Split personality is a disease that is clearly characterized by the manifestation of another personality in a healthy person. To put it another way, these are cases when a person can react differently to one situation. Another personality takes over him and this is a terrifying factor for others. If the disease begins to progress, then a person may simply forget what happened to him a few minutes ago and with whom he had a dialogue. Sometimes it seems that he lives for a long time in two parallel universes. Therefore, we offer qualified assistance and consultation regarding any psychological illness.
A few facts about bifurcation
- In almost all cases, the disease has direct connections with psychological disorders that occurred in childhood up to 9 years;
- Women are more likely to suffer from violence, which is why the disease is more common among them;
- 20% of patients with this disease used psychotropic drugs;
- More than half of patients with multiple personality disorder have attempted to commit suicide, and the situation worsens during sleep.
Split personality disorder is an outdated name. But a few centuries ago, this syndrome was called “possession by the devil” of the human body and his consciousness. People were sure that supernatural forces were beginning to take over a person and we were obliged to help him. The second name appeared relatively recently and is not compatible with reality. People believed that such persons were possessed by devils and controlled by them. Treatment methods did not exist at that time, but demons were cast out in the most cruel ways. Will not go into details.
Dissociative identity disorder was first described by the Swiss physician Paracelsus back in the 16th century. The discovery stopped there for years. Officially registered only in 1975. Many doubted the existence of the disease and were sure that patients were simply playing a role. Today, split personality is officially recognized as a disease and requires mandatory treatment.
Insomnia
Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by insufficient duration or quality of sleep, or a combination of these phenomena, over a significant period of time.
There can be many reasons for insomnia: from depression to regular drinking of tea (which contains caffeine), and in 15% of cases, as it is written in Wikipedia, “it is impossible to determine the cause of insomnia”).
It is recommended to maintain sleep hygiene (here is detailed in the infographic) and here is another piece of advice from our interview with a somnologist: “if sleep has not occurred within 20-30 minutes, you should not stay in bed and try to force yourself to fall asleep, it is advisable to get up and try to do something -something relaxing until drowsiness sets in again.”
Symptoms, signs of split personality and treatment of the disease
Symptoms include:
- The patient may move away from a specific situation and become someone in certain life episodes. If we take into account the second personality, then it differs from ordinary behavior and physical actions. For example, if in ordinary life he is calm, then he may begin to behave relaxed. Characteristic signs are that the person begins to speak in a voice that is not his own and new mannerisms appear.
- The appearance of personalities directly follows from the social circle in which a person is currently located. Many peoples believe that this is a manifestation of obsession. A person can organically feel absence, loss of space, and after something happens to him, he simply does not understand who led him.
- He begins to forget the moments that happened. This can negatively affect work activity, because moments of life begin to disappear from memory in fragments.
- Often patients say that they hear some voices. Often, at the moment the person is in a trance. The peculiarity is that if the patient has been in a similar position at least once, he wants to return to it again. This feeling of something new does not leave you alone. It acts like a drug and affects your mood and lifestyle.
- Increased depression and anxiety, mood swings are possible. It is often mentioned that such patients have nightmares. Approximately 60% of people attempt to die voluntarily.
Depression
Depression is a mental disorder characterized by the “depressive triad”: decreased mood and loss of the ability to experience joy, impaired thinking (negative judgments, a pessimistic view of what is happening, and so on), and motor retardation.
Currently, depression is the most common mental disorder. It affects every 10th person over the age of 40, two thirds of them are women. Among people over 65 years of age, depression is 3 times more common. Also, about 5% of children and adolescents aged 10-16 years are susceptible to depression and depressive conditions.
Read recipes for depression in the text “Depression is Canceled.”
Prognosis and treatment
There is an opinion among psychiatrists that the earlier nervous personality disorder occurs, the worse the social prognosis. It should be noted that bifurcation is the most dangerous syndrome. It is almost impossible to achieve complete recovery after a mental illness of this type. First of all, this is due to the fact that each of the individuals may have psychological deviations.
The main methods of treatment are cognitive and rational, when a specialist works to develop criticism of his own condition. Therapy is carried out exclusively by psychologists in the behavioral field. It is very important to try to reproduce all the traumas that could have occurred in communication with your parents, with your significant other, with friends. This will help you understand why there was a need to hide behind two masks.
The essence of the methods is that the doctor is constantly trying to collect all the split-off personalities from a person and combine them into a single form. An excellent mechanism for gathering information from parts is hypnosis. By the way, hypnosis is a double-edged sword; it can both help the patient understand the problem and deal a blow to the psyche. In a word, this is jewelry work that should be performed by a good professional.
Drug treatment for multiple personality disorders is used to eliminate secondary consequences that occur. If you are depressed, you need to take antidepressants. Treatment with several drugs at the same time is possible.
Self-affirmation goals
The goals of self-affirmation are divided into compensatory and constructive. There are three self-affirmation strategies:
1. Have a positive attitude towards life, never despair (constructive).
2. Act at the expense of other people, be hostile, strive to suppress others (aggressive-dominant).
3. Refuse self-expression and self-affirmation (unconfident).
Speaking about self-realization, it is important to understand that there are no external indicators or other criteria by which one can understand how far a person has progressed in self-realization. Everyone decides for himself in which area of activity he should achieve certain success. If, for example, a janitor likes his job, he loves and appreciates it, it means that he is full-fledged as a person. Only a person can draw conclusions whether he has succeeded as a person or not. The opinions of others here are biased.
If a person is satisfied with life, feels harmony with himself, greets a new day with joy, believes that he has chosen the right path to achieving his goals, uses his full potential, chooses the right tactics and strategies in his opinion, then he is self-realized and self-affirmed. It is important here that he himself feels like a person who sets goals and achieves them.
Retrograde amnesia is the loss of memories that occurred before the onset of the disease (brain injury, tumor, stroke, intoxication, etc.) or a traumatic event. There are several methods for treating retrograde amnesia.
Instructions
Treatment of amnesia is determined, first of all, by the cause of its occurrence. If a brain injury or stroke occurs, most often a relatively short period of events immediately preceding the brain accident disappears from memory. Sometimes information obtained earlier falls out of memory, which indicates a more serious organic pathology of the brain. Very rarely about one’s own personality (name, surname, date of birth, profession, family, etc.).
This type of retrograde amnesia is very difficult to treat. The more severe the brain damage, the worse the prognosis for full recovery. You can try to restore memories with the help of medications. Treatment must be comprehensive. Usually they start with the prescription of nootropic drugs (“Piracetam”, “Nootropil”, “Aminalon”). Medicines facilitate the flow of thinking processes and improve memory. However, for the desired effect, it is necessary to take the drugs for a long time. In addition, such patients are indicated for vitamin therapy (B vitamins) and nicotinic acid preparations. Drugs that improve cerebral circulation (Trental, Pentoxifylline) are also used. Antioxidants (Mexidol) help stabilize the structure of nervous tissue.
Sometimes memory returns completely or partially after normal brain function is restored, but more often the memories remain forgotten. Psychotherapy for this type of amnesia is ineffective.
Retrograde amnesia with loss of basic knowledge about personality is most often not associated with a brain catastrophe and is psychogenic. It can be hysterical (as a result of repressing traumatic memories from consciousness) and post-hypnotic. It is possible to restore memory, but it is important that the patient himself wants it. For treatment, psychotherapy methods are used, most often hypnosis, methods of electrical stimulation of the brain, and reflexology. Nootropics (“Nootropil”) are prescribed among medications.
During hypnosis, the patient tries to concentrate on some object (a swinging pendulum, the doctor's voice) and sometimes enters a special state of consciousness. Putting a person into a trance can lead to some disinhibition of the psyche and the appearance of forgotten memories in the mind. However, several sessions are necessary to achieve the desired result, and not all patients are amenable to hypnosis. Moreover, sometimes the memories are so difficult for a person that he asks to stop treatment.
Video on the topic
Personality is a person from the point of view of social communication. Each personality has a large number of individual traits and properties that psychologists try to “sort out.”
Treatment of split personality
If we compare the disease with third-party mental disorders, then this is a much more serious situation. Medicines are necessary to eliminate superficial symptoms. The main method is psychotherapy.
The task of a psychologist is to collect a person according to all the “split off” individuals. In this case, long conversations, hypnosis and drugs that help to stir up the patient help. This mechanism can both bring results and, on the contrary, aggravate the situation. Therefore, when choosing a doctor, we recommend that you be careful. Only a good professional can cope with the task. Doctors are confident that it is almost impossible to permanently cure split personality; it tends to remain in the body. This may take years and recovery may not be complete.
Causes
Mental disorders of this type can manifest themselves in several forms: mild, moderate, complex. Psychologists have developed a special test that helps identify the signs and causes that caused split personality. There are also common factors that provoke the disease:
- the influence of other family members who have their own dissociative disorders;
- hereditary predisposition;
- childhood memories of a mentally or sexually abusive relationship;
- lack of support from loved ones in situations of severe emotional stress.
How to identify split personality yourself
Almost everyone can be dislocated when, for example, they show imagination, imagine themselves talking to someone or having their head in the clouds. Many kids invent imaginary friends, play with them and come up with various stories. This is not a paranormal phenomenon. The problem begins at the moment when a person cannot manage his personalities and switch in time. It can suddenly change from one to another. Scientists cannot say what caused this phenomenon.
During a person’s change from one personality to another, the following may be observed:
- A sharp change in character, changes in gestures, facial expressions, handwriting, voice, taste preferences. The person may begin to tell other stories from life. Often the opposite person has completely different habits and a difference in outlook on life.
- Ceases to control behavior, gestures, statements and actions. He can cry, be depressed, and after a few minutes burst into laughter to such an extent that it will be difficult to stop him.
- May manifest as incoherent speech, amnesia, or grunting.
- Memory lapses that eliminate memories, events that happened just the day before, and even habits. It is usually worth sounding the alarm when a person begins to forget too much information.
- One person may suddenly turn on and off. Therefore, even with a psychotherapist, he can tell completely different stories, simply because he does not remember what he said earlier.
- Poor health, insomnia. This could be a sudden tingling in the abdomen, problems with the digestive system, or a migraine.
But, even if most of the symptoms coincide, they are more often diagnosed with depression, anxiety disorder, and an apathetic attitude towards life. This only complicates the selection of methods.
Treatment takes a lot of resources and effort. Sometimes it can take a lifetime. But it is necessary to alleviate the patient’s condition and reduce the manifestation of symptoms. You can start treating the disease after appointing a qualified specialist. All information regarding treatment is given as a reference and is not a guide!
Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive psychosis)
Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder that manifests itself in the form of affective states - manic and depressive, and sometimes mixed states, in which the patient experiences rapid alternation of symptoms of mania and depression, or symptoms of depression and mania at the same time (for example, melancholy with anxiety, anxiety, or euphoria with lethargy - so-called unproductive mania - or others).
Various options for “mixed” states are possible.
Drug treatment
Among the drugs can be noted:
- Neuroleptics. They help reduce the progressive effects of the disease, for example, by eliminating the most dangerous symptoms and signs - manic behavior and hallucinations. They are an excellent drug for reducing stress, relax the body, help you fall asleep and not think about the problem.
- Tranquilizers. Do not use without a doctor's prescription! Otherwise it could cost your life! This drug can push a person to suicide, so it is prescribed under the supervision of a doctor.
- Antidepressants. They help cope with depression, apathy, reluctance to live, loss of interests and hobbies. They help fill yourself with energy and fight for life with new strength.
Autism
Autism is a disorder of brain development characterized by severe and pervasive deficits in social interaction, as well as restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. All of these signs begin to appear before the age of 3 years.
According to data from the United States, in 2011-2012, autism and autism spectrum disorders were officially diagnosed in 2% of schoolchildren, up from 1.2% in 2007.
Electroconvulsive technique
Appeared in the 30s of the last century and was used to treat schizophrenia. There was an assumption that the brain, under the influence of the disorder, was not able to create certain impulses and they were created artificially.
Method of use: several electrodes were attached to the head, which had a short-term effect on the brain. The main goal was not to have a traumatic effect on the brain, but to have an effect on it. Within two months, doctors were able to achieve a positive result.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
With OCD, the patient involuntarily experiences intrusive, disturbing or frightening thoughts (so-called obsessions). He constantly and unsuccessfully tries to get rid of anxiety caused by thoughts through equally obsessive and tiresome actions (compulsions). Sometimes obsessive (mainly obsessive thoughts) and separately compulsive (mainly obsessive actions) disorders are distinguished.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder most often begins between the ages of 10 and 30. However, the first visit to a psychiatrist usually occurs only between 25 and 35 years. The average age of hospitalization was 31.6 years.
The prevalence of OCD is also associated with educational level. The incidence of the disease is lower in those who have completed higher education (1.9%) than in those without higher education (3.4%).
What to do if a person refuses treatment?
You need to understand why he does this. It may take time to talk about the problem. Try to explain that there are no difficulties in the course of treatment and you will easily go through the path together. You shouldn’t tell scary stories, but you don’t need to lie that you’ll be cured in a month.
You can call a doctor yourself, without permission. You need to write a statement that will be the reason for the home inspection. If the doctor sees that the patient’s condition does not have symptoms that threaten his life and those around him, he is asked to sign papers for the course of treatment, but you have the right to refuse. Involuntary hospitalization is possible when a person is in a complex psychological disorder, and his actions can harm loved ones.
Diagnostics
Diagnosis of dissociative disorder is carried out according to the patient’s condition according to the following criteria:
- the patient has two or more different personalities with their own attitude to each situation and the world as a whole;
- the patient cannot remember personal important information;
- the condition does not occur under the influence of alcohol or drugs or other toxic substances.
It is also important to exclude herpes infection, tumor processes in the brain, schizophrenia, epilepsy, mental retardation, and amnesia after injury.
How to live with a person who has duality
Multiple personality syndrome negatively affects not only the patient, but also loved ones. A few recommendations for those who want to establish a relationship with a person who has ADHD:
- Down with rose-colored glasses. This is a disease that will take many years to treat. Maybe even in your lifetime you won’t be able to get rid of it completely.
- Be patient. The patient unknowingly began to suffer from DSD; everything happened due to a coincidence of serious circumstances in life.
- Get information from professionals. A good psychiatrist will be able to help in resolving the issue, but not friends who read somewhere that everything can be cured by using a magic pill.
- Don't panic! Keep in mind that when he switches from one personality to another, complex processes occur in the body. This is a real trauma that is difficult to overcome. Try to keep yourself in control and control the situation.
- Create an environment for him that will not be mentally disturbing. Try to reduce the number of nervous breakdowns.
- Pay attention to his condition. During this time, replenish your supplies of medications that block further development of the disease.
- Keep the situation under control. Pay attention to the moment at which it begins to “switch.” It could be a fit of rage.
- Don't take his words to heart. They just have to understand that at the moment his behavior is uncontrollable.
- Rest. Caring for someone with a nervous disorder is exhausting, so give yourself time to rest.
Hello Freud
Estelle La Gardie
In 1840, the French physician Antoine Despin published a monograph that described the unique case of young Estelle.
An eleven-year-old girl suffered from severe pain and cramps. One part of her body was paralyzed and the other was hypersensitive. Every day Estelle fell into a trance, during which an angel allegedly inhabited her. In this state, she could run and swim freely. The angel ate food that the girl refused, and asked those around him to comply with Estelle’s whims. Antoine Despina's monograph is considered the first professional description of a case of split personality [3].
Christine Beauchamp
Real name : Clara Norton Fowler. The case was described by the American physician Morton Prince in his book Dissociation of Personality: A Biographical Study of Pathological Psychology (1905).
Christine Beauchamp was sullen, sickly, and was being treated by Prince for a nervous disorder. During one of the hypnosis sessions, a cheerful and carefree Sally suddenly appeared. The subpersonality began to arise when Beauchamp was tired, and tried in every possible way to annoy her. She spoiled things, sent packages with spiders and snakes to her address, took them far from home and abandoned them in a deserted place without a penny in her pocket. At first, Prince thought that Sally was a childhood experience not integrated into the adult personality. But upon further observation and the appearance of a third personality, he came to the conclusion that Christine Beauchamp herself is a subpersonality [1,3].
Morton Prince's materials are analyzed by psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists. The diagnosis made by Prince - neurasthenia, hysteria and multiple personality - in general, does not raise objections among his colleagues [3].
Eve
Real name : Chris Costner Sizemore (April 4, 1927 - July 24, 2020). The case was described by psychiatrists Tipgen and Cleckley in the Journal of Pathological and Social Psychology (1954) and the novel The Three Faces of Eve (1957). The book was a huge success and was filmed [3].
Chris Sizemore (photo by David Longstreth, 1983)
Chris went to the doctors complaining of migraines and memory loss. After examining the patient, psychiatrists discovered two personalities in her: Eve White and Eve Black. The first was a soft and compliant woman, unhappy in her marriage. The second did not recognize her marriage and loved to party. Black spent money on dresses and restaurants, and White suffered from a hangover and listened to her husband’s reproaches.
Later, a third personality emerged - the mature and reasonable Jane. She divorced Gene Rogers, married Don Sizemore, and obtained custody of her daughter, Eva White. Even though her body gave birth to this child, she considered herself an adoptive mother.
Thigpen and Cleckley believed that fragmentation of the personality made it possible to cope with traumatic experiences. As a child, Chris witnessed a drowned man being pulled from a swampy ditch. And later she experienced the shock of seeing a sawmill cut to pieces in an accident.
Many experts doubted the authenticity of the Chris Sizemore case. However, psychiatrists presented an extensive evidence base based on the results of psychometric tests, encephalograms and interviews with relatives. An independent expert, Dr. Leopold Winter, examined the patient and also confirmed her diagnosis.
In 1958, Sizemore, under the pseudonym Evelyn Lancaster, published the book Strangers in My Body: The Last Face of Eve, and in 1977 she revealed her name in her autobiography, I Am Eve. Chris noted that Thigpen and Cleckley's book was full of distortions, and claimed that there were not 3, but 21 individuals living in it. After her real name was made public, she painted pictures and gave lectures about multiple personality disorder.
In her third autobiography (1989), Sizemore wrote that she was completely cured [2].
Chris Costner Sizemore died of a heart attack at the age of 89.
Sibyl
Real name : Shirley Ardel Mason (January 25, 1923 - February 26, 1998). Sibyl was a student at a teacher training college. Due to nervous instability, the college authorities expelled her, saying that she could only recover after visiting a psychiatrist.
Shirley Ardel Mason
Returning home, the girl became a primary school teacher. Since there was a shortage of teaching staff during wartime, she was hired without a diploma. At the same time, she turned to psychiatrist Cornelia Wilbur with complaints of anxiety, memory loss and dystrophy. With a height of 162 cm, her weight was 36 kg.
The treatment lasted two months and was interrupted when Sibyl fell ill with pneumonia. However, this was enough to temporarily gain peace of mind and continue studying.
After graduating from college and her mother's death, she travels to New York City, planning to get a master's degree at Columbia University and pursue psychotherapy. This time the treatment lasted 11 years and led to a complete recovery.
Wilbur found that depersonalization began at the age of three. The first subpersonalities were Peggy and Vicky. From the Wicca line came Marcia, Mary, Vanessa and Sibyl Anne. Peggy gave birth to Peggy-N, Peggy-Lou, Sid and Mike. In total, there were 16 subpersonalities in the girl’s mind. They remembered the horrors of childhood, which Sibyl tried to forget, and did what she did not allow herself [4].
Sibyl's parents were 40 years old when she was born. My father, a builder-contractor, was often on the road. The girl was raised by a schizophrenic mother. According to subpersonalities, she locked Sibyl in a closet, gave painful enemas and organized lesbian orgies. Wilbur believed these stories, although it was impossible to verify them. The psychiatrist established contact with each subpersonality and integrated them into a single whole [3].
Unlike the story of Eve, the case of the Sibyl raises questions regarding reliability. Previously, the patient was treated by Herbert Spiegel, a famous American psychiatrist and hypnotherapist. He described his ward as easily suggestible and invited her to a demonstration of hypnosis at Columbia University. Spiegel did not exclude that Wilbur instilled in the patient a belief in additional personalities [2].
Wilbur did not find support from other members of the professional community either. Colleagues condemned her for violating professional distance in relation to the patient: they were friends, lived and traveled together. Scientific journals refused to publish the Sibyl case. The American Academy of Psychoanalysis “forgot” to publish her speech at its annual meeting. Thus, the story of Shirley Mason was beyond the scope of scientific publications [3].
In 1973, journalist Flora Schreiber wrote a novel about the life of Sibyl, which was filmed in 1976 and 2007.
Billy Milligan
Full name : William Stanley Milligan (February 14, 1955 - December 12, 2014). Billy Milligan is a patient with multiple personality disorder. He was accused of a series of thefts and rape and acquitted on the grounds of mental disorder. His diagnosis was confirmed by psychiatrist George Harding and psychologist Dorothy Turner.
Literature
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How to detect identity substitution in time?
During a person's transition from one state, a brief fainting may occur. This is an instant action that goes unnoticed by the people around him. Even the patient can ignore this and live quietly in a similar situation for several years. In this case, medical assistance is necessary!
Split personality has a direct connection with the brain. With the processes that take place in it. But they have not been studied. Doctors cannot give an exact definition and answer to the phenomenon. It can be diagnosed and treated for multiple personality disorder for years, but there is no guarantee that a person will be able to overcome the disease completely. We can only guess about the origin of this process. There is an assumption that otherworldly forces were involved here...
Panic attacks
If you try to describe what panic attacks are in words: painful attacks of severe anxiety, accompanied by causeless fear in combination with vegetative (somatic) symptoms.
According to ICD-10, a sign of panic disorder is “recurrent attacks of severe anxiety (panic), which are not limited to any special situation or set of circumstances and, therefore, are unpredictable.” At the same time, the presence of panic attacks does not necessarily mean that the patient has a panic disorder. Panic attacks can be symptoms of pheochromocytoma, somatoform dysfunctions, phobias, depressive disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, endocrinological diseases, heart diseases, mitochondrial diseases, etc. Or they can occur as a result of taking any medications (for example, Erespal).
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