People with dissociative identity disorder have multiple personalities that take turns.
- Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by having multiple personalities.
- Nearly 90% of people with this disorder were severely abused or neglected as children.
- The main management is based on the follow-up of psychotherapy.
1.5% of people have dissociative identity disorder in any given year, according to study results reported by the MSD Manual. One case was particularly publicized, that of Jennifer Haynes. This woman was the victim of serious violence on the part of her father. To survive, she created 2,500 different personalities depending on the BBC. During his trial in 2019, the Australian justice authorized him to testify on behalf of six of his personalities.
Different personalities in people with this disorder
“In dissociative identity disorder, formerly called multiple personality disorder, two or more identities take turns controlling the same person, can we read on the site of the MSD Manual. In addition, the person does not remember information that is normally easy to remember, such as everyday events, important personal information and/or traumatic or stressful events.
What are the causes ? Most often, it comes from intense stress or trauma during childhood. “In the United States, Canada, and Europe, nearly 90% of people with this disorder were severely abused (physically, sexually, or emotionally) or neglected as children”, explains the MSD Manual. An early loss – such as the death of a parent when the child is young -, a serious illness or traumatic events can also explain the development of this disorder.
memory problems
In concrete terms, the affected person therefore has several identities. We must distinguish the forms with possession – which means that the person acts in a different way according to the personality which takes possession of him -, of the cases without possession, lighter. For the latter, patients have instantaneous changes in thought, moods, attitude or opinion. But it is more difficult to distinguish real personalities.
With regard to amnesia, another symptom of dissociative identity disorder, forgetfulness concerns past and current personal events or even a feeling of absence at times. For example, patients may not remember personal items or things they wrote down themselves.
Finally, dissociative identity disorder can also cause hallucinations, pain and severe headaches. Nevertheless, this disorder can be treated by following psychotherapy, which is often long and difficult for those affected.
