Multiple Personality

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Multiple Personality
1. Introduction
Multiple personality is a complex psychological condition characterized by breakdowns or disruptions of awareness, memory, perception and/or identity.
People suffering from multiple personalities do in involuntary chronically escape their reality in unhealthy way ranging from assuming alternate identities to suppressing memories.
2. Types of MPD
Dissociative Amnesia
Derealization disorder also is known as depersonalization
Dissociative Identity Disorder
3. Symptoms and Signs.
Symptoms and sign of the three disorders.
Amnesia (memory loss) of certain events, people and periods.
Issues with mental health such as anxiety and depression
Distorted perception of things and people around.
Risk factors
4. Causes of Multiple Personalities
Most often is caused by several factors such as severe trauma at tender age mostly repetitive emotional, physical or sexual abuse.
5. Diagnosis
Multiple personality disorder is diagnosed based the review of individual patient symptoms as well as his or her history. To rule out physical conditions such as sleep deprivation, brain diseases, and intoxication tests are performed.
A physician may decide to use hypnosis or medication to describe repressed memories as well as identifying alternate personality.
6. Complications
People suffering from multiple personalities are at risk of difficulty such as:
Suicide attempts
Eating disorders
Alcoholism or substance abuse
Depression
Sleep disorders
Self-mutilation
Anxiety disorders

7. Treatment.
Psychotherapy
8. Conclusion
9. Works Cited
Introduction
Multiple personality is a complex psychological condition characterized by breakdowns or disruptions of awareness, memory, perception and/or identity. This implies that this type of disorder involves mental disturbances that are likely caused repeated and severe trauma during childhood. Such conditions make the subject dissociate or disconnect from the reality around in some ways. Disassociation and disconnect lead to “blackout” that is period, events and people that the individual cannot trace his or her memory on. As a result, his or her personality traits, sense of identity, actions, and thoughts lacks continuity. At an early age, personal identity is often in the process of forming. This implies that at a tender age a child more than an adult can step out of self-consciousness and view trauma as if it is happening to another person. By so doing such a child involuntary learn how to disassociate to endure traumatic experiences. Eventually, this forms as a coping mechanism in response to similar situations all through his or her life.
Types of the Disorder
There are three types of disorders the first one is referred to as dissociative amnesia. This is the most shared type of disease. It is characterized by critical symptoms such as loss of memory and loss of sense on time the worst thing about these signs is that they don’t have a medical explanation. This implies that a person suffering from this type of disorder has a blank spot in his memory such that he or she cannot remember conversation he had or event that occurred. This kind of disease can be specific to some particular traumatic events such as sexual abuse or combat. The second type is decreolization disorder it is mostly characterized by ongoing, consistent episodic experimental and emotional detachment from occurrences in a person’s life. Most people who suffer from this particular disorder term the feeling as watching their actions and thought from a spectator point of view that is outside themselves. The last type is the DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) this involve frequently switching to different identities.
Symptoms and Signs
Multiple personality disorder is characterized by different signs and symptoms depending on the type of disease one may be having. However, there are some common signs and symptoms such include; memory loss knew as amnesia the lapses in memory is particularly of significant events in life. Furthermore, a person suffering from this disorder may experience two or more distinct personalities each of them having a different pattern of relating to, perceiving as well as thinking of self and environment. Identity disruption involves an alteration in common sense, self as well as changes in memory, consciousness, behavior, motor function and cogitation (Piper and Harold 680). It is characterized by frequent gaps in the mind which are not consistent with typical forgetting. Such symptoms among others cause impairment in occupational, social among other areas of function alongside clinically significant distress. The significant risk factor associated with this disorder include experiencing any form of abuse during childhood such as torture, natural disasters, war among others.
Causes
Causes of multiple personalities may not be entirely be understood as this disorder varies from one person to the other. However, according to research most people who suffer from this disorder report to have experienced sexual and physical abuse mostly at an early age (Sánchez-Sánchez et al. 5156). There is no particular age at which the disorder may manifest itself. People suffering from multiple personalities may experience post-traumatic symptoms such as startle response, nightmares, and a flashback or even post-traumatic disorders. The disorder is also common among close relatives. Therefore, genetic makeup is also a probable cause.
Diagnosis
Since the disorder is characterized by overlapping symptoms several diagnoses are conducted such include; schizophrenia. Multiple diagnoses are necessary as the disorder is diagnosed based the review of individual patient symptoms as well as his or her history. To rule out physical conditions such as sleep deprivation, brain diseases, and intoxication tests are performed.
Complications
As with any other psychological disorder, MPD is associated with several complications such as self-harm, suicidal behaviors, excessive use of drugs, sleeping disorders such as insomnia and nightmares. Other include eating disorder, difficulties in personal relationships anxiety and depression disorders among many others.
Treatment
Psychotherapy is the main component of treatment in treating people suffering from this disorder therapist help the patient in the improvement of their relationship with other people. They also help them experience feeling that they never felt comfortable to express openly in the past (Blakeslee 160). The treatment is often paced carefully to prevent the victim from being overwhelmed by anxiety. Hypnosis, on the other hand, is used to aid in increasing the information that the person suffering from the disorder has concerning their identity state.
Conclusion
Given the fact that the primary causes of multiple personality disorder are closely associated with exposure to physical and sexual abuse alongside traumatic events. The prevention of the disorder can be solely based on parents and caregiver efforts by minimizing the possibility of exposing children to traumatic events. It is also vital to help trauma survivors to come in term with the challenging experience they have had healthily. Therefore, it is essential to contact a health professional in case one has experienced traumatizing events.
Works Cited
Blakeslee, Thomas R. “Psychotherapy and Multiple Personalities.” Beyond the Conscious Mind. Springer, Boston, MA, 1996. 153-175.
Piper, August, and Harold Merskey. “The persistence of folly: Critical examination of dissociative identity disorder. Part II. The defense and decline of multiple specific or dissociative identity disorder.” The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 49.10 (2004): 678-683.
Sánchez-Sánchez, Noelia, Lorena Riol-Blanco, and José Luis Rodríguez-Fernández. “The multiple personalities of the chemokine receptor CCR7 in dendritic cells.” The Journal of Immunology 176.9 (2006): 5153-5159.