What is DID?

According to the American Psychiatric Association, there are five dissociative disorders. They are Dissociative Amnesia (DA), Dissociative Fugue (DF), Depersonalization Disorder (DP), Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (DDNOS), and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

This Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is also known as Multiple Personality Disorder. DID is a condition in which two or more distinct identities or personality states control a person’s behavior and at the same time make them unable to recall even important information about themselves.

Common Symptoms

• Amnesia
  Amnesia is the loss of memory about facts, information and events.

• Anxiety »»
  Worry or fear caused by thinking about various situations is called anxiety.

• Auditory Hallucination
  Hallucinations can occur in all five modes of perception. Auditory hallucinations are often seen in DID. Hallucinations are covered a lot in our article on schizophrenia. If you like, read it.

• Depression »»
  Depression is a serious mental illness that changes our moods and thoughts.

• Fugue Episodes
  Being in an unknown place without realizing it with temporary loss of memory is known by this name.

• Insomnia »»
  Insomnia is simply the loss of healthy sleep and its accompanying conditions.

• Low Self-esteem
  It can be characterized as viewing oneself with low value, low importance, and no pride.

• Mood Swings
  Usually our moods change from time to time. If it changes abnormally, it belongs to this. This is commonly seen in bipolar disorder.

• Lost Time
  You may realize later that you have lost time when you are working on your second personality.

Diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder

We now know what the symptoms of someone with DID are. That means we have some kind of awareness about this disease. But how exactly do we determine this disorder?

Not everyone sees this situation in the same way. There are differences from one to another in the way they act and the way they show symptoms. And sometimes the person in question may not have DID but bipolar. If dealing with depression in a hypomanic state, it could be bipolar disorder.

Therefore, understand the changing nature of the identity of the person concerned. Their identity differences will also vary from person to person. One person may behave in a completely different way in their second personality than another person in their second identity. Likewise, the amount of time they spend in their charged identity may vary.

Everything is determined in a unique way for them, due to their state of mind and experiences. In the other form, who they behave as, what postures they use, etc., everything is decided in a unique way for each of them. We have discussed things like their childhood incidents below. Such things strongly influence this.

Can Dissociative Identity Disorder be Prevented?

There is no way to prevent DID, but the condition can be cured by early detection and treatment.
If young children are in this condition, parents, teachers and other caregivers should be aware and attentive.

Patient history

When examining the history of the patient, it is seen that the various incidents and situations they have faced affect this condition.

• Some children face a lot of trouble from childhood. Sometimes they lost their parents, or else the lack of care shown by their parents, having to grow up with a stepmother or stepfather, various other injustices and misdemeanors they face in such cases, having to live in orphanages, etc.

• Children are rejected in school due to various factors. Sometimes they are incompetent, or have special talents that are not recognized by the teachers, and because of things like being lazy in education, the teachers as well as sometimes the children refuse those children.

• Such conditions may occur later due to various mental disorders from childhood and treatment for them. The most common reason is that since childhood they have suffered a lot of mental suffering and torture and the mental neglect that comes with it.

Therapy Approaches Used in the Treatment of DID

• Person centered therapy
• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Cognitive processing therapy
• Family and systemic therapy
• Focusing oriented therapy
• Hypnotherapy
• Dialectical behavior therapy