D.I.D. - History, Symptoms, and Appearance

Imagine living in a world that is constantly changing with the flick of a switch. Living in constant fear not knowing when you are going to black out again. Long periods of having no memory. This is how the life a person living with D.I.D. is often described as. If you've read the previous posts, you already know that this person as already been through hell during childhood, and now their adulthood is filled with a different kind of fear: their own mind is working against them.

While I am on the journey of finding out if this disorder is real, I think it would be helpful to know a little bit of history about the disorder. It was actually first reported all the way back in 1646! It was reported as "double consciousness", or a sleepwalking-like state where people had different behaviors depending on the level of consciousness. Cases of multiple personalities increased in the 19th century, with nearly 100 reported cases. Many psychologists of the time devoted conferences to discussing dissociation and trying to figure out what it was/what caused it. They were actually able to correctly hypothesize that it the emotional instability was caused by traumatic experiences, however the culture during this time still viewed the disorder as weird and very unknown. In the 20th centuries, many cases of D.I.D., Schizophrenia, and PTSD were reported mostly due to a "re-framing" of many psychological disorders. World War I and II also greatly increased mental illness due to soldiers returning from service and not reporting their mental distress. There were many movies and books that were published in the mid-20th century that showed the public's immense interest in the disorder. Books like "The Three Faces of Eve" and "Sybil" led to popular movies that would later be deemed by some as exaggerated and inaccurate.

Fast forward to the 1980's, the overlap of Schizophrenia and D.I.D. became apparent when psychologists start questioning the diagnosis of the two and tried to figure out how to differentiate them. In 1994, the DSM IV (which is basically a diagnostic handbook used to give criteria, symptoms and causation for all mental disorders) changed the name from "Multiple Personality Disorder" to "Dissociative Identity Disorder" in order to change the emphasis from different personalities to dissociation and identity disturbances.

Finally in 2006, there was a study that basically looked at all of the scholarly research done on D.I.D. and compared to research done on other mental disorders. "The results were found to be unusually distributed, with a very low level of publications in the 1980s followed by a significant rise that peaked in the mid-1990s and subsequently rapidly declined in the decade following." Basically, it shows this "phenomenon" that occurred with D.I.D.mainly because of media attention and a lack of education on the new plethora of psychological disorders. Scientists had a very hard time accepting this disorder because of a huge lack of research and understanding on how the brain worked at a deep level. This piece of the puzzle is interesting because it shows how much new research, technology and knowledge has developed in ONLY the last 20-30 years!   

I want to talk about symptoms, because many of them seem pretty common, but when put together they create a nightmare that is virtually inescapable:

• Depression
• Mood swings
• Suicidal tendencies
• Sleep disorders (insomnia, night terrors, and sleep walking)
• Anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias (flashbacks, reactions to stimuli or "triggers")
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Compulsions and rituals
• Psychotic-like symptoms (including auditory and visual hallucinations)
• Eating disorders

Now, what't interesting is that you will never see a symptom about "changing identities or personalities", because it has not been proven on a level to make it an official symptom. Why is this....?

Next week I will post interview results with a Dissociative Expert and analyze some evidence on both sides of the "Is D.I.D. real?" argument. 

Trauma - The Other Side of D.I.D.

Trauma plays a huge role in the development of many mental disorders. When a young child experiences repeated abuse over a long period of time, it can lead to a life long battle with mental illness. Childhood trauma is very serious and has many negative implications due to the still-developing brain. Repeated sexual or physical abuse often sends the brain into a state that is un-treatable, if the trauma is serious enough. Many victims of trauma often have no memory of the abuse until they begin psychotherapy. Dissociation, which was discussed last week, is the cause of this memory loss; the brain tries to function normally by getting rid of the traumatic memories, which can then re-surface during talk therapy or hypnotherapy. Now, what exactly happens to the brain during/after abuse is still unknown, but there is quite a bit of observatory data that clearly shows that abuse and trauma tie in with mental illness.

Science shows that the severity and frequency of abuse impacts the severity of the mental illness that develops, which makes sense. A child that watches their parents fight and go through a divorce at a young age may experience mild anxiety and depression, and it may only last for a short period of time. Whereas a young toddler that is repeatedly abused will more likely experience severe anxiety, and that may develop anything ranging from P.T.S.D. all the way to a crippling dissociative disorder. The exact mental disorder that is formed is determined by personality, genetics, and circumstances of the abuse. Statistics show that victims of abuse are more prevalent to substance abuse, suicide and anxiety. Two-thirds of people seeking treatment for substance abuse report at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.

Okay, we now know that there is a connection between trauma and psychological disturbance...but why? What causes it? There are several beliefs/possibilities as to how it develops. We know that our brains are very fragile, so it's easy to see that when trauma is experienced, our brain is affected, and often can't cope with what has happened. This is why abuse victims frequently report blackouts, amnesia and dissociation. Fortunately, psychotherapy does a great job of helping victims cope with the trauma, and they can often learn how to live a very fulfilling life once they come to terms with what happened. Unfortunately, many abuse victims feel ashamed of their experiences, and do not report the abuse, causing it to go untreated for a long time.

Why is this? Why do people feel ashamed or judged about something that was not their fault? It goes to show how powerful these traumatic experiences can be. It is important to note that successful treatment begins with reporting abuse and seeking help immediately. There is also a terrible stigma about mental illness, but I want to talk about stigma and awareness in another discussion. The lack of knowledge and dramatization of mental disorders may reflect exactly why there is a controversy/possible stigma surrounding Dissociative Identity Disorder. Without drawing any conclusions, I think that accurately defining and researching the two parts of D.I.D. will allow me to objectively move forward with my research and begin discovering the deeper aspects of D.I.D..

Dissociation - What is it?

Dissociation is one of the two main factors that psychologists believe are a part of D.I.D. (the other part being trauma - we will discuss this next time). However, dissociation is not only an interesting part of Dissociative Identity Disorder, but also of our every day behavior. It's a very important concept to understand about D.I.D.. Dissociation happens to all of us, multiple times a day. If you've ever been driving in your car in a familiar place and arrived at your location without remembering how you got there, that's dissociation (also known as "Highway Hypnosis). To put it simply, dissociation is when your mind wanders off into "never land" while your motor skills and body remain functioning normally. Most of us do it unintentionally and don't even realize we're doing it.

The Spectrum of Dissociation

I found myself talking to a friend the other day, nodding my head and responding to what he said, but after the conversation ended, I had no recollection of what he said other than a few random words I had picked up. I had a dissociative moment, as we all do. Psychologists have also said that dissociation is a way for our brains to release energy. If you've ever been in class and you start to day-dream, your brain may be getting restless and needing to release energy; it's often completely unintentional! Dissociation actually occurs in many disorders, including PTSD, Panic Disorder and many anxiety disorders.

Basically, our brain has a "maximum capacity" of information that it can handle (internally and externally). If the brain reaches this maximum level, it begins to dissociate to release energy and relieve our stress until we settle back at a normal level. You will find that you dissociate more when you are low on sleep or after a stressful situation; times when your brain is on maximum alert and needs a break. It's the equivalent of your computer going into "stand-by mode": everything is still there, its just conserving energy until you need it again!

Isn't it amazing how our brains can literally remove us from a situation whenever we are stressed/overwhelmed/tired? Our own minds are truly unbelievable.

While there is a normal, healthy side to dissociation, there is also a dangerous side to it. While dissociation can be used for our brains to take a break, it can also activate during traumatic situations. Psychologist and Dr. D.J. Seigel even called dissociation a "survival mechanism in traumatic situations". When the brain becomes too stressed out or overwhelmed, it simply removes itself from the situation, and will regain functioning when the situation is over. Some of you may start to see how trauma and dissociation work together, but we will get into the correlation more next time!

Now that we know how dissociation works, it's easy to see how it can apply to D.I.D.. Some psychologists claim that the dissociative behavior in D.I.D. is so bad that it causes the brain to split into unique personality states. Whether or not that actually happens, I've yet to discover. I'll keep digging.

Diving into unknown water: D.I.D. - Dissociative Identity Disorder

As a hopeful student of Psychology, I love exploring the unknown of the human psyche. What we think we know and what is actually real may be two completely different things. I am so intrigued by all of the things that we don't know about our own minds, and I hope that my research can help bring awareness to many different mental disorders. We know that the realm of psychology is infinitely expanding and changing, due to our own minds being never ending. Because of this huge spectrum of knowledge and information that's out there, there is one specific, microscopic piece of psychology that especially fascinates me. Previously referred to as "Multiple Personality Disorder", Dissociative Identity Disorder (D.I.D.) has caused quite a stir in the psychological community. Some believe that it's real, some do not. The over-arching question I want to answer is: Does the human brain actually have the ability to split itself into multiple parts? Initial research behind the disorder has created one main question regarding D.I.D's existence: Is it 'real' or is it 'constructed'? These two terms and their meaning will be discussed later, but at least I know where I can start. Before I have you engulfed in the controversy, you will want to know exactly what Dissociative Identity Disorder is, at least by a dictionary's standards: Dissociative Identity Disorder is defined as a dissociative disorder involving a disturbance of identity in which two or more separate and distinct personality states (or identities) control the individual's behavior at different times. The number of identities (referred to as alters) a person with D.I.D can have ranges from 2-100, with the average number being 10.

What I want to research. 

-Is D.I.D. real? constructed?

-What is the history of D.I.D.?

-Does therapy play a role in the diagnosis/creation/exaggeration of D.I.D.?

-Does hypnotherapy play a role in the exaggeration of symptoms?

-How does media portray D.I.D?

-How does it differentiate from schizophrenia? Borderline?

-Why do some abused children develop D.I.D. and others don't?

-What is the concluding factor in ALL cases of D.I.D.?

My hope is to address these questions in each of my blog posts in hopes of them leading to a conclusive answer to my overall question of whether or not the disorder is real. I'm sure that many more questions will come up along the way as I research, and I hope that my readers and classmates can ask their own questions as well, because we will be going on this journey through the mind together.

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