Q&A

While everyone experiences a mild form of Dissociation in their lives (such as day-dreaming, zoning out, getting lost in the moment etc.) a person with Dissociative Identity Disorder will have that in a way more severe form. This disorder produces a lack of connection to the person’s thoughts, memories, feelings, actions and of course, sense of identity. The disorder stems from a list of possible explainations but all comes from severe trauma, most likely from the earliest years of a persons life. It comes as a coping-mechanism, a way for the person to turn into someone else who wasn’t there during the traumatic experience to deal with painful situations that reminds them of what happened.

Dissociative Identity Disorder is still very controversial, even though the earliest case found about it was in the early 1400’s. Even highly trained «Experts» find it very difficult to understand. Mental Health Professionals often describes the disorder as «The closest Humans will ever get to real life superheros» (which U.R thinks is a long shot) due to the many different wonders of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

The symptoms are often really hard to clock if one doesn’t know about it already. But if you look at the list on the next slide you might recognize some of them just by reading them and have a nice walk down memory-lane.

1. Difficult to identify the persons true personality. 2. Difficulties connecting with what should be relatively easy connecting to. 3. Depression to a severe level. 4. Sudden and severe mood swings that are difficult to predict. 5. Su*c*dal tendencies (thoughts as well as actions). 6. Sleep disorders (insomnia, night terrors, sleepwalking/talking, narcolepsy) 7. Anxiety/Panic attacks and severe phobias (Flashbacks or clear trauma reactions to situations similar to the insident). 8. Alcohol and/or drug use/abuse. 9. Compulsions and/or rituals. 10. Psychologically/neurologically abnormal symptoms (Such as visual and/or auditory hallucinations). 11. Eating Disorders (Anorexia, Bullimia, Compulsive overeating, no-to-low appetite).

You will sooner or later find how misunderstood the two are. While people think of Schizophrenia as a Split Personality Disorder, the two are actually quite different from each other. Schizophrenia is a neurological as well as psychological illness involving chronic (recurrent) psychosis. A person with Schizophrenia hear things (and in severe cases see and even feel things) that are not real, thinking and believing they are, with the stubborn behavior of also believing that everyone who says it’s not real are lying to them. People with Schizophrenia does not necessarily have Dissociative Identity Disorder, and vice versa. Same goes for people with Schizophrenia that has Dissociative Identity Disorder, and vice versa. It might stem from the same reason, but doesn’t have anything to do with each other.

1. Depersonalization: The sense of being detached from one’s own body, often reffered to as an «Out-of-body» experience. 2. Derealization: A feeling or the convinced sense that the world and everything is not real, looking foggy, is far away or being rigged. The feeling is often described as either being in a movie or a (video/board) game, as if one has already died or as if nothing is within reach and even as a dream someone is having. 3. Amnesia:This is a condition due to failure of recollecting or remembering significant personal information and/or memories so extensive it can simply not just be the ordinary forgetfulness. This also happens in what one would call a «micro-amnisia», which means that the conversation/discussion dies due to the person forgetting what they were talking about from one second to the next in a chronic fashion. 4. Identity Confusion/Alteration: The feeling of confusion to who they are as a person. It can get troubling and even problematic to define the person’s identity as it keeps switching. The person can change interest, dreams, views, religion, social skills, s*xuality, etc.

As it is a coping-mechanism the roles to the different personalities will change from each affected person. It all depends on what that individual person needs to get through life the best way possible (most of the time). There are different types of bad personalities too, but that only happens on rare occations and not many has them. When the disorder is initially discovered in a person there’s an average on two to four personalities. Over a course of treatment there’s an average grown up to 13 to 15 personalities, though that is far from the so-called «maximum». There are many cases of systems growingup to 100 and even 200 and above personalities, and even though «experts» will saythat’s quite unusual – it’s not. Cases even tells of people with up to 2000 to 3000 personalities!

1. Two or more distinct identities/personalities present for an introduction. Each with their own relatively enduring pattern of perciving, relating to and thinking of the enviroment and self. 2. Amnesia must occur, defined gaps in the recollecting of everyday events, important personal information and/or major life event as well as traumatic events. 3. The person must be in distress by the disorder or have trouble funcioning in every day life as well as major life areas due to the disorder. 4. The disturbance can’t be a part of normal cultural or religious views. 5. The symptoms can not be due to direct psychological effects of substances (such as blackouts or chaotic behavior due to intoxication). 6. The symptoms can not be due to medical conditions (such as complex partial seizures).

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a very uncommon diagnosisdue to only 0.01 to 1% of the general populationisaffected by it. While there is no «cure» for Dissociative Identity Disorder, there are a few treatments that can be found very helpful for a better life for the affected, but only if the patient stays commited. The known effective treatments includes talk therapy or psychotherapy, hypnotherapy and adjunctive therapiessuch as art and movementtherapy. There are currently no established medicational treatments for the disorder which makes therapy on a psychologically-based approaches the only treatment-option. The only famous person with confirmed Dissociative Identity Disorder is the now-retired NFL star Herscel Walker, who said he’s been struggling with it for many years. He wrote about it in his book along with his stories of su*c*de attemts. While many from the outside would describe the people affected as sufferers of the disorder, Walker wrote of it as his way of getting through loneliness and that it helped him reach national fame in the end.

Because, if you look at the criterias for the diagnosis, it’s so much more than that.

Nothing can truly explain why people get Dissociative Identity Disorder, nor can they explain the things that happens to the person or how it’s even possible. Medical records have shown that each personalities can also have their very own medical record and reaction to medicine and treatments.

DID: The Dissociative Identity Disorder Acronym. (Co-)Host: The personality born alongside the body. Alters: The personalities that came after the body was born. Integration: The blending of two or more alters. Time-loss: When people with Dissociative Identity Disorder get the feeling that a whole chunk of their time suddenly disappeared. Parts: Another word for Alters. System: A word used to described Host and Alters as a whole. Feminine/Masculine: We only use this as it helps with dysphia and dysmorphia. Inner world: The place we go to when we are not walking around in the body. (Co-)Fronting: When the personality is walking around in the body. U.R: The Acronym for Untitled Royalty