Dissociative Identity Dissorder
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Dissociative Identity Disorder:
A Preliminary Examination
& Dealing with the Disorder as an Adult
Peter Limmer
10002355
Box 1460
Dr. Beth Veale
Human Development II: PSYC 2123A
28 February 2005
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID, is defined as: “The result of a marvelously creative defense mechanism that a young child uses to cope with extremely overwhelming trauma” (Hawkins, 2003, p. 3). Ross describes DID in this way: “In its childhood onset forms, the disorder is an effective strategy for coping with a traumatic environment: It becomes dysfunctional because environmental circumstances have changed by adulthood” (1997, p, 62). What types of traumatic environments are we talking about here? Often children who form DID are involved in some sort of abuse. These types of abuses can be physical, sexual and even ritual. Such abuses are not meant for children to have to endure, however, the mind is able to deal in effective ways to allow the child to bear such intolerable environments. As one examines this subject, one finds that there are varied opinions on DID, however, it is important to understand the nature of DID, types of DID as well as DID symptoms and healing in adults.
DID, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, often seems to come with a stigma of someone who is mentally ill or psychotic. As we look into society at popular media sources and examine the characters who display the symptoms in movies, we can see that characters with DID are often portrayed as murderers or psychotic people. In 2003 Columbia Pictures Industries, inc. released a movie called Identity. The basis of the film is that all the murders and evil happenings were happening in one mans mind. The man, who was on death row for murdering young women in real life, was in the midst of treatment to overcome DID, however, he remains a real life murderer even until the end. In one of the most popular movies of this generation, and a trilogy of great fantasy literature, involves a character named Golem who himself has multiple personalities. His character is troubled, cunning and evil, and has murderous intent. However, in real life DID is not like this. DID is a coping strategy for children who are involved in great trauma. Hawkins puts it this way: “God built marvelous ingenuity into the human mind in order to allow the most vulnerable part of His creation – the little children – to survive the worst kinds of evil that Satan would perpetrate through fallen man” (2003, p. 3). Ross goes into further detail:
What is DID? DID is a little girl imagining that the abuse is happening to someone else. This is the core of the disorder, to which all other features are secondary. The imagining is so intense, subjectively compelling, and adaptive, that the abused child experiences dissociated aspects of herself as other people. (Ross, 1997, p 59)
However, DID is not as simple as it seems. There are some who believe that it is created by therapists. Paul R. McHugh writes:
MPD like hystero-epilepsy, is created by therapists. This formerly rare and disputed diagnosis became popular after the appearance of several best-selling books and movies. It is often based on the crudest form of suggestion. (
In fact there are many more certified psychiatrists in America who are in agreement with McHugh. In a survey of 300 psychiatrists in 1999, 2/3 believed that DID should not be included in the DSM-IV (
In true cases of DID new identities are formed to enable the child to be sheltered from the reality of abuse. This diagnosis of DID is considered to be the most severe type of DID by Ross. He views DID as a multifaceted psychological condition. Consider the following chart, found on page 98 of his book, Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Normal
Dissociative
Dissociative
Partial DID
Dissociation
Amnesia
Fugue
DIDNOS
X (1997)
This chart shows the 5 areas of DID progressing from the more normal (left), to the more extreme (right). On the far end of the spectrum there is what people experience with regularity. Normal Dissociation is most easily explained by thinking of examples, such as day-dreaming or having imaginary friends. However in more extreme cases individuals will need treatment to receive healing. The most extreme case is that of DID. This will often develop during the perils of child abuse. It is also the most commonly treated version of DID. DID is created during severe chronic childhood trauma. The most common of the abuses is that of sexual and/or physical abuse. This is usually perpetrated by the father, or a male figure in the life of a child, who is often a female. During these chronic abuse periods the child will often imagine that she (for the sake of simplicity the feminine personal pronoun will be used to indicate the individual developing DID, as most recorded instances of abuse are against female children) is distancing herself away from the action. This may occur by floating to the ceiling and watching the abuse in a detached fashion (Ross, 1997, p. 64). By doing this the mind is creating a strategy in which she is able to absorb these intolerable moments into manageable bits of knowledge (Ross, 1997, p. 64). During these chronic periods of trauma the mind creates dissociative pathways which divide her mind into separate selves to absorb the trauma. As she experiences more abuse these segments of the mind, or “segments of consciousness” (Hawkins, 2003, p. 8), are separate into viable identities which are “able to operate independently within the person as divided portions of the soul” (Hawkins, 2003, p. 8). In order to accommodate the divided personalities, the mind creates amnesiac barriers