Many movies will have scenes of " multiple personality ". So is there really anyone in real life who has "multiple personality" at the same time?
video " Fatal ID " tells the story of a lawyer and a psychologist who suffers from separating identity disorder (commonly known as "murderer") to bail, causing McCann's personality to kill each other, and as a result, a tragic disaster caused by a treatment error.
This article answers common questions about this type of disease and takes you to understand this group of diseases with a long history and controversiality.
Separation disorder (formerly known as hysteria, hysteria, and hysteria), is a group of diseases that are partially or completely lost in four aspects: past memory, identity awareness, immediate sensation and body movement control. In other words, people with dissociative disorders may feel disconnected from themselves and their environment. The prevalence rate in the population is about 1-5%.
Common subtypes of separation disorder include : separation forgetting, separation identity disorder, separation roaming and disintegration-realistic disintegration disorder.
Q1. Can people really have "multiple personalities" or "split personality"?
Separate identity disorder refers to the loss of a person's connection between identity, memory and consciousness. Rather than saying that they have multiple personalities, it is better to say that they don’t even have a complete personality (so the name of this disease has been changed from “ multiple personality disorder ” to “separated identity disorder”). This disease is often caused by physical and sexual abuse in childhood.
Q2. Are all patients with separatist identity disorder dangerous?
Actually, patients with separatist identity disorder harm themselves more than others. Patients with dissociative identity disorder are more likely to develop self-harm and suicide. The mass media often portrays such patients as having at least one violent "personality". This type of depiction is a serious exaggeration. Many times, the change of "identity" is not necessarily so prominent, and the family does not even know that the patient has changed their "identity". Of course, medical intervention is absolutely necessary if a person with dissociative identity disorder claims that they want to harm themselves or others.
Q3. What symptoms will family members see in patients with separatist identity disorder? Can friends/family tell when they “change identities”?
Their emotions, behaviors and personalities may change suddenly. The family clearly saw them doing something, but they themselves may forget or deny it. Family members can usually tell when they “changed”, patients may suddenly become wild from quiet, or they may claim not to remember what they said a few minutes ago.
Q4. Is separatory forgetting temporary? Will patients recover their memory after separation forgetting?
separatory forgetting can be temporary and reversible. Memory can be restored under appropriate circumstances.
Q5. Are patients with isolated disorders often misdiagnosed?
yes. They are sometimes misdiagnosed as schizophrenia , and thinking that they have different identities may be interpreted as a delusion, and these different identities fragments are sometimes expressed in the way of auditory hallucination . Not only will their symptoms not improve, but their emotions will become dull, which may cause doctors to prescribe more ineffective medications. Separatory disorders can also be misdiagnosed as several other diseases, partly because they are all associated with traumatic experiences. For example, Post-traumatic stress disorder , borderline personality disorder, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, etc., all of which may be caused or exacerbated by traumatic experiences.
Q6. Is isolation (also known as dissociation) a disease or a response mechanism?
isolation is a common coping mechanism, especially when facing trauma. Many victims of rape felt as if they were floating during the assault, feeling sad for the self below. Separation is an unconscious protective mechanism that can relieve people of painful or unpleasant experiences. However, over time, ordinary people usually restore their original objective judgment. Patients with separation disorder will experience persistent forgetting, disintegration of personality, loss of reality or fragmentation of identity, which will interfere with the normal trauma resolution process.
Q7. Are separatory disorders rare?
mentioned earlier that for people who have experienced trauma, separation is a common defense mechanism. Statistics of some separation disorders show that nearly 50% of American adults have experienced at least one personality-reality disintegration event in their lives, but only 2% will develop into a long-term separation state. Depending on the country where the institute is located, the proportion of separatist disorders among psychiatric inpatients and outpatients is much higher than that of the general public. In the United States, the prevalence of isolation disorder among psychiatric hospitalized patients ranges from 13-20.7%, while in the Netherlands, Germany and , Switzerland, , . This suggests that a large proportion of patients receiving psychiatric treatment are treated for dissociative disorders.
Q8. Can segregation disorder be healed without treatment?
is possible, but usually not. Generally speaking, patients with dissociated identity disorder will experience six years or even more untreated periods before receiving the correct diagnosis and treatment.
Q9. How to treat isolation disorder?
Unless the patient suffers from other mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder , depression or anxiety disorder or accompanied by psychotic symptoms, it is usually not recommended to use drugs for patients with dissociative disorders. Drugs can only treat certain symptoms, not the entire disease. For patients with separatist disorders, the effective treatment methods are mainly psychotherapy, including: hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, psychodynamic therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Find a therapist with advanced training or experience in trauma treatment and your therapist will help you understand your cause and form new ways to cope with stress. Over time, the therapist may guide you to talk more about the trauma you’ve experienced, but these conversations are usually only safe when you have coping skills and have a more harmonious relationship with the therapist.
Q10. How can family members best support and help patients with separatist identity disorder during treatment?
should be open and accepting about their reactions. Don't "favor" any of their "identities", but see these "identities" as part of their personality. We ordinary people perform differently in different environments, but we usually think that this is a different side of ourselves and try to take the same attitude towards these patients. At the same time, help them protect themselves from any trauma or abuse.
(pictures are from the Internet)
Contributed by: Shanghai Medical Association Psychiatric Specialty Branch
Author: Zhou Qian Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine
Review: Zhao Min Chairman of the Shanghai Medical Association Psychiatric Specialty Branch
