Formerly Multiple Personality Disorder
What Is It?
DID/MPD is a disturbance of identity in which the person perceives themselves as being a number of individuals all living in the same mind. These individuals are known as alters (alternate personalities).
Individual alters may or may not be aware of the others, thus the individuals take on the primary symptoms of amnesia. From their perspective this is known as “losing time”.
This also means that objects or new clothes may appear without them knowing where they have come from, or other people may recall conversations and times of which they have no memory.
A person with DID/MPD may also have many somatic (or physical) complaints.
eg:
- Headaches, up to severe migraines
- Abdominal pain
- Chest pain
- Vaginal or anal pain
- Changes in vision
- Choking sensations
They may experience depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, sleep disorders, panic attacks and self mutilation, such as cutting or burning themselves.
They can also suffer from flashbacks or reactions in which they seem to be reliving traumatic experiences as if trapped in some kind of ‘time warp’.
What Causes It?
DID/MPD ‘develops’ in childhood. It is the result of ongoing severe abuse (physical, emotional and/or sexual) or trauma. It is a highly creative survival technique that allows a child to escape from situations from which there is no physical escape by ‘going away’ inside and allowing ’someone else’ (another alter) to take over their place.
How Is It Diagnosed?
DID/MPD is diagnosed by the identification of at least two alter personalities who take control of the body. This kind of response to stress is called dissociation, and there are a number of evaluation tests that can measure the levels of dissociation a person uses. Along with the identification of alters, these tests will enable a therapist to make the diagnosis.
What Are The Main Different Types?
People with DID/MPD can have anything from three to hundreds of alters.
There are three main types within the disorder based on the causes.
Ritual/Satanic abuse - Estimates of 40-60% of DID/MPD is caused by Satanic religious cults. This condition is often deliberately induced by the cult to produce compliance and amnesia.
Childhood Trauma - Trauma such as death, war, medical trauma etc if ongoing can produce DID/MPD in a small percentage of cases (approximately 3%)
Childhood Neglect and Abuse- Ongoing physical, emotional and sexual abuse is the way to create DID/MPD. Unfortunately this kind of severe mistreatment of children is common enough to produce DID/MPD in at least 1.8% of the population.
Who Is At Risk?
Obviously the biggest risk factor is child abuse. However, an adult with DID/MPD may not remember any abuse and in fact may have long blank periods in their memories of childhood or sometimes no memory at all.
Implications
The prevalence of DID/MPD in the general population has been estimated at between 1-3%. This means that at least one child in every hundred is experiencing the severity of abuse and neglect that leads to the development of the disorder.
The only prevention for DID/MPD is the prevention of the abuse of children.
For their sakes - BREAK THE SILENCE
What Can Be Done?
The condition of DID/MPD is resolvable with two to seven years of psychotherapeutically based counselling. Unfortunately, in Australia it can be very difficult to access appropriate therapy and it is important, in fact vital, that the therapy be directly dealing with the multiplicity for it to be effective.
People with DID/MPD have an average of seven years in the mental health system and at least seven previous diagnoses before being correctly diagnosed.
Drug therapies have been found to be counter productive with the exception of seratonin reuptakes (Prosac, Arapax. Zoloft etc) which can be useful in controlling the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (which used to be known as “shell shock” when first identified in wartime conditions). People with DID/MPD also suffer from PTSD. In fact it has been suggested that DID/MPD is itself a chronic form of PTSD.
Services Available
Very Little.
Individual psychotherapy - be careful to find someone familiar and preferably experienced in working with DID/MPD.
Useful Links:
Caring Others of People with DID
