Multiple personality disorder is this person one person?

[Alan McDougall]

Greetings Forum,

The multiple disorder where a personality fragments into different real entities all occupying the same brain or mind fascinates me

I think most of us would have seen the movies "The three faces of Eve" or "Sybil"

It seems childhood abuse causes this fragmentation to happen, each character emerges to cope with a situation it best suited to handle

There always seems to be an "Oversight" personality is this complex of personalities.

Each person in the fragmentation is a real unique personality, each can have different allergies, different takes of life from the extreme conservative religious to the opposite extreme

Some of then are aware of the others and they communicate as real friends.

The questions are are these separate personalities real beings each trying to help the central oversight person cope. Can it really be called a disorder when it is the oversights only way of surviving horrifying abuse??

I am very interested in your responses ?

[richrf]

Originally Posted by Alan McDougall

Greetings Forum,

The multiple disorder where a personality fragments into different real entities all occupying the same brain or mind fascinates me

I think most of us would have seen the movies "The three faces of Eve" or "Sybil"

It seems childhood abuse causes this fragmentation to happen, each character emerges to cope with a situation it best suited to handle

There always seems to be an "Oversight" personality is this complex of personalities.

Each person in the fragmentation is a real unique personality, each can have different allergies, different takes of life from the extreme conservative religious to the opposite extreme

Some of then are aware of the others and they communicate as real friends.

The questions are are these separate personalities real beings each trying to help the central oversight person cope. Can it really be called a disorder when it is the oversights only way of surviving horrifying abuse??

I am very interested in your responses ?

Hi Alan,

A few short comments:

I have noticed that almost all people assume different roles in their life which manifest as different behaviors. Sometimes there are small differences, sometimes the differences are quite substantial. Some of the changes that I noticed in my business colleagues between the way they might behave at work as opposed to after work were quite amazing. I am not sure where the line is between multiple personality disorders and these common everyday changes in personalities. I am sure there is one, but it is not clear to me where the line is drawn.

Have you witness that these severe cases are a result of childhood abuse? I have not studied this at all, which is why I am asking.

In the Chinese metaphysics, the Hun (soul) occupies the physical body (Po). It is quite reasonable, in this metaphysics to have multiple Huns occupying a single Po. This is what the Chinese would call multiple personalities.

Rich

[Fido]

Hey Al... They are one person if you are paying them wages, and a gang if they commit a crime, so you have no problem stacking their sentences based upon their number... See you's in a hundred years if you can all make parole, guys...That will teach you folks to J walk...

[Alan McDougall]

Wikipedia

The debate over the validity of this condition, whether as a clinical diagnosis, a symptomatic presentation, a subjective misrepresentation on the part of the patient, or a case of unconscious collusion on the part of the patient and the professional is considerable. Unlike other diagnostic categorizations, there is very little in the way of objective, quantifiable evidence for describing the disorder.


The main points of disagreement are these:

1. Whether DID is a real disorder or just a fad.
2. If it is real, is the appearance of multiple personalities real or delusional?
3. If it is real, whether it should it be defined in psychoanalytic terms.
4. Whether it can, or should, be cured.
5. Who should primarily define the experience—therapists, or those who believe that they have multiple personalities.

Skeptics claim that people who present with the appearance of alleged multiple personality may have learned to exhibit the symptoms in return for social reinforcement. One case cited as an example for this viewpoint is the "Sybil" case, popularized by the news media. Psychiatrist Herbert Spiegel stated that "Sybil" had been provided with the idea of multiple personalities by her treating psychiatrist, Cornelia Wilbur, to describe states of feeling with which she was unfamiliar.


One of the primary reasons for the ongoing recategorization of this condition is that there were once so few documented cases (research in 1944 showed only 76[40]) of what was once referred to as multiple personality. Dissociation is recognized as a symptomatic presentation in response to trauma, extreme emotional stress, and, as noted, in association with emotional dysregulation and borderline personality disorder[41].

[PoeticVisionary]

Alan the only examples I can give you are of my own experience. In my youth I was diagnosed as depressive until I finally told my doctor about the abuse after which he told me to deal with it. (Don't be shocked this was inner-city Newark,NJ early 70's) So I took my beatings until I was old enough to not have to take them. That was then, this now.
I am Bipolar I with mixed states and rapid cycling and PTSD. Recently I'm being tested for schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. I've asked if they are all the same and my Doctor said yes and no. Current studies are showing that there is a relation to all of these disorders, yet at the same time still quite a few differences. But one of the common denominators seems to be childhood trauma,usually abuse though any severe trauma can trigger it. Also genetically some people are more susceptible. Hopefully this has answered some of your questions.

[asrai]

Originally Posted by PoeticVisionary

Recently I'm being tested for schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. I've asked if they are all the same and my Doctor said yes and no. Current studies are showing that there is a relation to all of these disorders, yet at the same time still quite a few differences. But one of the common denominators seems to be childhood trauma,usually abuse though any severe trauma can trigger it. Also genetically some people are more susceptible. Hopefully this has answered some of your questions.

I came here through the joys of google alert. Schizophrenia is more genetic/biologically composed and doesn't always have the precursor of abuse/trauma. Whereas there are few cases of multiple personalities where there is no abuse. I would say that multiple personalities would not develop in limited trauma during childhood- it requires repeated trauma that the victim is unable to get away from physically.

There is no one way to characterize multiple personalities.
I'd venture a guess and say the reason there are few recorded cases is becuase multiples have learned to conceal themselves and to distrust authority in general.

The orignal poster asked if it should really be considered a disorder?
I don't use the term disorder to describe myself. I am not disordered, I am a fully function working person who has a stable relationships. I am lucky that I have full co-conciousness- I don't lose time.

I read a blog post by a therapist who said that we should be claiming multiples as miracles. And I try to view myself in this way. A miracle to have survived. A miracle to have created this way of survival.

Some mutliples want to integrate. I do not. I don't feel as I am broken. I've been given the gift of an internal support system who helped me surivive in the bleakest of moments and continue to do so daily.

[markymark]

Schizophrenia is more genetic/biologically composed and doesn't always have the precursor of abuse/trauma

I'm inclined to agree with you. I read some place that Schizophrenia is the result of the inner-voice malfunctioning.

[richrf]

Originally Posted by markymark

I'm inclined to agree with you. I read some place that Schizophrenia is the result of the inner-voice malfunctioning.

Again, the genetics thing.

Schizophrenia.com - Schizophrenia Genetics and Heredity

The current belief is that there are a number of genes that contribute to susceptibility or pathology of schizophrenia, but none exhibit full responsibility for the disease. It is believed that schizophrenia is much like diabetes, which is caused by a number of genetic and environmental factors. Research also increasingly suggests that - like diabetes - many cases of schizophrenia may be preventable. See "Schizophrenia Prevention" for more information.

In other words, someone may inherit propensity. That is all. Every human body carries prior characteristics. I have a propensity to catch the flu because human bodies are great environments for the flu virus. However, if I eat well, exercise well, get rest, my body becomes an inhospitable environment (it cleans itself out). I had an acquaintance who was successfully treating his propensity for schizophrenia with Chinese Tuina (deep massage). He ignored completely what the doctors were telling him and successfully kept himself out of the hospital and off any drugs.

Massage & Chronic Schizophrenia

A recent German study has found that massage may play an important role in the treatment of chronic schizophrenia. Ten chronic schizophrenics were given massage to feet, back and neck with a view to increase their awareness of their own body limits. The reasoning behind this was that as schizophrenia is a problem of delimitation, and that psychic problems have their physical embodiment, treatment of the physical level might enhance the patients’ ability to experience their own bodily limits.
The relaxing effect of massage therapy was indicated in clearly recorded physiological measurements of skin conductance and heart rate, as well as the patients’ self-perceptions. The close physical presence of the therapist did not trigger any anxiety conditions in the patients as had been feared.
Although the number of patients who participated in the study was too small to make any firm conclusions, the results do indicate that massage and body therapy is worthy of consideration as a method for helping schizophrenic patients.
Andres K; Bellwald L; Brenner HD (Empirical study of physically orientated therapy with schizophrenic patients) Empirische unter-suchung einer leiborientierten therapie mit schizophrenen patienten. Psychiatrische Univer-sitatsklinik Bern, Abteilung fur Theoretische und Evaluative Psychiatrie, Ostermundigen.
Z Klin Psychol Psycopathol Psychother (Germany) 1993, 41 (2) p159-9

Rich

[Fido]

Originally Posted by markymark

I'm inclined to agree with you. I read some place that Schizophrenia is the result of the inner-voice malfunctioning.

Does abuse or trauma include time in the womb???Stress out, or starve the mother and I would bet you have an unusual child...

[Alan McDougall]

Originally Posted by PoeticVisionary

Alan the only examples I can give you are of my own experience. In my youth I was diagnosed as depressive until I finally told my doctor about the abuse after which he told me to deal with it. (Don't be shocked this was inner-city Newark,NJ early 70's) So I took my beatings until I was old enough to not have to take them. That was then, this now.
I am Bipolar I with mixed states and rapid cycling and PTSD. Recently I'm being tested for schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder. I've asked if they are all the same and my Doctor said yes and no. Current studies are showing that there is a relation to all of these disorders, yet at the same time still quite a few differences. But one of the common denominators seems to be childhood trauma,usually abuse though any severe trauma can trigger it. Also genetically some people are more susceptible. Hopefully this has answered some of your questions.

Hi I am also a manic depressive of the extreme type having attempted suicide etc, I thus feel deeply for you and can relate exactly to the real horrors this awful malady can bring to the sufferer