Dissociative Identity Disorder Thesis Statement: For people to have a clearer view and understanding on the Dissociative Identity

Disorder (DID), they should be able to have access on the basic information and necessary treatments beneficial to possible DID patients, their relatives and the public. I. Introduction Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is a mental illness in which a person has at least two or more distinct personalities called alters. Each alter exists independently, is well integrated and well developed, with its own habits, tastes and learned behavior. In some cases, people diagnosed with DID have alters that have distinct ways of reacting in terms of emotions, pulse, blood pressure and brain waves. This explains why DID is considered the most bizarre, most controversial, and most fascinating of the dissociative disorders. The earliest mention of DID occurred in the nineteenth century. Statistics show the rate of dissociative identity disorder is .01% to 1% of the general population. In a review of literature, Sutcliffe and Jones were able to identify a total of 77 cases, most of which were reported between 1980 and 1920. After that period, DID cases declined not until 1970s when they increased remarkably. DID cases are rare and are usually misdiagnosed as

schizophrenia and other personality disorders. The vast majority of DID patients are adult women. However, among children, the ratio of girl to boy DID patient is 1:1. It may be that boys with DID are treated early than girls, so

as adults, males are likely to have this disease. Or it may be that the conditions leading to DID are more experienced by females than males. Dissociative Identity Disorder was also publicized in the name of Sybil and the Three Faces of Eve. These movies are stories of a life of a DID patient. It tells details on its symptoms and treatments. There are also people faking DID to avoid criminal punishment like William Stanley Milligan who was accused of rape. These will be further discussed as we dig deeper. With all these accounts presented, this research is just up to one aim that is to give information to the public warning them on the causes that may lead to dissociation. This research can give you the basic information such as its causes, symptoms and treatment. The controversies of DID will also be explained. Thus, would give you a clearer understanding about this disease. II. Dig Deeper A. Why people have DID The specific cause if Dissociative Identity Disorder is basically unknown but the prevailing psychological theory about how the condition develops is as a reaction to childhood trauma. Learning theorists have constructed that the dissociation is a mechanism to avoid highly stressful events. This may be a stratagem of abused children to distance themselves from the realities of their lives. In the Putnam survey only three out of 100 patients did not report some significant trauma in childhood. The most common was sexual abuse, reported by 83 percent of the patients and 68 percent of these sexually abused patients claimed it was in a form of incest. Three-fourths of the patients suffered

repeated physical abuse in childhood, and almost half witnessed a violent death during their early years. In the Ross survey, 95 percent of the patients reported physical and/or sexual child abuse. As Ross describes: The little girl being sexually abused by her father at night imagines that abuse is happening to someone else, as a way to distance herself from the overwhelming emotions she is experiencing. She may float up to the ceiling and watch the abuse in a detached fashion. Now not only is the abuse not happening to her, but she blocks it out of her mind- that other little girl remembers it, not the original self. In this model, DID is an internal divide-and-conquer strategy in which intolerable knowledge and feeling is split up into manageable compartments. These compartments are personified and take on a real life of their own. Coons (1994), Dell and Eisenhowers (1990), Hornstein and Putnams (1992) studies show that majority of DID patients report having been sexually or physically abused during childhood. This is true in the case of Sybil- the highly publicized DID patient. Sybil, a young shy graduate, suffered Dissociative Identity Disorder as a result of child abuse. She developed at least 12 different personalities to cope up with the stress. Sybils alters provided her with security and safety from the abuse she was experiencing. She was then trapped in her own defense mechanism. As Ross explained earlier, DID is a divide-and-conquer strategy to cope stress. Patients suffering DID divides their personality, forming alters different from what theyre experiencing, and later on are trapped by them.

According to psychoanalytic theory, Dissociative Identity Disorder may be caused by the persons inability to accept oneself and the world as it is and to shape their aims according to their assets. DID patients may seem to suffer from a false sense of competition which does not allow the human being to take himself as he is. The person succeeds in this by splitting off an entire part of the personality from awareness or by acquiring a new identity for the dissociated portion of the self. The new personality represents a wish fulfillment. Some psychologist say that biological factors can cause DID. This means that children with a parent suffering from DID will likely have the same disorder. There appears to be a biological component given the fact that most people with DID have a family history of the disorder. Moreover, one study of twins found evidence that the tendency to dissociate is substantially affected by genetics (Jang et al., 1998). People who develop Dissociative Identity Disorder tend to be highly susceptible and hypnotizable. They may use self-hypnosis to escape their traumas. Their inability to focus may make them vulnerable to subdividing their personalities under stress. That is why hypnosis is one of the treatments of this disorder which will be discussed further. B. Symptoms The cardinal symptom of Dissociative Identity Disorder is the presence of multiple personalities called alters. These alters have distinct qualities. Some alters are the total opposite of the dominant personality. According to Putnam,

Gurrof, Silberman and colleagues (1986) and Ross, Miller, Reagor and colleagues (1990) survey, at least 50 percent of the patients reported drug abuse by their alter, 20 percent claimed their alters have been involved in a sexual assault, and 29 percent reported that one of their alters was homicidal. Some patients have suicidal alters or an alternate that tries to kill another. More than half of the patients had internal homicide attempts. The simplest form of DID is called alternating personality, wherein two identities alternate one another, each having amnesia for the thoughts and actions of the other. Another pattern of DID involves one or more dominant personalities and one or more subordinate ones. The dominant personality controls the persons behavior, on the other hand; the subordinate personality operates covertly and makes its presence visible through various means. The latter is fully aware of the thoughts and actions of the former. Thus, subordinate personality is said to be coconscious with the dominant personality. This pattern is illustrated by the famous case of Chris Sizemore or famously known as Eve in the Three Faces of Eve (1957). Eve White was the original dominant personality. She had no knowledge on the existence of Eve Black, a subordinate personality who was conscious of Eve White. Eve Black would come out at the most inappropriate times leaving Eve White the bills and hangovers. All Eve White could ever remember was that she had back outs. Eve Black had been alternating with Eve White for some years already. Both personalities were opposite of each other. Eve Black was mischievous and carefree, on the other hand; Eve White

was quiet and serious. Eve Black despised Eve White and talked about her with flippancy. During treatment, a third personality emerged- Jane. She is conscious of both Eve White and Eve Black. Jane is more mature than the other two. She seemed to have emerged out from the therapeutic process. During therapy, they discovered 20 other personalities. The transition from one personality to another is marked by a sudden and painful headache. In 1977 Mrs. Sizemore reported that she was cured. She said that those personalities were truly parts of her and that they needed to be merged.

C. Treatment D. Controversies

III. IV.

Summary and Conclusion