Multiple Personality Disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder) – Causes, Symptoms & Therapy

Multiple Personality Disorder, also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), affects a person’s perception, memory and identity. Those affected develop different identities that influence their behavior.

These identities are not perceived, ie the affected person often does not remember what he did in the other identity when changing his identity. Sometimes different identities are also classified as foreign actions.

causes

Severe childhood trauma is often the cause of multiple personality disorders. This can be abuse, neglect, ritual abuse within a cult, waking up during surgery, or sexual abuse.Equally bad experiences in accidents, the death of a person, murder, war or other catastrophes.

Traumas are particularly deep-seated when family members were affected. Studies show that at least ¾ of all patients with DID experienced sexual violence or physical abuse in their childhood.

Such experiences not only trigger DID, they also block spontaneous healing. The goal of developing multiple personalities is to act out blocked or repressed actions through the secondary personality.

Therefore, the different personalities are usually completely different from each other. A multiple personality disorder is usually accompanied by other mental disorders such as depression , anxiety , post-traumatic stress disorder or borderline .

When to the doctor?

Multiple personality disorder is a serious mental illness and should always be treated by a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. Trained trauma therapists are particularly qualified to do this; However, they should be able to use a so-called guideline procedure as a basis. The guideline procedures include behavioral therapy, psychoanalysis and procedures based on depth psychology.

Some therapists also specialize in multiple personality disorder. However, experts believe that there are not enough specialists in this mental illness to fully meet the need. Counseling centers for victims of violence can also be a first point of contact to find out about other options.

Multiple personalities often find it difficult to build trust with other people. Therefore, finding the right psychotherapist or psychiatrist can be difficult. Subjective trust in the therapist may be more important than a formal additional qualification on the part of the therapist – as long as the therapist works seriously.

In some cases, inpatient treatment in a clinic makes sense. An acute clinic can help, especially if there is a risk of suicide, severe self-harm and other urgent problems. In the medium term, planned inpatient therapy is also conceivable – this option is usually discussed with the doctor or therapist who works with the person concerned on an outpatient basis.

symptoms and course

Typical for all types of multiple personality disorder is solely the development of different personalities. That can be up to 100. Most patients form between 8 and 10 different personalities. There is always one person who takes over normal everyday life, this partial personality is called “host”.

Specific symptoms of the disorder include memory lapses, confusion, loss of reality, depression, images of past trauma triggered by non-specific everyday stimuli, anxiety, self-injurious behavior, aggression, headaches , alcohol and drug addiction, bulimia or anorexia , compulsions, and hearing voices. In most cases, the disorder occurs intermittently or constantly as a child, but goes unnoticed. Stress and other traumatic experiences exacerbate the disorder. In most cases, the symptoms of the disease decrease with age.

Diagnose

Patients suspected of having a dissociative identity disorder are examined organically and psychologically using standardized questionnaires in order to rule out the presence of epilepsy , for example . Differentiating the disease from other mental illnesses is difficult. A similarity to Borderline comes from suffering from causeless mood swings that can appear like different personalities.

Patients with schizophrenia show a resemblance to DID in hearing voices. Post-traumatic stress disorder, like DID, is based on traumatic experiences. The patient may also feel alienated from himself. In many cases, years pass before the final diagnosis of DID.

treatment and therapy

The therapy of a multiple personality disorder moves in the areas of psychodynamics, cognitive behavior, hypnotherapy, depth psychology and trauma adaptation. Treatment usually takes the form of long-term outpatient therapy, sometimes with a short-term inpatient stay.

The aim of the therapy is to restore the patient’s well-being and stability. Some therapists are of the opinion that the partial identity must be integrated back into the actual identity. In some cases, medication such as antidepressants or tranquilizers makes sense.The problem is that drugs only suppress the symptoms and do not treat the cause. The psychotherapeutic therapy of DID is divided into different phases.

Since most sufferers have problems trusting themselves, a relationship between therapist and patient must first be established. The patient is stabilized, coping with everyday life is ensured and circumstances that burden the affected person are to be changed.

This phase is followed by a linking of the various partial identities with one another. They get to know each other, their relationships are clarified and reconnected.

The third phase aims to process the trauma. It is difficult to prevent the patient, upon recognizing the trauma, from creating secondary personalities according to his old pattern. Trauma must be accepted as part of the personal past.

prevention

Prevention of multiple personality disorder is impossible or not yet known. It may be possible that combating child abuse in the future, if successful, will reduce the occurrence of such personality disorders. Another way to encourage treatment and recognition of DID is to inform and educate those affected.