various emotions and memories should have less than one personality, not multiple. References 1)Dissociative Identity Disorder: The Relevance of Behavior Analysis by Brady J. Phelps http://web3.infotrac.galegroup.com/ 2)Multiplying the Multiplicity in the British Journal of Psychology http://web3.infotrac.galegroup.com/ 3)The Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder With Neurotherapy and Group Self Exploration http://www.isnr.org/index.html 4)An Analytical Review of Dissociative Identity Disorder http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web1/www.ycp.edu