IndexIntroductionA little historyTopic analysisConclusionQuotesIntroductionDissociative identity disorder is a form of dissociation that causes a person to lack a sense of connection with one's feelings, one's sense of identity and one's individual identity thoughts. DID has been officially recognized as a mental disorder since its inclusion in the 1980 version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). It can create one or more alternate personalities that function without the person's awareness and usual personality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The dissociative aspect is believed to be a coping mechanism, the person literally shuts down or dissociates from a situation or experience that is too violent, traumatic, or painful for their conscious self to assimilate. Very distinct memory variations are also present in dissociative identity disorder, which fluctuate with the person's dual personality. The "alters" or different identities have their own age, gender or race. Sometimes the alter egos are imaginary people; sometimes they are animals. However, even after decades of research into this disorder, a number of misconceptions and myths about the disorder remain, compromising both patient care and research. DID is surprisingly rare and there is no precise way to be diagnosed in an individual causing many to speculate on the legitimacy of this disorder. Even despite people's uncertainties, this disorder has enough research that can scientifically and empirically support that it is indeed a real disorder. documented. During this time, however, many believed that it was not dealing with traumatic experiences or mental disorders, but believed that it was dealing with the devil or hell. A woman named Jeanne Fery was said to have experimented with and had multiple alter egos, each with their own name, identity, and characteristics that differentiated them. Although at first it was difficult for many to understand why this woman behaved in this manner. As the years went by, it was proven that different individuals had the same symptoms, however it was quite difficult to identify what the cause was and what it really meant for an individual, was it just a mental abnormality, were these people faking it or was it really a disorder . As time went by there was a correlation that began to show itself with Jeanne Ferty as well, all of these individuals had traumatic experiences or childhoods that they were not able to fully process or even accept what happened. For some time, however, people began to associate these symptoms with hysteria. Hysteria was seen primarily as dissociative in nature and could involve disturbances of memory, consciousness, affect, identity and bodily functions), the same symptoms today associated with dissociative disorders and in particular hysteria. identity disorder. The first person to be officially diagnosed with multiple personality disorder (rather than dual personality disorder as had come into use in France) was Louis Auguste Vivet in 1882. Louis was physically abused and neglected as a child and had frequent "attacks of hysteria”. By 1888, 10 personality states had been recorded, each differing in character, memory, and somatic symptoms. The symptoms when the disease was first discovered were writhing, convulsions, fainting and impaired consciousness. In the 1970s, dissociative identity disorder began to be more commonly examined andanalyzed thanks to the publication of the book Sybil. This has caused a substantial increase in reports of DID and many people have confessed to feeling like they have this type of disorder. Furthermore, as more and more cases of DID were reported, more and more alternative personalities (alters) were reported. reported in 1997. This caused skeptics to begin questioning the legitimacy of this disorder and whether individuals were truly telling the truth. However, as DID became more and more known, there was a greater need to conduct research and studies that led to a sufficient amount of information that concluded that these symptoms were a real disorder and ultimately led to them being added into the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental illness. Disorders listed as three types of dissociative disorders: dissociative identity disorder, dissociative amnesia, and depersonalization disorder. Topic Analysis For someone to be diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder they must have certain symptoms and also demonstrate certain characteristics. Usually there are general memory problems, a sense of wasted time, a sense of detachment, somatoform symptoms and even speech insertion. Most individuals also display two or more personalities or alterations and may have a temporary loss of well-rehearsed knowledge or skills and disconcerting experiences of self-alteration. All of these symptoms are key aspects when being diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. Doctors diagnose dissociative disorders based on an examination of symptoms and personal history. A doctor can run tests to rule out physical conditions that can cause symptoms such as memory loss and a sense of unreality (such as brain injury or sleep deprivation). The symptoms shown are quite specific due to the fact that it is difficult to diagnose this type of disorder as you cannot simply do a CT scan or medical scan, in fact the only way you can truly diagnose an individual is to go through a vast amount of questions and analyze symptoms to confirm that someone has dissociative identity disorder. As mentioned above, these symptoms and characteristics arise after traumatic experiences such as an accident or disaster such as rape or a physically or mentally abused situation as a child. Dissociation from one's traumatic experiences can help a person tolerate what might otherwise be too difficult to bear. In situations like these, a person may dissociate the memory of the place, circumstances, or feelings related to the overwhelming event, mentally fleeing from the pain and fear. . This may make it difficult to remember details of the experience later, as reported by many disaster and accident survivors. DID can be overlooked both because of this poly-symptomatic profile and because of the tendency of patients to feel ashamed and avoid disclosing their dissociative symptoms and history of childhood trauma. Over the decades of research and evaluation of DID, there has been a certain amount of controversy regarding whether or not it is truly a disorder. There are parties who are able to support the claim that these symptoms and appearances are more than enough evidence to argue that this is a real disorder while others in the world may think that these individuals are faking it or that there is another highlighted cause for this. Some experts believe that it is actually a phenomenon "derived" from another psychiatric problem, such as borderline personality disorder, or the product of profound difficulties in coping with the illness or stress related to the way in which peoplethey form emotional relationships of trust with others. From how this disorder is diagnosed to the research conducted on DID, it has always been a controversial topic of debate. Although the diagnosis of DID is somewhat controversial, over the years there have been numerous trials that have proven the reason for this disorder. it is actually an illness and not the extension of an already diagnosed illness. One study explored the idea that DID is based on the fantasy and social aspects around a person which they believe are the determining factor that leads one to think they have a real disorder. Within this study controls with high fantasy propensity and controls with low fantasy propensity were studied in two different types of identity states that were neutral and trauma-related in an autobiographical memory image. There were twenty-nine subjects examined as part of this experiment, 11 DID patients, 10 DID-simulating controls with high fantasy tendency, and 8 DID-simulating controls with low fantasy tendency. In the results it was shown that identity states in DID were not convincingly enacted by controls simulating dissociative identity disorder. Differences regarding regional cerebral blood flow and psychophysiological responses for different types of identity states in DID patients were confirmed after controlling for DID malingering. The findings are at odds with the idea that differences between different types of dissociative identity states in DID can be explained by a high propensity for fantasy, motivated role enactment, and suggestion. They indicate that DID does not have a sociocultural origin and was not influenced by the people around them. Another study went into detail on the controversial topic that many believe that DID is primarily diagnosed in North America by individuals considered experts in DID and that these doctors are overdiagnosing these patients. The study was conducted in three different ways, looking at countries where studies on the prevalence of DDI have been conducted; examining the countries from which DDI participants were recruited in an international study of DDI treatment outcomes; and conducting a systematic search of published research to determine the countries in which DID has been most studied. The findings show that DID is found in prevalence studies worldwide whenever researchers conduct systematic assessments using validated interviews. Second, in addition to prevalence studies, a recent prospective study evaluated the treatment outcome of two hundred and two DID patients from around the world. Participants lived in places from Australia to Taiwan and even the United States. Participants came from every continent except Antarctica. During this nine-year period, 70 studies included DID patients. Significantly, these studies were conducted by authors from 48 institutions in 16 countries. Another widely debatable topic within this disorder is that many believe that DID falls under the same controversy as borderline personality disorder and DID itself is just an extension of it, one of the difficulties in differentiating BPD from DID is was the poor definition of the BPD dissociation criterion in the various editions of the DSM. On the surface, BPD and DID appear to have similar psychological profiles and symptoms. Sudden mood swings, identity disturbances, impulsive risky behaviors, self-harm, and suicide attempts are common in both disorders. Indeed, early comparative studies found few differences on clinical comorbidity, medical history, or psychometric testingusing the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and the Millon Clinical Multiaxis Inventory. However, recent observational clinical studies, as well as systematic studies using structured interview data, have distinguished DID through clinical symptoms and psychosocial variables that distinguish DID from BPD: individuals with BPD have been shown to exhibit wavering emotions and less modulated that change depending on external precipitating factors. Furthermore, individuals with bipolar disorder can generally remember their actions across different emotions and do not find such actions to be foreign or so unusual as to be disavowed. In contrast, individuals with DID suffer from amnesia for some of their experiences while in dissociated personality states, and also experience a marked discontinuity in their sense of self or sense of agency. Regarding the frequent comorbidity between DID and BPD, studies evaluating both disorders have found that approximately 25% of BPD patients endorse symptoms that suggest possible dissociated personality states. A national random sample of experienced US clinicians found that 11% of patients treated in the community for BPD met criteria for comorbid DDI,84 and structured interview studies found that 31%–73% of DDI subjects met the criteria for BPD comorbidity. This demonstrated that approximately 30% or more of patients with DID do not fully meet the diagnostic criteria for BPD. As we have demonstrated, current research indicates that while approximately 1% of the general population suffers from DID, the disorder remains undertreated and underrecognized. The average DID patient spends years in the mental health system before being properly diagnosed. These patients have high rates of suicidal and self-destructive behavior, experience significant disability, and often require expensive and restrictive treatments such as hospitalization and partial hospitalization. Studies of treatment costs for DID show dramatic reductions in the overall cost of treatment, along with reductions in the use of more restrictive levels of care, after the correct diagnosis of DID is made and appropriate treatment is initiated. The misconception that DID is a rare or iatrogenic disorder may lead to the conclusion that this disorder is one for which resources should not be spent (whereas we have shown that the opposite is true). Together, these myths may discourage scholars from pursuing DID research and also inhibit funding for such research, which, in turn, exacerbates the lack of understanding and currently inadequate clinical services for DID. Even with research supporting the claim that dissociative identity disorder is a real disorder, there are to this day skeptics who believe there is not enough evidence to support it. Some people who the same therapists might notice some symptoms or characteristics and automatically switch to DID, this is called iatrogenic model (Nakdimen, 2006). F. This model goes into detail about the idea that individuals are overdiagnosed due to lack of knowledge or research conducted. Some believe that therapists reinforce patients when they display certain behaviors and encourage patients who do not have DID to start believing they have the disorder. They may be more likely to diagnose this disorder when they think clients are fantasy-prone and highly suggestible. by nature (Ross, 2009). They tell them what the disorder is and what the symptoms are and clients then begin to behave as if they have DID. the danger for the consumer is that if a therapist accepts the label unconditionally, he will be likely to find or produce?: 10.1097/00005053-199409000-00004