Split Personality Disorder
Split Personality Disorder, also referred to as Dissociative
Identity Disorder (DID), is a disorder of the psyche. DID is a condition in
which the personality is fragmented into two or more distinct personalities,
each of which has its own gender, age, personal history, vocabulary, accent,
interests, and characteristics. The following is the criteria needed in order
to be diagnosed with DID:
1.“Two or more distinct identities or personality states are
present, each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating
to and thinking about the environment and self.”
2. “Amnesia must occur, defined as gaps in the recall of
everyday events, important personal information and/or traumatic events.”
3. “The person must be distressed by the disorder or have
trouble functioning in one or more major life areas because of the disorder.”
This is a common criteria when it comes to mental health disorders. If the
disorder doesn’t cause major difficulties when it comes to coping with life and
daily living then it likely wouldn’t be appropriate to diagnose this patient
with a mental health disorder.
4. “The disturbance is not part of normal cultural or
religious practices.”
5. “The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects
of a substance (such as blackouts or chaotic behavior during alcohol
intoxication) or a general medical condition.”
While these are the criteria that must be met in order to be
diagnosed with DID there are many other factors and signs that point toward
this disorder. To name a few: sleepwalking and automatic writing, auditory
hallucinations, difficulties in trusting others, and an inclination toward
anger and hostility. The list goes on.
History of DID
The first documented case of DID was in 1584 in which a
women, named Jeanne Fery, was thought to be possessed. Her situation was
recorded as an exorcism. Her files were later studied and it is now thought that
she actually suffered from Split Personality Disorder. Jeanne had multiple
alters, each having their own name, personality, and characteristics. Her
various personalities would be classified under archetypes such as: Internal
Self Helper (ISH), persecutor, protector, and child alter. These archetypes are
seen regularly within those who have this disorder. These are not the sum of the archetypes, but
are the few that will be covered. The Internal Self Helper (ISH) is an alter
that usually comes first. The ISH is a helper that comes in the form of a voice
in ones head that brings logic and reason into the conversation. Internal Self
Helpers are usually seen as observers. They are behind the scenes carrying vast
amounts of knowledge about the other alters within the body, trauma within the
mind/body, and internal workings of the individual.
The persecutor personality is vastly different in relation
to the ISH alter. The persecutor is an outlet. This alter provides the system with
a filter for self hatred and demeaning thoughts. Self harm is usually
inflicted. This personality seems to be created in order to control the rest of
the alters and the system so they will learn how to behave and no longer be
abused by the external world.
The third of the personalities of Jeanne Fery was the
protector. There are several subcategories within the protector archetype.
There are emotional protectors which work to soften emotional pain. This
archetype takes the brunt of emotional
abuse. Physical protectors might take physical abuse and/or try to protect the
alters from physical abuse. Verbal protectors will dish out and take the brunt
of verbal abuse when necessary. Sexual protectors might take sexual abuse or
may even instigate sexual abuse to gain control of a situation or to protect
the alters. Interestingly persecutors are also seen as protectors. The
persecutor personality inflicts harm to the body and alters, which teaches them
how to behave and how to avoid harm from the outside world.
Lastly Jeanne had a child alter. Child alters manifest in
various ways. Sometimes these alters maintain the age at which they were first
born into this body. This could be caused by an inability to accept changes
that comes with life, time, and experience. They refuse to accept anything
beyond the particular traumatic experience that bore them into existence. These alters vary dramatically; A child alter
may be wise beyond their years, they may do the taxes, balance the checkbook,
run the business. Although they are wise and responsible, they are still
children and have the attributes of a child. They may very well desire sweets, have
inquisitive minds, and be naïve on many levels. There are child alters that are
merely children and lack the wisdom or responsibility to do such tasks as run a
business or balance the checkbook.
Although Jeanne’s
case was the first to be documented it certainly wasn’t the first official
diagnosis of DID. That title goes to a man named Louis Auguste Vivet, who was
first diagnosed in 1882. Louis, as a child, was physically abused and neglected
which resulted in a split of his psyche. By 1888 he had a total of 10
personalities, although recent re-evaluation by psychologists suggests that he
had only two personalities, and that all others were brought on by states of
hypnosis through work with therapists. Interestingly enough, Louis was subject
to a variety of treatments for what doctors thought to be hysteria. Morphine
and injections of pilocarpine and other methods were used to cure him. However,
the only treatment that helped to stop Louis’s “attacks” was pressure on the
Achilles tendon or the tendon just below the kneecap.
Although DID has been prevalent for decades doctors and
psychiatrists have notoriously misdiagnosed this disorder for hysteria,
schizophrenia, or other mental oriented diseases.
Treatment
As I stated earlier, many individuals with DID have been
misdiagnosed thusly their treatments were misapplied. There is no specific
diagnostic test for DID. Mental health professionals go through a series of
mental diagnostic tests to rule out various possibilities. Talk therapy is the
general treatment plan.
This disorder was once thought to be extremely rare but has
recently been shown to be more common than was previously thought. This is
likely due to the continual misdiagnosis from years past, when those with DID
would instead be diagnosed with schizophrenia or borderline personality
disorder. The estimated number of cases is 1 in 10,000, most of which are
female. It was actually believed that only females suffered from this disorder.
We know today that approximately 20 percent of all cases are male, the
remaining 80 being female.
Psychotherapy is generally the primary source of healing and
repairing from this disorder. The therapist will usually try to improve the
clients relationships and gradually confront the client with uncomfortable yet
necessary feelings. The therapist will often guide the client in an attempt to
find a way to allow the alters to coexist. This helps to build a state of peace
and equilibrium within the client. Psychotherapists used to try to achieve reintegration
which is the merging of all the personalities back into one. The issue with
this is that this often left the client feeling that the therapist was trying
to “kill” pieces of them.
Hypnosis is used to help clients sleep and to mitigate
symptoms of anxiety and stress. Through the use of hypnosis the client is more
easily able to move through traumatic memories by maintaining a relative distance
from the experience. This emotional distance helps the client to not be too
heavily encumbered by traumatic memories.
Medication is sometimes used in conjunction with
psychotherapy. When these two fail to make any real impact, electroconvulsive therapy
(ECT) can be used. Lastly, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
(EMDR), a treatment that helps integrate traumatic memories, is being used more
often, now that it has been shown to aid in increased information processing
and healing.
How Massage can help
The personality that came in for the massage will likely be
the one to leave as well. However, if a personality shift does occur then all
you must do is stop for a moment, inform the newly surfaced personality of
their whereabouts, and ask them if they wish to continue. A shift would likely
be caused by an emotional upsurge brought on by the massage, bringing about a
personality that is more equipped to handle these particular emotions.
Massage would help in daily living and performance amongst
the personalities by reducing stress levels, increasing dopamine, serotonin,
and oxytocin levels (also known as the bonding or love hormone). With reduction
of stress and an increase of various beneficial hormones a change in the
perception of the reality around you and your internal experience of self can
occur. Massage would help the development of altruism, increase sociability,
self-esteem, and empathy. This therapy
would benefit the client physically, physiologically, as well as emotionally.
Bibliography
Dr.
Christopher L. Heffner. Dissociative Identity Disorder. Alejandra Swartz.
Dissociative Identity Disorder. AllPsych Psych Central’s Virtual Psychology
Classroom. December 10, 2001. https://allpsych.com/journal/did/
Written by:
Dakota Vikdal
Date: January
12, 2018
Posts
