Essay Example on the Unfamiliar History of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

In Psychiatry dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a controversial condition where the patient has two or more personalities usually traced back to a traumatic childhood. However, Literature arguably was the first platform where DID came alive with the name multiple identity disorder. R.L. Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde from 1886 is perhaps the most famous fictional example. The treatment for dissociative identity disorder requires the person affected to talk to a psychiatrist, think back to vague or forgotten memories from childhood and sometimes they have to be hypnotized. However, an adult living with the condition will surely have a hard time coping with requirements of day to day life whether at work, with family or otherwise.

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In the few amounts of reported cases of dissociative identity disorder, not much is known about it. What can be concluded from the reports are, these victims suffered psychological and mental abuses as children. Most children can understand what is happening but are not able to know why, this becomes a traumatic experience for them, and they develop defense mechanisms to help cope with their stress. This paper will theoretically look at ways in which an adult suffering from dissociative identity disorder might live and additionally how he might be assisted. Since much of DID is still unknown, the hypotheses should be treated as that rather than actual experiences of life.

In the book Sybil, the protagonist created sixteen "alters" in which she was able to co-exist. Although this book was written based on a true patient, the media does not show "alters" co-existing for the sake of the central personality. To create a great movie and reel in the customers, the media does not tell the whole or exact truth and will include twists. Usually, the patient with DID grows into adulthood fine. They might use the personalities to their advantage, but most of the time, it becomes a hindrance to their everyday lives. With every alters, the patient changes the way they talk and walk and even dress. The chemical formula inside their head completely changes to accommodate the other personalities. This is all while the primary character experiences a black-out and does not recall anything from the time the others take over.

In all likelihood, the adult with DID might be taking some form of medication to help them through normal activities of living. He or she could be taking medication for sleep or attention-deficit hyper-disorder (ADHD) if DID is not diagnosed. That the condition remains mysterious up to now, suggests that if somebody has DID most likely, they might mistake it for another state. They might think they have insomnia, or severe amnesia when black outs happen. The mind of such a person looks to be too jumbled up to maintain consistency of any personality. People who know them might describe them as erratic, mentally unstable. It seems that DID might be misdiagnosed; the adult living with it might take medication to deal with the symptoms but not the actual problem. Then again, DID is hard to classify as a medical condition; even professionals themselves argue whether it is a real condition or not.

The problem with dissociative identity disorder is an inability to have control over the "self." When black-outs occur, the person is in a high state of confusion where the only remedy for them is to let an alter take control of the situation. There is a common saying that a drowning man will clutch anything even water to avoid drowning. From the little research and lots of literature, written about DID, we understand that most of the episodes where other personas take over from the central figure are triggered by extreme negative emotions. The negative emotions include loneliness, intense fear, feelings of abandonment, persecution and so on. For the adult, their feelings make him feel like a child again. As a child, if the person was abused, then creating alternate personalities made sense for him or her to numb them from the pain. Hence, the very first step to help a person cope with the condition as an adult is to remind them that they are grown up now- no longer children. It is interesting that people suffering from DID remember how a particular feeling felt but forget how the experience was- the memory is compromised or entirely deleted. Reminding a person with DID that they are adults, telling them their age and showing evidence such as ID will help calm them down as such assertions show that they are in control.

An adult with DID will have problems creating meaningful connections with others as they cannot maintain one whole personality. Therefore, the second consideration for people with DID is for close friends and family to be very understanding with them. If the person affected might have bouts of amnesia, then they should not be forced to try and remember moments because it might be painful for them. A gentle tone of voice will do the trick and make them trust. An adult with DID is thought to have many trust issues.

In most cases, in their childhood, they had to rely too much on themselves to the extent that they created other personalities to help them cope with situations such as absentee or abusing parents. A sharp or hostile tone of voice might hence put them on a defensive mode. A tone of voice to an adult with DID conveys much information: kindness, intention, friendship, playfulness and so on. The tone of voice can be a trigger which brings about individual personalities.

In all honesty, an adult with DID might have many work problems. If they have an episode in the middle of a meeting, they might say something which compromises the relationship with co-workers. If the situation is severe, he or she might even be regarded as a pariah, called names which make fun of their dissociated state of mind. They might feel isolated, triggering more episodes. It is hard to imagine a scenario where a person with DID holds a steady job. For example, they might forget where important documents are for a company. In most cases, a person living with DID might not divulge that to the firm when they are getting hired in the first place. DID is still a controversial disorder- even people in the medical world treat it like the Loch Ness monster; the fact that most of what is considered true about it comes from fictional works, is a big contributor why. Most likely, a person living with DID might not even know he or she has the condition. DID is still a complex disorder still under investigation.

The person suffering from DID might have a coping mechanism to avoid an episode and blacking out. It could be a piece of belonging, a favorite spot, some specific type of music, a memento from childhood; the list goes on. Most likely, if the memento helps keep the other personalities in check, the subject might carry the object everywhere he goes. Imagine a scenario, where the adult is maybe in class, and they feel an overpowering sensation signaling an episode. In that case, they will have to regulate themselves by maybe humming a tune or looking at some picture or some other method. In any case, it will be awkward for the person especially considering they are trying to cope in a classroom! It seems then a person with DID is bound to have a lot of embarrassing moments. These embarrassing moments might yet create another personality to cope with the embarrassment. Just thinking about it hurts; imagine how it might feel actually to experience it. DID sounds painful.

An adult suffering from DID will have a hard life, unable to be themselves for any specific sort of time. The creation of the "self" by humans is generally considered to be related to the culmination of consciousness; where humans became aware of everything and maybe creating the notion of the mind. So much is unknown about the brain, the mind, the state of "self" and consciousness. Hence, the reason why the above discussion on DID is regarded as hypotheses and not facts.

Works Cited

Brand, Bethany. "Separating Fact from Fiction: An Empirical Examination of... : Harvard Review of Psychiatry." LWW, 2016, journals.lww.com/hrpjournal/Fulltext/2016/07000/Separating_Fact_from_Fiction___An_Empirical.2.aspx.

Casey, Joan Frances., and Lynn Wilson. The Flock. Abacus, 1993.

Chase, Trudi. When The Rabbit Howls. C.1987, 1987.

Schreiber, Flora Rheta. Sybil. Grand Central, 2009

Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson, et al. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Bendon Pub., 2014.