Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD)

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Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD)

Introduction:

Multiple personalities is a dissociative condition in which an individual’s personality is apparently split into two or more distinct sub-personalities, each of which may become dominant at different times. People with multiple personality disorder suffer from internal chaos, roller-coaster emotions and terrible memories. They also present confusing confusing and contradictory images to their family and friends. But in spite of all this, MPD is a treatable disorder.

In theory, the developmental process behind MPD is a result of resorting to a mental escape from a traumatic situation. This is essentially achieved when neither fleeing nor fighting can be used as a defense option, which leads the individual to distance themselves from the incident to retain control. This distancing mechanism is characterized by detachment from the self or surroundings, excluding unwanted or unneeded feelings from awareness, and partial or total amnesia from the emotions associated with the traumatic event. In essence, this process allows the individual to separate the traumatic memories from ordinary consciousness to preserve some areas of healthy functioning. This entire process is referred to as dissociation. Dissociation serves as an adaptive function, as it allows the individual to escape from the traumatic event while it is underway. However repeated reliance on dissociative defenses can lead to the inability to properly process information from past and future events. It is theorized that the repeated use of dissociation can lead to the development of a series of separate mental states, which may eventually take on an identity of their own.

The Cause:

Multiple personalities stem from very traumatic childhood events. Multiple personality disorder (MPD) is a dissociative disorder. Dissociation is normal everyday human activity. For example, you are dissociated when you lose track of time when you are watching a movie. You are also dissociative when you are daydreaming and lost in thought. Everyone dissociates to some extent, but it becomes a problem when it starts to interfere with your work, or the quality of your life.

On the average, the onset of multiple personalities occurs at about four years of age. Everyone knows that children have wild imaginations. They use there minds to create playmates and wond...

... middle of paper ...

...will last a minimum of three months, and individual alters will not be reachable by hypnosis. The patient will also no longer hear separate voices inside. But sometimes fusions do not last and the alters break away and become a separate personality once again.

Post-Fusion Therapy:

If the fusion holds, you must now learn how to function in the world as a single, and as a newly formed personality. This process can be very confusing and patients may find themselves becoming MPD again. Because of this, this stage must last at least a year. Therapy for MPD is not mysterious, it helps to bring a clearer understanding to the patient to help them on their journey to wholeness.

Bibliography

1. Exploring Multiple Personality Disorder.

<a href="http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro99/web3/Sancar.html#7">http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro99/web3/Sancar.html#7

2. The Spectrum of Dissocative Disorders

<a href="http://www.voiceofwomen.com/centerarticle.html">http://www.voiceofwomen.com/centerarticle.html

3. The Fractured Mirror

C.W. Duncan Ph. D, Publisher: Heath Communications Inc., 1994

4. The Oxford Dictionary

Oxford University Press, 2000

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