Dissociative Identity Disorder: what it is and how to identify

Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is a mental disorder in which the person behaves as if it were two or more different people, which vary in relation to their thoughts, memories, feelings or actions.

This psychological imbalance causes changes in self-perception, loss of mastery of your behavior and memory disorders, and may be accompanied by other signs and symptoms such as feeling of being lost, sudden changes in attitudes and opinions or feeling that the body does not belongs.

Dissociative identity disorder is one of the types of dissociative disorders that can manifest itself in a variety of ways, such as amnesia, movement disorders, changes in sensation, tingling or metal confusion, for example, without there being a physical illness that explains these changes. Learn more about the manifestation manifestations of dissociative disorder.

The treatment of this disorder is directed by the psychiatrist, and should be done with psychotherapy and, if necessary, use of medications to relieve anxiety or depressive symptoms and, although there is no cure, may allow a more harmonious association between personalities and a better balance of behavior.

Main symptoms

Symptoms of Multiple Personality Disorder include:

• Absence of identity, having 2 or more personalities, with characteristics, ways of thinking and acting that are proper;
• Lack of identification with one's own body or the feeling that it belongs to another person;
• Constant changes in behavior, attitudes and opinions;
• Memory failures on past events;
• Memory lapses for everyday situations, such as forgetting to use the phone, for example;
• Feeling that the world is not real;
• Feeling of being separated from the body;
• Listen to voices or have other types of hallucinations, such as visual or sensory.

The symptoms cause suffering for the affected person, as well as impairment in social, professional or other important areas of life. In addition, symptoms may be associated with other syndromes, such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, drug abuse, self-mutilation or suicidal behavior, for example.

What can cause

Multiple Identity Disorder is caused by a number of factors that can affect anyone, but it is more likely that this syndrome develops in people who have suffered extreme stress or who have experienced major trauma during childhood, such as physical abuse, emotional or sexual.

These childhood traumas can cause changes in the person's ability to form an identity, especially when the perpetrators are family members or caregivers. However, the risk of developing this disorder decreases if the child feels protected and reassured by caregivers.

How to confirm

The diagnosis of multiple personality disorder syndrome is made by the psychiatrist through the evaluation of symptoms, and it is also important to rule out other psychiatric and neurological diseases or the use of substances that may cause these symptoms.

How is the treatment done?

The dissociative identity disorder does not have a cure, however, the symptoms can be controlled and softened with the treatment indicated by the psychiatrist, with the objective of transforming the multiple identities in only one. The main forms of treatment include:

• Psychotherapy;
• Treatments with hypnosis;
• Use of medicines, such as anxiolytics and antidepressants, to relieve anxiety and depressive symptoms, for example.

The recovery of this disorder varies according to the symptoms and characteristics that present, besides the correct accomplishment of the treatment.