Dissociative disorders are characterized by interruption and / or discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, self-identity and subjective identity, emotion, perception, body identity, motor control, and behavior. Dissociative symptoms can eventually disrupt all areas of psychological functioning.
Dissociative disorders often occur as a result of a traumatic event. Many symptoms are influenced by the proximity of the trauma. Psychic trauma or psychological trauma is generally known as an event that profoundly threatens the well-being or life of a person and the consequence of that event on the device, mental makeup or emotional life of the person.
- According to the latest update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
- Dissociative disorders are classified as follows:.
Then we’ll focus on identity dissociative disorder
The defining characteristic of a dissociative identity disorder (IDD) is the presence of two or more different personality states or a possession experience. This is popularly referred to as “multiple personality”.
Is dissociative identity disorder commonly referred to as multiple personality disorder?
There are several films that deal, correctly or not, with this disorder. This is the case of the “Three Masks of Eve”, of the “Club of the Fight”. or Irene, me and me. In this type of film, it is common for the protagonist to have several personalities, which appear randomly. It’s like several people live in the same person.
Charlie’s schizophrenic. -I don’t know. We don’t get into each other’s business.
-Dialogue of the film? Irene, me and me? –
Or not these personality states vary depending on psychological motivation, stress level, culture, internal conflict, and emotional tolerance. Continuous periods of identity interruption may occur in the context of severe and/or lasting psychosocial pressures. Alternative identity manifestations are very obvious, but they don’t always happen.
When no alternative personality states are directly observed, the disorder can be identified by two groups of symptoms:
People with dissociative identity disorders may mention the feeling that they have suddenly become depersonalized observers of their own discourse and actions, and may also feel powerless to stop them (feelings of themselves).
They can also report on the perception of voices (a child’s voices, tears, the voice of a spiritual being, etc. ). In some cases, voices are reported as multiple, disconcerting and independent of thought, and the individual has no control over them.
“Can people with TDI sometimes hear voices that no one else can hear?
Strong emotions, impulses and even speech can suddenly appear, without a sense of control or personal belonging (feeling of identity). These emotions would be confused.
Personal attitudes, perspectives, and preferences (such as food, activities, or clothing, for example) can suddenly change and then change again. These people can feel their body transformed (like a small child, like a muscular person, like an older woman, etc. ).
Although most of these symptoms are subjective, many of these sudden interruptions in speech, affection, and behavior can be seen by family, friends, or your doctor. Seizures are obvious, especially in some non-Western contexts.
Dissociative amnesia is amnesia caused by a traumatic or stressful event, which causes an inability to remember important personal information. People have memory gaps, which can last from a few minutes to decades of their lives.
Dissociative amnesia in people with IDD manifests itself in three main ways:
Dissociative escape is characterized by a sudden journey away from home or work, with an inability to remember the past and confusion about the previous identity. In TDI, these leaks are common. People with TDI can report that they were suddenly found on the beach, at work, in bars, etc. , without remembering how they got there.
Identity in the form of possession in TDI is usually manifested as behaviors in which it appears that a “spirit”, a supernatural being or another person has taken over. The person begins to speak or act in a different way.
“I feel like I’m not myself, I live without emotion and I feel so angry that I could kill, sometimes I feel like both, reason and emotion.
-People with TDI-
For example, an individual’s behavior can show that their identity has been replaced by the “ghost” of a girl who committed suicide in the same community years ago. A person can also be replaced by a demon or deity.
This causes a profound aggravation, may require that the individual or a loved one be punished for a past act, followed by more subtle periods of identity alteration, however, most states of possession in the world are normal. practice and do not meet the criteria for being classified as TDI.
The identities that occur during possession in the form of dissociative identity disorder are recurrent; furthermore, they are undesirable and involuntary and cause clinically significant discomfort or deterioration; neither are they common parts of a widely accepted cultural or religious practice.
People with DJD generally suffer from depression, anxiety, substance abuse, self-harm and non-epileptic seizures. They often hide, or are not fully aware, of interruptions in consciousness, amnesia or other dissociative symptoms.
Many of these individuals recount dissociative flashbacks in which they sensoryly relive an earlier fact as if it were happening in the present. They also often report various types of interpersonal violence in childhood and adulthood. Self-harm and suicidal behaviors are common.
• Are self-harm and suicidal behaviors common in dissociative identity disorder?
These people have higher levels of ability to feel hypnosis and dissociation. The term dissociation describes a wide variety of experiences that can range from a small distance from the surrounding environment to more serious distances from physical and emotional experience.
The main characteristic of all dissociative phenomena is distance with reality, in the face of the loss of reality, as is the case in psychosis.
The onset of TDI is associated with frightening experiences, traumatic events and/or child abuse. The entire disorder can occur for the first time at any age.
Sudden changes in identity can occur during adolescence, which can simply be seizures from adolescence or the early stages of another mental disorder. Older adults may have mood disorders in old age, obsessive-compulsive disorder, paranoia, etc. In later ages, memories can gradually invade the individual’s consciousness.
“The onset of dissociative identity disorder is associated with frightening experiences, traumatic events and/or childhood abuse. The complete disorder can occur for the first time at any age.
Psychological decompensation and identity changes can be triggered by:
Interpersonal physical and sexual violence is associated with an increased risk of IDD. Other forms of traumatic experiences have also been described, including child medical and surgical interventions, war, child prostitution and terrorism.
Where? Possession is common (rural areas in developing regions or among certain religious groups, for example), fragmented identities can take the form of possessive spirits, deities, demons, animals, or mythological characters.
However, it should be remembered that there are forms of possession that are not related to dissociative identity disorder. In TDI,?Possession? It must be involuntary, agonizing, and uncontrollable; it also manifests itself in times and places that violate the norms of culture or religion.
“Can fragmented identities in identity dissociative disorder take the form of possessive spirits, deities, demons, animals, or mythological characters?
Women with dissociative identity disorders are common in adult clinical practice, but not in the clinical practice of children.
Adult men with D&D can deny their symptoms and history of trauma. Women are more likely to have acute dissociative states. Men tend to behave more criminally or violently than women. In men, the most common triggers of acute dissociative states are wars, incarceration, and physical or sexual assault.
More than 70% of outpatients with dissociative identity disorder attempted suicide. Several attempts and self-harm behaviors are common.
The aggravation varies to varying degrees, from a seemingly minimal degree to a more significant degree. People with this disorder minimize the impact of their dissociative and post-traumatic symptoms. In addition, symptoms can affect children’s marriage, family roles, and education more than a person’s professional life (although they may also be affected).
With the right treatment, many affected people show a significant improvement in their professional and personal performance, however others continue to worsen most life activities.
These people respond to treatment very slowly, with an improvement and gradual reduction of tolerance to dissociative and post-traumatic symptoms. Long-term supportive treatment can gradually increase these people’s ability to cope with their symptoms and reduce the need for more restrictive levels. care.
Herschel Walker was a professional football player and martial arts expert, and also owns a food business. At first glance, he seems like a person who succeeds very normally, but in reality, inside, he is struggling with a very un managed disorder.
He was diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder after he quit football. When I was a kid, I was always intimidated by his weight and because I stuttered. But Herschel fought until he managed to beat everyone academically and athletically.
Herschel created another person in him: a person who would never give up; almost as if he were a superhuman and lets me completely dominate you.
Louis Vivet was one of the first people to be diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. On February 12, 1863, his mother, who was a prostitute, gave birth to Louis, who ignored him most of his childhood, so he committed his first crime when he was only 8 years old Vivet was arrested several times and lived in a prison until he was 18.
His disorder manifested at age 17 and his personality appeared when he began working in a vineyard, a snake wrapped in his hand and, although he did not bite, traumatized the child, began to have seizures and was paralyzed from the waist down.
His symptoms were not physical, but psychosomatic. As a result, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital and his disorder became even more complicated, he became a completely different person, with his own personality and without recognizing anyone he knew before.
Between 1880 and 1881 he was transferred several times to be treated with different techniques such as hypnosis and metal therapy. Later, a doctor was able to diagnose him and discovered that he had 10 different personalities; each with its own characteristics and stories. His story inspired Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.
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