What is Dissociative Personality Disorder?
We can describe dissociative personality disorder (multiple personality disorder) as a mental disorder characterized by the existence of another person or people outside of the individual’s own identity. In other words, it is the feeling that there is another individual (sometimes more than one person) inside the person. The person thinks that the feelings and thoughts he really feels belong to someone else.
What Causes Dissociative Personality Disorder?
There are many reasons for the emergence of dissociative personality disorder; We see that situations such as family traumatic events, abuse experience, peer bullying, social and cultural upbringing and traumatic experiences exposed or witnessed in these environments play a role in the formation of multiple personality disorder.
What Are the Symptoms of Dissociative Personality Disorder?
People with dissociative personality disorder are sometimes unaware of the personality splits they experience, especially when relevant alters dominate the body. The transition between these identities can happen very quickly and abruptly. In general, stress or a certain traumatic situation paves the way for the splitting of the mind, that is, the emergence of new artels. The most common symptoms are listed below.
- very severe headaches
- detachment from real thoughts
- anxiety disorder
- unrealistic perceptions.
- Distractibility
- very inconsistent behavior
- amnesia
- Attempts to physically harm yourself
- Serious changes in eating or sleeping patterns
- constant desire to sleep
- A state of intense fighting in the mind
- Intense inner voice
- The state of feeling outside of one’s gender
- substance abuse
- Suicide attempts
Although not all of the above-mentioned symptoms are fully present in an individual with dissociative personality disorder, most of them show themselves as intense or low-intensity.
Dissociative Personality Disorder Treatment
The treatment of this disorder is possible with an appropriate psychotherapy method and drug support. Many of the symptoms of dissociative personality disorder emerge during the therapy process with the client. Clients are often unaware of their alters, other personalities, until they start therapy. Clients begin to become aware of alter personalities during the therapy process, and as the therapy process progresses, the number of alter personalities increases. During the psychotherapy process of the patient with multiple personality disorder, the therapist talks with the alter personalities separately. The alter personalities who are spoken to in this way agree to merge over time.
REFERENCES
Okay, L., Özpoyraz, N., & Unal, M. (1996). Multiple personality disorder (Dissociative identity disorder): A review. 3P Magazine, 4(1), 45.
OZDEN, M. S. (2018). TRAUMA AND DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS: AN OVERVIEW. Bartın University Journal of the Faculty of Letters, 3(3), 71-76.
Akcan, G., & Öztürk, E. (2018). Dissociative basic symptoms and basic psychotherapeutic approaches. Turkiye Klinikleri Psychology‐Special Topics, 3, 20-30.
