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Litreture review dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder summary paper
Litreture review dissociative identity disorder
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Fight Club was written by Chuck Palahniuk in 1996. This novel focuses on an unreliable narrator, his relationship with a dark man named Tyler Durden, and their creation of Fight Club, an underground boxing club which evolves into the anarchistic organization, Project Mayhem. Project Mayhem intends to tear down the American social structure, replacing big-headed bureaucrats with testosterone-filled, manly men as the ruling class. Even though many believe that Tyler Durden and the narrator are two different people, there is a sufficient amount of evidence to suggest the narrator suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).
It is suggested that Tyler Durden is one of the narrator’s alter personalities. It is important for one to understand
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Dissociative Identity Disorder before associating this disorder with the narrator. It is also important to thoroughly review the evidence linking our narrator and Tyler. After reviewing the evidence, one can then presume to place Tyler within the narrator’s disorder. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), “Dissociative Identity Disorder is defined as the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states that recurrently take control of behavior” (484). According to the National Alliance on Mental Disorders (NAMI), only 0.1 to 1 percent of the general population develop Dissociative Identity Disorder. Avraham Cohen concluded, “in DID there is a history of trauma, extreme states, and apparent dissociation into a number of identities within one individual. Usually, some of these identities claim to know about each other and others do not” (217). In an interview with Serena Mullins, she states, “One dominant personality controls the other personalities.” She also mentions that “all of these personalities are essential to the brain at different times and toward different stressors; DID is used as a coping mechanism” (Mullins). The symptoms, causes, and treatments are important in understanding this disorder. The symptoms of DID vary from mild to extremely severe. Some of the milder symptoms include anxiety, confusion, headaches, and disorientation (NAMI). These mild symptoms may sometimes lead the doctor to misdiagnose the patient. People with DID often spend a long time in the mental health system, and it is often misdiagnosed as schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders (Spring, 44-46). Some of the more severe symptoms include suicidal tendencies, personality change, selective loss of memory, and in some cases drug or alcohol abuse (NAMI). These symptoms are more severe in that some of them could potentially lead to the loss of life. It is relatively known throughout the medical field that DID is usually developed in childhood. It stems from traumatic events that a child may experience at a young age including sexual abuse, neglect, or an episode of extreme terror. However, it is possible for an adult to develop DID. Carolyn Spring concludes, “DID always develops during childhood but may only become manifest in adulthood as a result of dissociative defenses giving way following a build-up of life stresses or 'triggers'” (44-46). There have been reported cases of an individual actually faking DID as a tool to hide their own character flaws. Craig Traub states, “Spanos…suggests that individuals with DID are actually role playing, using the guise of a mental disorder to conceal their own perceived character flaws” (347-356). When treating DID, it involves a team of doctors and psychologists to work out a schedule of treatment with three stages. “The consensus of experts is that phase-oriented treatment is most effective. The three stages most commonly used are: establishing safety, stabilization and symptom reduction, working through and integrating traumatic memories, and integration and rehabilitation” (Spring 44-46). Throughout the treatment process, it is likely that a client suffering from DID will eventually present his or her alternative personality. These personalities are also known as “alters” or “parts”. (Spring 44-46). As stated previously, there is a sufficient amount of evidence to prove that the narrator of Fight Club suffers from DID. It is also fair to say that Tyler Durden is one of the narrator’s alters. At the beginning of the story the first clue is revealed. The narrator states, “I know this because Tyler knows this” (Palahniuk 2). This sentence shows that everything the narrator knows, Tyler knows. It also informs the reader that Tyler could potentially have a vast knowledge of information. This means the narrator could have that same amount of knowledge. Another vital piece of information that is expressed by the narrator is used as evidence. The narrator states, "Tyler had been around a long time before we met" (Palahniuk 22). The scene in which this quote comes from depicts our narrator on a nude beach where he seemingly “meets” Tyler for the first time. Essentially, Tyler Durden is the physical representation of everything our narrator thought he was not. Tyler was suave, sexy, free-spirited, daring, and devious. Our narrator had a cookie cutter IKEA-like life, and he was neurotic and extremely high-strung. Along with Tyler being the narrator’s physical representation, it is apparent throughout the story that Tyler is able to appear and disappear at his own will. One can witness this exact behavior throughout the story when the narrator is with Marla. The narrator states that Tyler and Marla are never in the same room together (Palahniuk 56), but later on in the chapter the narrator is speaking to Marla and to Tyler simultaneously. However, Marla does not know the narrator is speaking to Tyler. This example represents the idea that once Tyler makes his point within the narrator’s mind, he disappears until he wants to make another comment, at which time he reappears. In chapter three the narrator states, “….Tyler could only work night jobs” (Palahniuk 15). A few lines later the narrator states, “Some people are night people. Some people are day people. I could only work a day job” (Palahniuk 15). These quotes taken from the story represent the difference in the narrator’s “alters”. The narrator could only work during the day and had to sleep at night. Tyler could only work nights and was employed by the union. Basically, since the narrator and Tyler are the same person the narrator works during the day while his “alter” works during the night. This also explains the apparent bout of insomnia from which our narrator was suffering. He states, "It's not clear if reality slipped into my dream or if my dream is slopping over into reality" (Palahniuk 129). In some cases, the individual is completely unaware of this disorder. In Fight Club, our narrator is completely aware of the personality differences that he and Tyler have. He bluntly states, “I love everything about Tyler Durden....Tyler is capable and free, and I am not” (Palahniuk 165). The narrator eventually comes to terms with Tyler in chapter twenty-three. He thinks to himself, “Tyler and I share the same body, and until now, I didn’t know it” (Palahniuk 165). It is not until later in the story that the narrator finally comes to terms with his condition. “Tyler Durden is a separate personality I’ve created, and now he’s threatening to take over my real life” (Palahniuk 164). There are many instances throughout this story that depict Tyler Durden as one who is in need of being in control and somewhat insane. In one of the DID episodes he tells the narrator, “I wouldn’t be here in the first place if you didn’t want me. I’ll still live my life while you’re asleep, but if you fuck with me, if you chain yourself to the bed at night or take big doses of sleeping pills, then we’ll be enemies. And, I’ll get you for it” (Palahniuk 159). Tyler then goes on to say, “Maybe you’re my schizophrenic hallucination” (Palahniuk 159). The narrator tells himself, “I was here first” (Palahniuk 159). Tyler responds with, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, well let’s just see who’s here last” (Palahniuk 159). This is a clear example of how Tyler has the need to be in control. He wants to completely do away with the narrator so he can be in complete control of his body. Tyler tries to convince the reader that our narrator is a figment of his imagination and he will be the “last man standing”. Not only does he threaten the narrator, he takes over the narrator’s life at night. Once the narrator seemingly falls asleep at night, Tyler takes over and goes around the country recruiting people for Project Mayhem and setting up new fight clubs. The reader learns this when Tyler tells the narrator, “Every time you fall asleep, I run off and do something wild, something crazy, something completely out of my mind” (Palahniuk 154). This shows the reader how Tyler feels the need to be in control, even when the narrator is unaware of what is going on. In the last few chapters of Fight Club, Tyler goes to the extreme by placing a gun barrel in the narrator’s mouth and attempting to kill him.
He convinces the narrator that he is a martyr for Project Mayhem. He says, “The last thing we have to do is your martyrdom thing. Your big death thing” (Palahniuk 194). They later find themselves on top of the Parker-Morris Building, the tallest building in their fictional town. The narrator tries to back out of the deal, but Tyler threatens that they will kill Marla if necessary (Palahniuk 194). The narrator agrees to continue with his martyrdom. With the gun barrel in his mouth, Tyler says, “We won’t really die” (Palahniuk 194). The narrator eventually pulls the trigger, hoping to kill himself and rid the world of Tyler. However, he is not killed, only seriously injured. The narrator wakes up in the hospital believing that Tyler has recessed into his brain, never to resurface again. The narrator states, “Of course, when I pulled the trigger, I died. Liar. And Tyler died” (Palahniuk 197).
The story of Fight Club is a concrete example that Dissociative Identity Disorder can be a very real problem within our society. Knowing the symptoms, causes, and treatments is an extremely important part of understanding this disorder. After stating the evidence from the story, it is fair to assume that Tyler Durden is in fact one of the “alters” that is inhabiting the narrator’s brain. It is also fair to assume that not only is Tyler one of the “alters,” but he is also a very real part of the narrator’s life and eventually tries to kill them
both.
“In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when one was designing a gun or an aeroplane they had to make four” (Orwell 250). Winston lives in a time where a set of rules preventing him to be free are imposed on him – the Party defines what freedom is and is not. “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows (Orwell 103)”. Winston expresses his views on The Party within his diary even though he knows it is not accepted by The Party or the Thought Police. The narrator in Fight Club uses fighting as a form of escapism from his anti-consumerist ideologies revealed by his alter-ego, Tyler Durden. “Fuck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns. I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let’s evolve—let the chips fall where they may. (Fight Club)” Tyler urges the narrator to stop conforming to consumerist-imposed views of perfection and break barriers to evolve. Tyler and the narrator create a medium for people in similar positions to escape from societal bound norms; it is aptly named “Fight Club”. In comparison, both Tyler Durden and the narrator from Fight Club and Winston Smith from 1984 share
“I had to know what Tyler was doing while I was asleep. If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?” (Palahniuk 32). When Tyler is in action, narrator is not contemporaneous in a sense that he is Tyler now. Tyler is someone who doesn’t give any importance to money-oriented world but he indeed believes in the willpower of constructing a classless society. The narrator is insomniac, depressed, and stuck with unexciting job. Chuck’s prominent, pessimistic, radical work, Fight Club, investigates inner self deeper and deeper into personality, identity, and temperament as a chapter goes by. Through his writing, Chuck Palahniuk comments on the inner conflicts, the psychoanalysis of narrator and Tyler Durden, and the Marxist impression of classicism. By not giving any name to a narrator, author wants readers to engage in the novel and associate oneself with the storyline of narrator. The primary subject and focus of the novel, Fight Club, is to comment socially on the seizing of manhood in the simultaneous world. This novel is, collectively, a male representation where only a single woman, Marla Singer, is exemplified. “Tyler said, “I want you to hit me as hard as you can” (46). This phrase is a mere representation of how to start a manly fight club. However, in the novel this scene is written as if two people are physically fighting and splashing blood all over the parking lot, in reality it’s just an initiation of fight club which resides in narrator’s inner self. The concept of this club is that the more one fights, the more one gets sturdier and tougher. It is also a place where one gets to confront his weaknesses and inner deterioration.
When the narrator says “without Marla, Tyler would have nothing” (5), he explains her primary function in the text. Marla’s attendance of support groups spoils the scheme used by the narrator to “cradle his inner child” and cope with insomnia. She appears as his reflection because she is a liar. Marla’s indifferent behavior, as well as her gender, challenge the narrator because he does not want look weak. He cannot relax when Marla is watching because he is afraid that she will accuse him of being a faker. Marla is the primary reason why narrator’s insomnia transforms into his personality disorder. She is the catalyst for all events in the book.
Fight Club is a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk. This is a story about a protagonist who struggles with insomnia. An anonymous character suffering from recurring insomnia due to the stress brought about by his job is introduced to the reader. He visits a doctor who later sends him to visit a support group for testicular cancer victims, and this helps him in alleviating his insomnia. However, his insomnia returns after he meets Marla Singer. Later on, the narrator meets Tyler Durden, and they together establish a fight club. They continue fighting until they attract crowds of people interested in the fight club. Fight club is a story that shows the struggles between the upper class and lower class people. The upper class people here undermine the working class people by considering them as cockroaches. In addition, Palahniuk explores the theme of destruction throughout the book whereby the characters destroy their lives, body, building and the history of their town.
The main theme that is demonstrated in Fight Club is collective consciousness. Collective consciousness is a term coined by Emile Durkheim and it refers to a set of shared attitudes and beliefs that operate within a society as a unified force. They are a way of understanding and acting in the world in a specific way among society members. It was concluded by Durkheim that earlier societies were banded primarily by nonmaterial social facts or a strongly held morality that was common among members of the society. According to Durkheim, social interactions among members of a society lead to the development of a collective consciousness, particularly interactions between families and small communities, among people who have common interests, spend their recreational time together, or who share a common religion. All of these are present in the movie Fight club. The movie begins with a small group of people who are joined together in the act of fighting recreationally. At the beginning, only a small number of people take part in the fighting. Over time, however, more and more people gain an interest in it and eventually the group grows larger, while the members come to know one another within their group. The group is eventually “officially” organized as “fight club”, and with it, certain rules are established that are to be followed by its members. This sets up some of the values and norms that the members of the group follow. These rules become their shared way of understanding and acting in a specific way within the group. Collective consciousness is formed in the group when the individuals in Fight Club act and think in similar ways. More Fight Clubs are developed across the nation, and eventually the main character organizes the...
One’s identity is established at birth when given a name. Often times, one’s identity can change throughout one’s lifetime. During adolescence, identity can be linked to playing a sport, an instrument, being involved in art, acting, singing, or some other hobby. As adulthood approaches, identity can be described as, but not limited to, the career path someone has chosen, or the family they may or may not have. In the novel Fight Club, written by Chuck Palahniuk, the narrator has a difficult time finding his true identity. In the novel the theme identity is discussed as the narrator discovers the truth about himself and who the real Tyler Durden is.
The Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, constructs an underground world of men fighting with one and other to find the meaning to their lives. Ed Norton and Brad Pitt are the main characters who start the fight club. They make a set of rules in which everyone must follow.
Out of all the classes that I have taken here at Westfield State College, I can honestly say that Abnormal Psychology has been by far the most interesting. Since this course has had such a major influence on me this semester, I am strongly considering continuing my education in this field of psychology. Throughout the semester, we studied a number of intriguing disorders. The disorder that really seemed to catch my attention was the Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). I took it upon myself to use this opportunity to learn more about the disorder that seemed to be the most fascinating. This is the main reason why I chose to read The Minds of Billy Milligan, by Daniel Keyes. This true story shows us how a young man (Billy Milligan), who suffers from DID, is charged with crimes that one of his alternate personalities is responsible for. Daniel Keyes is the writer who offered to reveal Billy's story to the world. After Billy was fused, he was able to explore the depths of his mind and the minds of his other 24 personalities for Keyes. Keyes published The Minds of Billy Milligan in 1981, but most of the story takes place before then. The book starts out in 1977, where Billy is being sought out for rape crimes.
In the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk we are introduced to our narrator, a nameless male who stands atop the Parker-Morris building with a gun pressed to his mouth waiting for the moment when the bombs go off and the building crumbles. Holding the gun to his mouth is Tyler Durden who represents everything the narrator is not. The narrator is a man presumably in his 30's, although it is never stated. He works as a recall campaign coordinator and lives in a condo furnished with the latest furniture. Tyler Durden is none of these things, Tyler Durden works various jobs and sells soap made of human fat. Tyler Durden lives in a dilapidated house with makeshift furnishings and questionable utilities. Tyler Durden is satisfied with his life, unlike our narrator who suffers from chronic insomnia and who often speaks bitterly about the corporate life.
Others often use masculinity, most often associated with strength, confidence and self-sufficiency to define a man’s identity. The narrator perceives Tyler Durden as a fearless young man who is independent and living life by his own rules. So is Tyler Durden masculine because of his no nonsense attitude or are his law breaking antics and unusual lifestyle seen as a failure because he is a man with neither family, money nor a well respected job? These typical aspirations are commonly defined as the male American dream, but does following life by the rulebook placed on males by society really make a male masculine? Fight Club specifically debunks the male American dream. It challenges’ the idea that the masculine identity is defined by material items and instead embraces the idea that masculine identity can be found in liberation from conformity and the ability to endure pain.
Fight Club “Its only after we’ve lost everything are we free to do anything”, Tyler Durden as (Brad Pitt) states, among many other lines of contemplation. In Fight Club, a nameless narrator, a typical “everyman,” played as (Edward Norton) is trapped in the world of large corporations, condominium living, and all the money he needs to spend on all the useless stuff he doesn’t need. As Tyler Durden says “The things you own end up owning you.” Fight Club is an edgy film that takes on such topics as consumerism, the feminization of society, manipulation, cultism, Marxist ideology, social norms, dominant culture, and the psychiatric approach of the human id, ego, and super ego. “It is a film that surrealistically describes the status of the American
Throughout Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, masculinity is a reoccurring theme that is present throughout the novel and is directly linked to the creation of Fight Club in the first place. After meeting Tyler Durden, the narrator’s masculinity and outlook on life starts to dramatically change. In result of this change, the theme of masculinity becomes very disastrous throughout the novel very quickly because Palahniuk uses masculinity in order to explain the many problems the consumer driven males may struggle with. In this case, the narrator’s masculinity is constantly in question because of his struggles with insomnia, consumer driven lifestyle, and Marla Singer.
“My boss doesn’t know the material, but he won’t let me run the demo with a black eye and half my face swollen from the stitches inside my cheek”(Palahniuk, par. 1). Chuck Palahniuk’s “Fight Club” deals with a man frustrated on many different levels; from his childhood to present day life. Fight Clubs' setting contributes to what makes Fight Club such a powerful story. The narrator who is never named, starts off in chapter six with what could be described as an office hell; complete with empty smiles and feeble minded speak of which color icon they will use for office reports. The beginning of chapter six reminds the reader of mindless zombie office speak and a lack of life, that is all too common in many peoples lives. The reader will most likely identify with what is written in a manner easily transferable to anyones life. I believe most people, when reading would characterize the office environment as the light side and the hours during fight club at the bottom of the bar the dark side. I would argue the complete opposite. For the narrator, all the hate, the disgust, the total contempt for humanity is created in that office environment. All the feelings of life, and meaning, and what I would characterize as happiness is all felt during the time fight club is in effect in the bottom of that bar.
My topic of choice for this research paper is Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID. This appellation is rather new; therefore, most are more familiar with the disorder's older, less technical name: Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD. When first presented with the task of selecting a topic on which to center this paper, I immediately dismissed Dissociative Identity Disorder (which for the sake of brevity will be referred to as DID for the remainder of this paper) as a viable topic due to the sheer scope of the disorder. However after an exhaustive examination of other prospective topics, I found myself back at my original choice. There are several reasons why I chose DID. The foremost of which is the widespread fascination of this disorder by many different types of people; most of whom otherwise have no interest in psychology or its associated fields. One would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t been captivated at one time or another by the extraordinary, all too well known symptoms of this disorder. This fascination… dare I say ‘allure’ to this disorder is exemplified by the myriad of motion pictures that have been produced based on cases, real or fictitious, of DID. Another reason for my choice is what I feel is the insufficiency of effective treatments for DID. Despite what is known about this disorder, (which is relatively a lot) there are only two chief treatments for DID; the first and most prevalent is psychotherapy; also known as ”talk therapy”, the second is medication. The third and final reason for my choice is my own enchantment with DID. I must admit that ever since I read about Sue Tinker, a woman who was diagnosed with over 200 different personalities. In writing this paper I hope to discover more about this disorder and perhaps be able to identify a few areas that I feel might require more research on the part of psychologists specializing in DID.
The first psychological theory in Fight club that we will be covering is the theory of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) which was formerly known as the Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). DID is classified by the presence of two or more distinct identity or personality states that regularly take control of an individual’s behavior accompanied by an inability to recall important personal information. It is a disorder characterized by identity fragmentation rather than proliferation of separate personalities. The common symptoms of DID include: unexplainable sleep problems, sudden return of traumatic memories, unexplainable events and the inability to be aware of them.