Split personality people

Signs, symptoms, causes, and more

A split personality refers to dissociative identity disorder (DID), a mental disorder where a person has two or more distinct personalities. The thoughts, actions, and behaviors of each personality may be completely different.

Trauma often causes this condition, particularly during childhood. While there is no defined cure for DID, long-term treatment may help people combine their personalities into one.

This article discusses split personality disorder, including causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and more.

Share on PinterestTrauma during childhood is a possible cause of split personality disorder.

A split personality is a popular term for DID. In the past, DID was known as multiple personality disorder.

People with DID have two or more distinct personalities. They do not present as simple changes in traits or moods. A person with DID expresses significant differences between these alternate identities, which can also be referred to as alters.

Often, these personalities are completely different from each other. These fragmented personalities take control of the person’s identity for some time.

A person also maintains their primary or host identity, which is their original personality, and will answer to their given name. Their primary identity is generally more passive, and they may be unaware of the other personalities.

When a personality change happens, the new personality will have a distinct history, a new identity, and different behaviors.

These split personalities, or alters, often have their own distinct:

name
age
gender
moods
memories
vocabulary

A new personality will see themselves differently. For instance, someone assigned male at birth may have an alternate identity as a woman. They may experience themselves with female biological sex characteristics.

The shift between these personalities tends to occur when a person faces a certain stressor or trigger.

The exact cause of DID is not fully understood. However, there is a strong link between the condition and trauma. This may be particularly true for trauma or abuse during childhood. In Europe, the United States, and Canada, 90% of people who experience DID are victims of severe trauma in childhood.

The condition represents someone who struggles to integrate and assimilate certain aspects of their own identity, which become disjointed over time.

The signs of DID may vary, but they include a change between two or more separate personalities.

Symptoms include:

Experiencing two or more separate personalities, each with their own self-identity and perceptions.
A notable change in a person’s sense of self.
Frequent gaps in memory and personal history, which are not due to normal forgetfulness, including loss of memories, and forgetting everyday events.

When these other personalities take over, they often talk with a different vocabulary, and gesture differently. In some cases, one personality may also pick up certain habits that the other does not, such as smoking, or becoming violent.

In the shift from one personality to another, a person may experience other symptoms. Some people can have anxiety, as they may be afraid of the personality change. Some may become very angry or violent. Others may not notice or remember these transitions at all, although another person may notice them.

Specific personalities may appear in response to certain situations. These symptoms can cause a person significant distress, and disrupt their ability to live their life normally.

Other symptoms may include:

amnesia
losing sense of time
going into a trance-like state
out-of-body experiences, or depersonalization
engaging in behaviors that are unusual for the person
sleep disturbances

A person with DID may also experience symptoms of other conditions, such as self-harm. One study notes that more than 70% of people with DID have attempted suicide.

Suicide prevention

If you know someone at immediate risk of self-harm, suicide, or hurting another person:

Ask the tough question: “Are you considering suicide?”
Listen to the person without judgment.
Call 911 or the local emergency number, or text TALK to 741741 to communicate with a trained crisis counselor.
Stay with the person until professional help arrives.
Try to remove any weapons, medications, or other potentially harmful objects.

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, a prevention hotline can help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours per day at 800-273-8255. During a crisis, people who are hard of hearing can use their preferred relay service or dial 711 then 800-273-8255.

Click here for more links and local resources.

Trauma often triggers DID as a psychological response, so it is a strong risk factor, especially in childhood. This trauma can stem from:

physical abuse
sexual abuse
emotional neglect
psychological abuse

In some cases, a child may not experience a clear form of abuse, but may not grow up in a safe home environment. For example, they may live with highly unpredictable parents, and start to dissociate in response to the stress that comes with this.

Dissociative identity disorder may appear alongside other disorders. This means that several mental health disorders could arise from the same cause.

Other common disorders that can occur alongside DID include:

borderline personality disorder
depression
substance use disorder
post-traumatic stress disorder
eating disorders
anxiety
obsessive-compulsive disorder

It takes time to diagnose DID. Misdiagnosis is common, and doctors need to observe a person’s symptoms, and dismiss other conditions.

To properly make a diagnosis, doctors need to see the different personalities and how they affect the person.

Time is also an important factor in seeing the full scale of the symptoms. This is because people who seek help for DID commonly present with symptoms linked to other mental health conditions.

Additionally, as DID often occurs alongside other disorders, doctors need to rule out the symptoms of other conditions before they make a diagnosis. As such, they may prescribe therapies or medications to treat these conditions first.

There are no guidelines on how to treat DID. Doctors often prescribe treatments on a case-by-case basis.

No specific medication exists for DID. Treatment plans manage any conditions that occur alongside DID, and they can combine psychotherapy, with any necessary drugs to help with symptoms.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is the main treatment for people with DID. Techniques, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, may help a person work through and learn to accept the triggers that cause personality shifts.

In DID, psychotherapy aims to help integrate a person’s identity and learn to cope with post-traumatic experiences.

Other therapies

Art therapy, movement therapy, and relaxation techniques may all have a place in the treatment of DID. These methods may help people connect aspects of their mind in a low-stress environment.

Childhood trauma is often the cause of split personality disorder, now referred to as DID.

A person will subconsciously create other personalities to handle certain aspects of themselves and their traumas, without which they cannot cope.

There is no specific cure for DID. However, many people can help manage their symptoms and work to integrate their identities through regular psychotherapy. They can also ease any other symptoms with medication.

Read this article in Spanish.

Signs, symptoms, causes, and more

Trauma often causes this condition, particularly during childhood. While there is no defined cure for DID, long-term treatment may help people combine their personalities into one.

This article discusses split personality disorder, including causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and more.

Share on PinterestTrauma during childhood is a possible cause of split personality disorder.

A split personality is a popular term for DID. In the past, DID was known as multiple personality disorder.

Often, these personalities are completely different from each other. These fragmented personalities take control of the person’s identity for some time.

When a personality change happens, the new personality will have a distinct history, a new identity, and different behaviors.

These split personalities, or alters, often have their own distinct:

name
age
gender
moods
memories
vocabulary

The shift between these personalities tends to occur when a person faces a certain stressor or trigger.

The condition represents someone who struggles to integrate and assimilate certain aspects of their own identity, which become disjointed over time.

The signs of DID may vary, but they include a change between two or more separate personalities.

Symptoms include:

Experiencing two or more separate personalities, each with their own self-identity and perceptions.
A notable change in a person’s sense of self.
Frequent gaps in memory and personal history, which are not due to normal forgetfulness, including loss of memories, and forgetting everyday events.

Specific personalities may appear in response to certain situations. These symptoms can cause a person significant distress, and disrupt their ability to live their life normally.

Other symptoms may include:

amnesia
losing sense of time
going into a trance-like state
out-of-body experiences, or depersonalization
engaging in behaviors that are unusual for the person
sleep disturbances

A person with DID may also experience symptoms of other conditions, such as self-harm. One study notes that more than 70% of people with DID have attempted suicide.

Suicide prevention

If you know someone at immediate risk of self-harm, suicide, or hurting another person:

Ask the tough question: “Are you considering suicide?”
Listen to the person without judgment.
Call 911 or the local emergency number, or text TALK to 741741 to communicate with a trained crisis counselor.
Stay with the person until professional help arrives.
Try to remove any weapons, medications, or other potentially harmful objects.

Click here for more links and local resources.

Trauma often triggers DID as a psychological response, so it is a strong risk factor, especially in childhood. This trauma can stem from:

physical abuse
sexual abuse
emotional neglect
psychological abuse

Dissociative identity disorder may appear alongside other disorders. This means that several mental health disorders could arise from the same cause.

Other common disorders that can occur alongside DID include:

borderline personality disorder
depression
substance use disorder
post-traumatic stress disorder
eating disorders
anxiety
obsessive-compulsive disorder

It takes time to diagnose DID. Misdiagnosis is common, and doctors need to observe a person’s symptoms, and dismiss other conditions.

To properly make a diagnosis, doctors need to see the different personalities and how they affect the person.

Time is also an important factor in seeing the full scale of the symptoms. This is because people who seek help for DID commonly present with symptoms linked to other mental health conditions.

There are no guidelines on how to treat DID. Doctors often prescribe treatments on a case-by-case basis.

No specific medication exists for DID. Treatment plans manage any conditions that occur alongside DID, and they can combine psychotherapy, with any necessary drugs to help with symptoms.

Psychotherapy

In DID, psychotherapy aims to help integrate a person’s identity and learn to cope with post-traumatic experiences.

Other therapies

Art therapy, movement therapy, and relaxation techniques may all have a place in the treatment of DID. These methods may help people connect aspects of their mind in a low-stress environment.

Childhood trauma is often the cause of split personality disorder, now referred to as DID.

A person will subconsciously create other personalities to handle certain aspects of themselves and their traumas, without which they cannot cope.

Read this article in Spanish.

“How I learned to live with multiple personalities inside”

Emma Young
Mosaic

June 29, 2017

Image copyright iStock more. nine0018

How does such a person feel? How does he manage to get along with several of his alter egos?

Melanie Goodwin never knows for sure which of the many personalities living in her will come to the fore at one time or another - whether it will be 16-year-old Melanie, and then she will have to ride a bicycle to work (since "that " Melanie can't drive a car), or it will be 3-year-old Melanie, and then you will need to take a teddy bear with you for a walk.

Until she turned 40, nothing special happened to Melanie, she just did not remember herself at the age of 16, and nothing more. nine0011

However, a family tragedy triggered catastrophic changes in her head. Suddenly she realized how many different personalities lived inside her, and the barriers between these personalities began to crumble.

All these personalities were Melanie - only Melanie of different ages: at 3 years old, at 16 years old and so on.

And the age of these Melanies was not accidental. Gradually, breaking through the frightening dissonance in her head, memories came to Melanie: about violence from adults - first against a 3-year-old child, and then further - up to 16 years old ...

"I have no proof," she emphasizes. "I just have to live with what I think happened to me and my current reality."

Melanie has dissociative identity disorder. It used to be called multiple personality disorder. The name change reflects a more accurate understanding of the essence of the disease by specialists.

Identity is memories, behavior in different situations, attitude to different things, perception of one's age… And all this changes within one person at once and completely. nine0011

Melanie refers to herself as "we". "We are made up of nine different people, each of whom leads his life, trying to get rid of the memory of the abuse that happened to him as a child. "

Image copyright, iStock

Image caption,

Living with dissociative identity disorder can be scary at times. Nor is it easy for those who live close to such people.

Life with dissociative identity disorder can sometimes feel like hell, she testifies. This is a complete breakdown of the self-image that ordinary people take for granted: that we are one and only individual. nine0011

The sudden realization that several personalities live in it, and sometimes they even fight among themselves, was like a bolt from the blue for Melanie. And at some point it seemed to her that she was no longer able to cope with this.

How did she manage to find a way to live with several Melanies inside?

Disconnect

Melanie and I speak in the relaxed atmosphere of the Pottergate Center for Dissociative Disorders in Norwich, UK. nine0011

The Center is headed by Rémy Aquaron, psychotherapist-analyst, former director of the International Society for the Study of Dissociative Disorders.

In a career spanning over 30 years, Aquaron has worked with hundreds of patients with these disorders. In most cases, he says, these people were abused as children by adults, usually before the age of 5.

According to the theory, in order to cope with memories of the stressful experience, the child ceases to associate himself with the one who suffered. That is, it divides itself into several parts. nine0011

One part of his personality still keeps memories of the horror of the experience, while the other part, as it were, was born after the event and has nothing to do with it.

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Or, for example, one part remembers the emotional trauma, another goes to bed, and the third goes down to breakfast to go to school later.

If violence against a child has continued for several years, if the child has suffered from different adults, then even more personalities may appear within one. nine0011

This "disconnection" from suffering helps the child to live on. In fact, this is such a radical way of adapting, Aquaron notes.

Melanie sees it this way: “If you find yourself in a situation that is completely impossible to survive, you disconnect it from yourself in order to survive. Emotional trauma can “freeze” you in time. scattered throughout your life."

Image copyrightDavid Brandon Geeting

Image caption,

If a child has suffered from multiple adults, there may be many personalities within one

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It's been four years since Melanie discovered her multiple personalities, and one day in the library where she worked, she stumbled upon Joan Francis Casey's The Pack. As she began to read, Melanie quickly realized that she, like the author, had dissociative identity disorder. nine0011

She told her husband about it, with whom she had lived for more than 20 years by that time. "He said, 'You know, that makes sense,'" recalls Melanie.

"Because he might one day ask me, 'Do you want coffee?' and I would say, 'Yes, I do!' And on another day, to the same question, I could answer: "You know that I don't drink coffee. I'm allergic to it."

"16-year-old Melanie doesn't drink coffee, but I love coffee! My husband used to say that he never knew which Melanie he would come home to in the evening. I didn't understand what he meant then... How but I didn’t guess before, he says now ... "

Unlike some other people with dissociative identity disorder, Melanie feels that there is a dominant part in her whose age corresponds to the age of her body.

Is it then possible to say that the "real" Melanie is more than just a composite of a three-year-old child who is easily scared, a 16-year-old girl who is not averse to flirting, and a 64-year-old woman who is now sitting on couch in Remy Aquaron's office and eloquently describes his condition? nine0011

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Not everyone who experienced severe emotional trauma as a child develops a dissociative identity disorder. There is another important component that can trigger the onset of the disorder: the lack of a normal, healthy attachment to an adult. nine0011

Attachment in developmental psychology means the bond that arises between an infant and those who care for him, look after him, while simultaneously teaching the child to respond correctly to certain phenomena and cope with emotions.

Without such a connection, which can be destroyed by the death of a close relative, neglect of the child or abuse of him, the little person is left to himself, he is left alone with his emotional traumas.

The same children who develop such an attachment, in the future successfully cope with all the challenges of life, notes Wendy Johnson, professor of psychology at the University of Edinburgh.

"First of all, they have an easier relationship with others. As a rule, they earn more, are recognized in the team and face less aggression. And their lives are more prosperous. "

Of course, all this does not mean that in the early years our personality is formed completely and for life. As the circumstances around us change, we begin to change too. nine0011

Image copyright David Brandon Geeting

Image caption

Adolescents and young adults often question self-identity because that's the age at which things change in and around them

It's no surprise that adolescents and young adults often question self-identity, adds Johnson . After all, it is at this age that many things change in them and around them.

Attachment to an adult and stability in life give a feeling of being a whole person. Without this, the traits of the individual can swing as if on a swing over a wide range. nine0011

One of Melanie's personalities suffers from anorexia, another has attempted suicide twice because she could not bear the pain of realizing what was happening to Melanie's "others".

Three-year-old Melanie is easily stunned when confronted with things that remind her of past emotional traumas. On the other hand, 16-year-old Melanie has an easy-going personality and is not averse to flirting.

So, really, "it all makes sense," as her husband said. It's not 64-year-old Melanie acting like a three-year-old, it's just that her other personality comes to the fore at a certain moment, and Melanie is not acting at that moment - she really becomes a child or a 16-year-old girl. nine0011

Reconnecting with the past

Due to the fact that the memories of one of the personalities may not be available to others, those suffering from dissociative identity disorder "lose" entire periods of time. It sometimes seems to them that they just jumped over a few days, or even weeks.

"Some have affairs on the side. But you can't say that about them, because at these moments they simply don't remember that they are married or married," says Melanie. nine0011

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She herself suffers from the fact that she does not have a chronology of her own life, cannot imagine the order in which various events happened to her, starting from birth. Her life is divided into fragments that do not fit well with each other.

“I know that I am married,” she gives an example. “But I understand this only as an observer, looking at myself from the outside. It has not become a part of me, it is not stored in my memory.” nine0011

People with this disorder often complain about a very superficial perception of life, confirms Aquaron. "For most of us, memories, backed up by experienced emotions, provide a personal chain of events going back to our childhood, which gives us a sense of 'self-continuity'. A person with a dissociative disorder cannot track himself through time."

Image copyright, iStock

Image caption,

Nostalgia can be good for people with dissociative identity disorder

In this sense, one of the psychological advantages of religiosity, faith in God can be considered that a person never feels lonely, abandoned, his relationship with God existed both when a person was a child, and when he grew up, and so until death. Wherever you are, God is always with you, emphasizes Aquaron.

There are other ways to reconnect with your own past. Previously, psychologists believed that nostalgia could be harmful. Now their opinion has changed. Nostalgia just forms the very feeling of "continuity of oneself", it enhances the sense of belonging to the world around. nine0011

This sense of "one self" helps people navigate life, and especially society.

Internal conflict

Nina Strominger and her colleagues at Yale University explored the concept of the "real self" in their scientific review - not just for people with dissociative identity disorder, but for all of us.

Consider, for example, the situation, suggests Strominger, when a deeply religious person experiences homosexual impulses. "His religion forbids him to give in to these impulses, and now he fights them every day," she explains. "So who is the real one? The one who tries not to give in to his impulses, or the one who experiences them?" nine0011

The answer, Strominger found, depends on who you ask. "Ask people with liberal views and they will say, 'Well, yes, this is a person with homosexual impulses.' But ask the same question to a person with conservative views, and he will tell you: 'The real one here is the one who resists such impulses.'

In other words, everything is relative.Strominger, however, found one aspect of human behavior that can be considered the most fundamental in determining "realness" - even more so than our memories.0011

Photo copyright, David Brandon Geeting

Photo caption,

A person's ideas of what is moral and what is not can change over time

Strominger has worked with families of people with dementia, dementia and insanity. Patients gradually not only lost their memory - their personality underwent significant and often negative changes in moral terms.

For example, they began to lie recklessly. There were, however, positive changes - people became softer and kinder. nine0011

According to relatives, their loved one became different not when he lost his memory, but when his moral qualities changed.

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"In scientific works on the nature of self-identification, morality has not traditionally been paid much attention," says Strominger. It was believed that the main thing is the memory and traits of your character. The results of our study say something else. " nine0011

As Melanie admits, some parts of her self have different ideas about morality. She explains this by the different life experiences of these individuals and by the fact that some of them were formed at a time when views on morality were simply different.

In addition, a person's ideas of what is moral and what is not can change over time, notes Wendy Johnson.

Thus, our core - who we think we are - can change. In this regard, it is logical to assume that feeling like something frozen is in many ways an illusion that helps us avoid a mental disorder like dissociative identity disorder. nine0011

And as the experience of Melanie and other people with this disorder shows, this illusion is extremely important for a person.

Breaking down barriers

Melanie was very helpful with the help of specialists. The first step was a correct diagnosis. After all, her illness is quite easy to confuse with something else.

Those who hear voices are often referred to as schizophrenics, those who experience frequent mood swings may be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Someone who, like a three-year-old child, hides under the bed out of fear, can be called a psychopath. And so on. nine0011

Even in the UK, the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder is very reluctant, despite the fact that it is in all the main psychiatric reference books.

It is believed that now in the country about 1% suffer from this disorder (about the same as schizophrenia), but there are still skeptics who believe that these people can just play with a split personality, these are their personal fantasies . ..

However, recent research confirms that these people do not play, and this is not fantasy. nine0011

Photo copyright, David Brandon Geeting

Photo caption,

Feeling like something frozen is in many ways an illusion that helps us avoid mental breakdown

Melanie is now director of First Person Plural, an association for people with dissociative identity disorder, she often talks to psychologists, psychiatrists, general practitioners and social workers, trying to convince them that this disorder is a real thing.

These patients can be helped, but they only begin to experience relief after many months of specialist therapy. nine0011

According to Melanie, deep and mutual trust is needed in a relationship with a doctor who helps her to establish relationships between different parts of herself, pushes them to talk to each other, to understand and respect each other.

Melanie's life is slowly getting better. But she still experiences certain difficulties, for example, going for a walk with her husband - after all, at any moment, 16-year-old Melanie can be capricious and ask to wear a different dress, and 8-year-old Melanie wants to take her favorite toys with her. nine0011

One day, on her way to work in the library, she let the 16-year-old girl dress as she wanted, but she had to ride a bicycle - that Melanie cannot drive a car.

"Gradually we learned to understand what is happening to us all," she adds.

In critical situations, for example, when someone suddenly walks into the library, reminding them of something bad from childhood, "I can turn to my little ones and say: don't worry, the library is a place where no one will offend you. I promise you everything will be fine." nine0011

So Melanie's different personalities still exist. But they have learned peaceful coexistence.

"We are not one, but we agreed to live in harmony," says Melanie. "Most of the time, that's how it works out."

Read the original of this article in English at BBC Future . This article first appeared on Mosaic and is reprinted here under a Creative Commons license.

10 symptoms of a split personality or what Billy Milligan's multiple minds hide

The term "split personality" is familiar to everyone. This topic is widely covered thanks to the efforts of Hollywood filmmakers and contemporary writers. However, in most cases, feature films and literature misrepresent the essence of this phenomenon. Many people mistakenly believe that multiple personality disorder is a manifestation of schizophrenia or a complication of drug use. In this article, we propose to consider how a split personality manifests itself, the symptoms and signs of the development of this pathology. nine0011

Split personality - a disease that is expressed by the appearance of a second personality in an individual

Specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases (pneumonia, bronchitis, alveolitis, bronchial asthma) and allergies (urticaria, Quincke's edema, hay fever, food intolerance)

Contents

Nature of the disease
Symptoms of dissociative personality disorder
How to understand the term "dissociative disorder"
is a disease or not
Disease development mechanism
Clinical manifestations of personality bifurcation
Causes
The root cause of the development of pathology
Signs of personality degradation
How to make a treatment technique

The name of the disease is a split personality in medical terminology - a dissociative identity disorder. nine0086 This disease is considered quite rare and belongs to the group of mental conversion disorders. Many scientists have devoted their lives to studying this phenomenon. Over many decades, the disease in question has changed many names. Terms such as "split personality", "multiple personality disorder" and "identity conversion disorder" are synonymous with the pathology in question.

Just a few decades ago, people in this condition could have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Currently, most specialists in the field of psychiatry are inclined to believe that the correct term for this disease is "dissociative identity disorder". nine0011
The fact is that during the process of splitting consciousness, in such patients there is a merging of several personalities in one body. These individuals are not considered independent or complete. In fact, the split consciousness is broken into small fragments, each of which has its own uniqueness . That is why the term used today most correctly characterizes the whole essence of the disease. Mental disturbances result in the human body being controlled by several personalities. nine0086 It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that when one of the personalities controls the body, the second one is in a kind of suspended animation and does not record what is happening.

Patients with this diagnosis often suffer from memory loss, as the main personality does not remember what is happening at the moment of "switching".

It should be noted that several personalities may be present in the body of a sick person. They can have different sex, religion, character and even age. Depending on the type of personality, the behavior of the patient and his worldview change. nine0086

Symptoms of antisocial personality disorder

The manifestations of the disorder in boys usually become visible already at early school age. In girls, symptoms appear a little later - during the prepubertal period. Characteristic features of sociopathy are impulsiveness, promiscuity, stubbornness, cruelty, deceit and selfishness. Children with antisocial personality disorder often skip school, damage public property, get into fights, bully weaker peers and younger children, torture animals, run away from home, and wander. nine0011
Hemorrhoids in 79% of cases kill the patient

A distinctive feature of patients with antisocial personality disorder is early opposition to parents. In social relations, depending on the individual characteristics of the patient, either open hostility or an implicit but persistent disregard for the interests of other people is possible. Children and adolescents with antisocial personality disorder do not feel remorse when caught committing an unseemly act. They instantly find excuses for their own behavior, shifting the blame and responsibility to others. Many patients start smoking, drinking alcohol and drugs early. There is high sexual activity combined with promiscuity in choosing partners. nine0011
In adulthood, patients usually look adequate and socially adapted. There are no problems in communication in patients with antisocial personality disorder - thanks to the charm, peculiar charm and ability to win over others, they often make a good impression with superficial contacts. Lack of deep attachments, selfishness and inability to empathize provoke manipulative behavior. Patients with antisocial personality disorder lie easily, often take advantage of other people, threaten suicide, talk about a “hard fate,” or mimic the symptoms of non-existent physical illnesses in order to achieve certain goals. nine0011
The main goal of patients suffering from antisocial personality disorder is to get pleasure, the opportunity to “snatch” as much pleasure from life as possible, regardless of objective circumstances. Patients are confident in the legitimacy of their desires and their right to satisfy any needs. They never reproach themselves, do not feel guilt and shame. The threat of punishment, condemnation or rejection by society does not cause them anxiety and depression. If their misdeeds become known to others, patients with antisocial personality disorder can easily find an explanation and justification for any of their actions. Patients are practically unable to learn from their own experience. They either do not work, or they are late, skip and shift their duties to other employees and perceive any criticism as unfair. nine0011
Eric Bern distinguishes two types of patients with antisocial personality disorder: passive and active. Passive sociopaths do not have internal restrictions in the form of conscience, decency or humanity, but are guided by the norms established by some external authority (religion, current legislation). Such behavior protects them from open conflicts with society and allows them to at least partially (or formally) meet the requirements of society.

Active patients with antisocial personality disorder are deprived of both internal and external restrictions. If necessary, at some time they can demonstrate to others their responsibility, decency and readiness to abide by the rules of society, however, at the slightest opportunity, they refuse any restrictions and return to their previous behavior. Active sociopaths more often demonstrate openly criminal deviant behavior, passive sociopaths - hidden, formally unpunished (lie, manipulation, neglect of duties). nine0011
Antisocial personality disorder persists throughout life. Some patients create social groups isolated from society, becoming leaders of sects or criminal gangs. After the age of 40, the criminal activity of patients usually decreases. With age, many patients develop concomitant affective and somatic disorders. Drug addiction and alcoholism often develop. Dependence on psychoactive substances in combination with antisocial behavior becomes the cause of aggravated social maladjustment. nine0011
How to understand the term "dissociative disorder"

Now that we have understood what a split personality is scientifically called, let's move on to the term "conversion disorder". The diseases included in this group have one distinguishing feature - changes in mental performance, which are accompanied by failures in consciousness, memory and identity.

A disease such as "split personality" can manifest itself at any age

Various failures in the continuous streams of consciousness lead to the fact that certain branches of the psyche gain independence. It is this process that is characterized by the term "dissociation". The result of such disruptions in the streams of consciousness is psychogenic amnesia, conversion fugue, and split personality. The term under consideration has been used in psychology for more than a hundred years, but the phenomenon of dissociative disorders has been known for more than several hundred years.

Many specialists in the field of psychiatry believe that the medieval rites of exorcism from the human body are one of the manifestations of the fight against split personality syndrome. In their opinion, the abilities of mediums and clairvoyants also belong to dissociative disorders, which manifest themselves in the form of the ability to plunge into a trance. nine0263 Modern medicine says that such disorders are manifested under the influence of severe emotional upheavals.

Is it a disease or not?
The brain fragments memory and blocks access to the most painful memories. From different fragments of memories originate different personalities.

MRI captures activity in different areas of the hippocampus (brain structure responsible for memory) during periods of dominance by different personalities. nine0011

This is a paired part of the brain, located in the temporal areas

But dissociation does not lead to a solution to the problem, but aggravates the situation. A person cannot build normal interpersonal relationships, the inconstancy of self-identification interferes with work.

Dissociative disorder is a disease and must be treated. In most cases, it progresses over time.

A person, not knowing how to cope with difficult life situations, creates in himself more and more new personalities. Life for him and the people around him is getting more complicated. nine0011
Mechanism of the development of the disease

Split personality has such a varied degree of severity that it is rather problematic to notice the signs of the development of the disease on your own. Some people do not attach due importance to the first symptoms of the development of pathology, which can significantly complicate further therapy . Dissociation manifests itself in modern life in the form of daydreaming and absent-mindedness, during the performance of actions memorized to automatism.

In some cultures, the state of trance, when shamans (mediums or clairvoyants) perform their mysterious rites, is not perceived as a manifestation of illness. Split personality, in which a person's consciousness is divided into several independent individuals, is one of the most striking manifestations of dissociative disorders. nine0011
To date, experts have not yet decided on the degree of danger of this pathology. Multiple personality disorder, according to some psychotherapists, is much less common than this diagnosis is recorded. According to statistics, in the nineteenth century, only a few dozen cases of patients with a similar disease were registered. The same statistics show that in the modern world more than forty thousand people have this diagnosis. Researchers on this issue say that from the end of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth, such patients were diagnosed with schizophrenia. nine0263 Modern medicine has the ability to clearly distinguish between these diseases, which reduces the risk of misdiagnosis.

Despite this, a true split personality is observed quite rarely. It is simply impossible to cope with this disease on your own, therefore it is very important that the patient seeks qualified medical help.

The cause of the disease, most often, is a serious psychological shock

Clinical manifestations of a split personality

Multiple personality syndrome has such a characteristic feature as the patient has several "Selves", which have clear differences in the perception of the surrounding world . It should be noted that this disease in most cases is accompanied by such complication as psychogenic amnesia. Memory lapses are one of the manifestations of the protective mechanisms of consciousness, with the help of which the psyche smooths out negative emotional upheavals. In people with multiple personality syndrome, this mechanism is a kind of personality bias trigger. There are several main signs of the development of this disease:

Sudden change in mood, prolonged depression and suicidal tendencies.

Anxiety, sleep disturbances, unreasonable fear, nightmares, insomnia.

Loss of appetite, refusal to eat, distraction, confusion, depersonalization.

Frequent changes in tastes, frequent changes in intonation and timbre of voice, an attempt to talk to oneself.

Panic attacks and various phobias are one of the most striking symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. nine0086 The similarity between schizophrenia and dissociative disorder lies not only in the symptoms described above, but also in the fact that the patient may experience attacks of hallucinations. It is this manifestation of the disease that greatly complicates the correct diagnosis. It is important to note here that both diseases have a different nature and are in no way related to each other.

Causes

The human psyche has the function of activating a protective mechanism in response to emotional upheavals. A person can forget a certain negative moment (the psyche exposes a kind of block in memory) or identify what happened as with someone else. In moments of intolerable emotions, an excessive activation of a psychological barrier occurs, which develops into a dissociative personality disorder. nine0011
The causes of multiple personality may be psychological trauma inflicted in childhood:

Physical abuse;

Emotional abuse;

Sexual abuse.

Personality disorders are also caused by mental illnesses that have not been previously identified or occur in a latent (hidden) form. The disease is more often diagnosed in women, due to hormonal surges and an unstable emotional background (mental lability). nine0011
The root cause of the development of pathology

When analyzing the topic of what a split personality is, the symptoms and causes of the development of the disease, special attention should be paid to psychogenic factors that entail the formation of a dissociative disorder. According to experts, a number of certain circumstances contribute to the splitting of consciousness. Nervous breakdowns and upheavals that a person is not able to survive without support can act as a catalyst for this process. According to psychotherapists, multiple personality is a kind of attempt by the psyche to protect itself from experiences that bring pain. nine0011

A person who suffers from this disease often enough may be lost in space and not feel reality

People with a split personality have the ability to block unpleasant memories for them. Often, the presence of such abilities, combined with the ability to "fall into a trance" is a kind of impetus for the development of a split identity. Most often, the causes of this disease are associated with traumatic memories from childhood. The inability to protect oneself from the negative impact of various circumstances in the future can serve as a kind of impetus for the development of the disease. According to experts involved in the study of this issue, the main reason for the development of this pathology is physical abuse suffered in childhood. nine0011
American researchers have concluded that in more than ninety percent of cases, it was violence that caused the development of conversion disorder. In less than ten percent of cases, such mental disorders develop against the background of the presence of serious diseases or the fact of the loss of loved ones. A natural disaster, emergency, and even war can also serve as an impetus for a split personality.

Signs of personality degradation

The American psychologist Maslow singled out several qualities inherent in people with personality degradation: - Treat yourself like a screw. When a person believes that nothing depends on him, that he is just a pawn that cannot change anything: neither in his life, nor in the life of society. - Minimum wishes. All actions come down to satisfying purely physiological needs - to eat, sleep, satisfy sexual hunger. Such people go to work only for money, and meet people of the opposite sex only for sex. — Black and white world. The environment for such people is divided into "us" and "strangers". These people are trying in every way to protect themselves from "strangers", they have a very narrow circle of friends. - Categorical. A degrading personality considers his opinion to be the only correct one and considers disputes and discussions a waste of time. - Poor vocabulary. A person uses only elementary speech turns, it is difficult for him to find words to describe something, it is especially difficult to find adjectives - it is this part of speech that expresses our emotions and feelings. In general, such people try not to speak, they do not want to spend extra effort on verbal functions. — Dependencies. Alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling are very clear signs of degradation. It is difficult to say whether they are a cause or a consequence of degradation, but the fact remains that if a person has an addiction, there is a great risk that he will degrade. nine0011
How to make a diagnosis

Let's look at how to understand that you are facing a person with a split identity. This disease is so rare that the method of differential diagnosis is used for the correct diagnosis. The main task of a specialist during the examination is to exclude diseases with similar clinical symptoms. These diseases include organic brain damage, bipolar disorder, dementia and amnesia. In addition, the possible influence of toxic and hallucinogenic substances should be excluded. nine0011
It should also be mentioned that schizophrenia has some similarities with dissociative identity disorder. Based on all of the above, with a lack of certain knowledge, it is very easy to confuse the disease in question with other types of mental illness. During the diagnosis, the doctor must take into account the fact that a split personality has many different manifestations. The difference between schizophrenia and split personality lies in the fact that the latter is accompanied by the appearance of almost independent personalities. And schizophrenia itself is characterized by the splitting off of only certain functions of the psyche. nine0011

Split personality occurs in stages, making it possible to detect the disease at the initial stage of its development

Knowing how you can get a split personality, the doctor will be able to make the correct diagnosis based on the following symptoms:

No effect on consciousness of drug or alcohol addiction , toxic substances and complex pathologies.

The presence of memory problems that do not have in common with simple absent-mindedness. nine0004
The presence of two or more personalities with clear boundaries in the perception of the surrounding reality and differences in worldview.

The presence of at least one additional personality capable of controlling the patient's behavior.

Method of treatment

Is there a treatment for split personality? It is rather difficult to answer this question, but, without a doubt, this mental disorder should be treated. Having found signs of a splitting of consciousness, you need to visit a specialist as soon as possible. nine0263 After conducting a differential examination, the main task of the doctor is to combine separate identities into one personality with increased stability and adaptability.

Various methods of psychotherapy are used to achieve this goal. The cognitive method, family therapy, introduction to a hypnotic state and conservative drug treatment can achieve a positive result. It is important to note that medications are used only to relieve symptoms that disturb the patient. The main task of a specialist is to help in overcoming the various consequences of psychological trauma. nine0086

At the initial stages of therapy, one should identify the cause that triggered the splitting of consciousness.

Unfortunately, not everyone succeeds in achieving a stable result and being able to combine different personalities into one. Because of this, one of the goals of therapy becomes an attempt to establish a peaceful coexistence of different identities in one body. The patient's desire to cope with his problem and improve his life is the key to achieving a positive result.

Medications in the treatment of mixed personality disorder

If organic personality disorder of mixed origin is usually treated with drugs, then the disease we are considering is treated with psychotherapy. Most psychiatrists believe that drug treatment does not help patients because it does not aim at changing the character, which patients mainly need.

However, you should not give up medicines so quickly - many of them can alleviate a person's condition by eliminating certain symptoms, such as depression, anxiety

At the same time, it is necessary to prescribe medicines carefully, because patients with personality disorders develop drug dependence very quickly.
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