DID or Dissociative Identity Disorder formly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is in professional terms:
1: THE PRESENCE OF TWO{2} OR MORE DISTINCT IDENTITIES OF THE PERSONALITY STATUS. EACH WITH ITS OWN PATTERN OF PERCEIVING, RELATING AND THINKING ABOUT THE ENIVIROMENT AND THE SELF.
2: AT LEAST TWO{2} OF THESE IDENTITIES OR PERSONALITIES TAKE CONTROL OF THE PERSONS BEHAVIOR ON A RECURRENT BASIS.
3: THE INABILITY TO RECALL IMPORTANT IMFORMATION THAT IS TOO EXTENSIVE TO BE EXPLAINED AS ORDINARY FORGETFULNESS.
98% to 99% of people with DID have documented histories of repetitive, overwhelming and often life-threatening trauma at a critical stage of childhood. (Usually before the age of 9). DID appears in as many as two million Americans.
Technically speaking, Dissociation is a mental process which produces a lack of conection in a persons thoughts, memories, feelings, actons and sense of identity.
People who dissociate often refer to thier experiences as "spacing out", "zoning", or "trancing".
Dissociation is a highly creative and adaptable way for a traumtized child to protect themself from trauma abuse. It arises in childhood usually between the ages of 1-8 but can occur earlier. It is caused by severe and almost always prolonged, repeated, physical, sexual, mental and emotional abuse. 95% of the abuse is usually sexual. The more abuse the child experienced or experiences, the more alters {identities or personalities} they may have. Dissociation to the point of forming multiple personalities is a very SANE and HEALTHY way to respond to an insane and unhealthy situation. It is estimated that 60% of children who have been abused have some degree of dissociation. 100% of children who were or are abused severly, suffer from some form of dissociation. It is a SAFE way to escape the immediate intolerable situtaion they are or were currently in.
It is important to understand that people with DID, can hold highly responsible jobs and contribute to society in a variety of professional, artistic and service oriented way.
DID can be controlled!!! With the help of the right therapist and the acceptance of the disorder from the patient, working together, you can have a good and fullfilling life and learn much.
DID is a way that we have SURVIVED!!! It can be viewed as a creative and intellectual device used to cope with intolerable trauma in our lives.
There are many symptoms that can occur when one is DID. Not all have to be present and there may be some others have that are not listed here. But we will give you a list of what we have found that has been helpful to us so that you don't feel as if you were going crazy. Because.... in fact,, we did think we were crazy for a long time!!! Here goes!
Forgetfulness, Memory Lapses, Mood Swings, Hearing Voices {from inside your head}, Depression, Eating Disorders, Personality Disorders, Blackouts, TIme Loss, Disremebered Behavior, Unexplained Possessions, Unexplained Relationships, Unexplained Changes in Relationships, Out of Body Experiences, Eye Rolling and Switching {Switching will be explained in next, segment} Spontaneous "Trances", Spontaneous Age regression, Fragmentary Recall of Entire Life History, Chronic Mistaken Identity, Alter or Seperate Identities, Hallucinations/Psuedohallucinations, Different Languages or Speech,
There are many more symptoms that can be found on Dissociative Disorders. These are just a few that we have found and have been able to check off for us. Don't panic, if you feel you see some of these symptoms in yourself or in someone you care about, then maybe it is time to find a Therapist and get some answers.
Next We will explain "Switching" or changing from one personality to another.
Switching is a state in which one identity or personality,{Sometimes referd to as "Alters"} takes over the body and views things in hers of his own way. It is refered to as changing between states of consiousness. Not all people who have Dissociation have alters. People can be dissociative and not have seperate identities which take over.
When one "Switchs" the body remanis the same, but the conciousness of the mind changes. We have thiry nine differnt "alters" thus far. Don't run away, most DID people do not have that many. As we refered to in one of the paragraphs above, alters are determined by just how much abuse one may have suffered. Some only have a few, others ten or more. Research has shown that most women have between five to ten alters.
There are certain characteristics of switching that can be noted to help one determine whether or not they have switched. It takes time and effort to recognize them and to understand why you may be feeling as you are at a given time. We will give you a list of some of those characteristics and you can then determine for yourself if you see any simularities.
Headache, Pressure in the Head , Stiff Neck, Pupil Dilation, Pressure Behind the Eyes, Blurring Vision, Eyes Sensitive, Body Looks and Feels Detached, Face Looks and Feels Detached, Face Looks Different in the Mirror, Light Headed or Dizziness, Orchestra of "Toughts" or "conversations" all with opposing views, Chills, Feeliing Phyically Shorter, Feling Emotionally, Childlike, Change in Thought Patterns, Urges to "DO SOMETHING", Thoughts become Louder, Inablity to Concentrate and Think Clearly, Feelings and Emotions Change, Speech Changes, Laughter Changes, and Mood Swings.