What is the difference between DID and multiple personality disorder?

Dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously referred to as multiple personality disorder, is a dissociative disorder involving a disturbance of identity in which two or more separate and distinct personality states (or identities) control an individual’s behavior at different times. When under the control of one identity, a person is usually unable to remember some of the events that occurred while other personalities were in control. The different identities, referred to as alters, may exhibit differences in speech, mannerisms, attitudes, thoughts and gender orientation. The alters may even present physical differences, such as allergies, right-or-left handedness or the need for eyeglass prescriptions. These differences between alters are often quite striking.

A person living with DID may have as few as two alters or as many as 100. The average number is about 10. Often alters are stable over time, continuing to play specific roles in the person’s life for years. Some alters may harbor aggressive tendencies, directed toward individuals in the person’s environment or toward other alters within the person.

At the time a person living with DID first seeks professional help, he or she is usually not aware of their condition. A very common complaint in people affected by DID is episodes of amnesia, or time loss. These individuals may be unable to remember events in all or part of a proceeding time period. They may repeatedly encounter unfamiliar people who claim to know them, find themselves somewhere without knowing how they got there or find items that they don’t remember purchasing among their possessions.

What Are The Symptoms Of DID?

Often people living with DID are depressed or even suicidal and self-mutilation is common in this group. Approximately one-third of individuals affected complain of auditory or visual hallucinations.

While the causes are unknown, statistics show that DID occurs in 0.01 to 1 percent of the general population. DID is a serious mental illness that occurs across all ethnic groups and all income levels. It affects women nine times more than men.

In addition to experiencing separate identities, individuals living with DID may also experience many other symptoms. Some of these symptoms include:

• Depression.
• Suicidal tendencies.
• Anxiety, panic attacks.
• Alcohol and drug abuse.
• Confusion.
• Memory problems.
• Delusions.
• Headaches.
• Flashbacks.
• Eating disorders.
• Personality change.
• Selective loss of memory.
• Disorientation.

What Does Treatment For DID Look Like?

Treatment for DID consists primarily of psychotherapy with hypnosis. The therapist attempts to make contact with as many alters as possible and to understand their roles and functions in an individual’s life. In particular, the therapist seeks to form an effective relationship with any personalities that are responsible for violent or self-destructive behavior and to curb this behavior. The therapist aims to establish communication among the personality states and to find ones that have memories of traumatic events in an individual’s past. The goal of the therapist is to enable the individual to achieve breakdown of the patient’s separate identities and their unification into a single identity.

Retrieving and dealing with memories of trauma is important for a person living with DID, because this disorder is believed to be triggered by physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Young children have a pronounced ability to dissociate and it is believed that those who are abused may learn to use dissociation as a defense. In effect, the child slips into a state of mind in which it seems that the abuse is not really occurring to him or her, but to somebody else. In time, such a child may begin to emotionally and cognitively split into alternate identities. Research has shown that the average age for the initial development of alters is 5.9 years old.

In individuals where dissociation is thought to be a symptom of another mental illness such as borderline personality disorder (BPD) or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), treatment of the primary cause is of upmost importance.

Children affected by DID may experience a great variety of symptoms, including depressive tendencies, anxiety, conduct problems, episodes of amnesia, difficulty paying attention in school and hallucinations. Often these children are misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia. By the time the child reaches adolescence, it is less difficult for a mental health professional to recognize the symptoms and make a diagnosis of DID.

Dissociative identity disorder involves a lack of connection among a person’s sense of identity, memory and consciousness. People with this disorder do not have more than one personality but rather less than one personality. (The name was changed recently from ‘multiple personality disorder’ to ‘dissociative identity disorder.’) This disorder usually arises in response to physical and sexual abuse in childhood as a means of surviving mistreatment by people who should be nurturing and protecting.

Are people with dissociative identity disorder often misdiagnosed?

Yes. They are sometimes misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia, because their belief that they have different identities could be interpreted as a delusion. They sometimes experience dissociated identities as auditory hallucinations (hearing voices). Their symptoms do not improve with antipsychotic medication, but the emotions they display get flatter. This can leading to the mistaken belief that they have schizophrenia and to further ineffective increases in medication. Another common misdiagnosis is borderline personality disorder. People with dissociative identity disorder frequently also have depression.

What symptoms would family members see if a person had dissociative identity disorder? Can friends/family members tell when a person with dissociative identity disorder “switches”?

You may notice sudden changes in mood and behavior. People with dissociative identity disorder may forget or deny saying or doing things that family members witnessed. Family members can usually tell when a person “switches.” The transitions can be sudden and startling. The person may go from being fearful, dependent and excessively apologetic to being angry and domineering. He or she may report not remembering something they said or did just minutes earlier.

Once a person is being treated for a dissociative disorder, how can family members best support and help them?

Be open and accepting in your responses. Do not ‘take sides’ with one or another component of their identity. Rather view them as portions of the person as a whole. We are all different in different situations, but we see this as different sides of ourselves. Try to maintain that perspective with the person with dissociative disorder. Also, help them to protect themselves from any trauma, abuse, or self harm.

Can dissociative disorders go away without treatment?

They can, but they usually do not. Typically those with dissociative identity disorder experience symptoms for six years or more before being correctly diagnosed and treated.

Is dissociation really a disorder or a coping mechanism?

Dissociation is a common coping mechanism, especially in the face of trauma. Many rape victims experience the crime as though they were floating above their bodies, feeling sorry for the person beneath them. Many of us find ways to detach ourselves from painful or unpleasant experiences.

However, people typically restore their usual perspective over time. Those with dissociative disorders experience persistent amnesia, depersonalization, derealization or fragmentation of identity that actually interferes with the normal process of working through and putting into perspective traumatic or stressful experiences.

Is DID the same as multiple personality disorder?

Why DID they change multiple personality disorder to DID?

Does DID have multiple personalities?

What is multiple personalities called now?