Young children have a pronounced ability to dissociate and it is believed that those who are abused may learn to use dissociation as a defense. Retrieving and dealing with memories of trauma is important for a person living with DID, because this disorder is believed to be triggered by physical or sexual abuse in childhood. The goal of the therapist is to enable the individual to achieve breakdown of the patient’s separate identities and their unification into a single identity. The therapist aims to establish communication among the personality states and to find ones that have memories of traumatic events in an individual’s past. In particular, the therapist seeks to form an effective relationship with any personalities that are responsible for violent or self-destructive behavior and to curb this behavior. The therapist attempts to make contact with as many alters as possible and to understand their roles and functions in an individual’s life. Treatment for DID consists primarily of psychotherapy with hypnosis. In addition to experiencing separate identities, individuals living with DID may also experience many other symptoms. It affects women nine times more than men. DID is a serious mental illness that occurs across all ethnic groups and all income levels. While the causes are unknown, statistics show that DID occurs in 0.01 to 1 percent of the general population. Approximately one-third of individuals affected complain of auditory or visual hallucinations. Often people living with DID are depressed or even suicidal and self-mutilation is common in this group. They may repeatedly encounter unfamiliar people who claim to know them, find themselves somewhere without knowing how they got there or find items that they don’t remember purchasing among their possessions. These individuals may be unable to remember events in all or part of a proceeding time period. A very common complaint in people affected by DID is episodes of amnesia, or time loss. Some alters may harbor aggressive tendencies, directed toward individuals in the person’s environment or toward other alters within the person.Īt the time a person living with DID first seeks professional help, he or she is usually not aware of their condition. Often alters are stable over time, continuing to play specific roles in the person’s life for years. These differences between alters are often quite striking.Ī person living with DID may have as few as two alters or as many as 100. The alters may even present physical differences, such as allergies, right-or-left handedness or the need for eyeglass prescriptions. The different identities, referred to as alters, may exhibit differences in speech, mannerisms, attitudes, thoughts and gender orientation. When under the control of one identity, a person is usually unable to remember some of the events that occurred while other personalities were in control. What Is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)?ĭissociative identity disorder (DID), previously referred to as multiple personality disorder, is a dissociative disorder involving a disturbance of identity in which two or more separate and distinct personality states (or identities) control an individual’s behavior at different times. Statewide Behavioral Health Resources Dashboard.
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