Multiple Personality Disorder, now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), is a rare dissociative disorder characterized by two or more distinct identities within an individual, often arising from childhood trauma and genetic factors. Symptoms include memory loss, mental health issues, and a blurred sense of identity, and treatment typically involves psychotherapy, medications, and hypnosis, requiring several years for effective management. The disorder affects a higher proportion of women and is often misdiagnosed due to a lack of awareness among healthcare providers.

1. MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER
From: Zaeem Daniyal

2. MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER
Contents
 Definition
 Causes
 Symptoms
 Facts
 Treatment
 Quiz

3. DEFINITION
 A rare dissociative disorder in which two or
more personalities with distinct memories
and behavior patterns apparently exist in one
individual.

4. CAUSES
 Genetics. Researchers are beginning to
identify some possible genetic factors
behind personality disorders.
 One team, for instance, has identified a
mal-functioning gene that may be a factor
in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

5. Childhood trauma:
 One study found a link between the
number and type of childhood traumas
and the development of personality
disorders. People with borderline
personality disorder, for example, had
especially high rates of childhood trauma.

6.  Verbal abuse: Even verbal abuse can
have an impact. Children who had
experienced such verbal abuse were three
times as likely as other children to have
borderline personality disorders in
adulthood.

7. High reactivity:
 Sensitivity to light, noise, texture and other
stimuli may also play a role

8. SYMPTOMS:
 Distress
 Memory loss (amnesia) of certain time
periods, events and people.

9.  Mental health problems, including
depression and anxiety
 A sense of being detached from yourself
(depersonalization)

10.  A perception of the people and things
around you as distorted and unreal
(derealization)
 A blurred sense of identity

11.  Inability to recall specific incidents
 Having problems with a “split” personality
 Unable to keep a sense of time- a person
may lose track of time while transitioning
between different “identities”.

12. FACTS
 Given a diagnostic category in the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM) in 1980.
 Arises from continued and repeated sexual
and/or physical abuse beginning in early
childhood.
 People with DID have been shown to be
highly susceptible to dissociation, of above
average intelligence, and highly creative.

13.  Four times as many women are diagnosed as
men.
 The average person diagnosed with DID spends
7 years in the mental health system before
being properly diagnosed, due to misdiagnosis
and lack of training on the part of therapists to
spot the disorder.
 Co-consciousness refers to the level of shared
awareness of existence and behavior between
the host personality and the alters
Facts

14.  Treatment of DID may last for five to
seven years in adults and usually requires
several different treatment methods.
TREATMENT

15.  Psychotherapy is the use of psychological
methods, particularly when based on
regular personal interaction, to help a
person change and overcome problems in
desired ways.
PSYCHOTHERAPY

16. MEDICATIONS
 Some doctors will prescribe tranquilizers or
antidepressants for DID patients because their
alter personalities may have anxiety or mood
disorders.
 Doctors keep medications to a minimum
because these patients can easily become
psychologically dependent on drugs.

17. HYPNOSIS
 Hypnosis is a state of human consciousness
involving focused attention and reduced
peripheral awareness and an enhanced capacity
for response to suggestion.
 Standard method of treatment for DID patients.
 Hypnosis may help patients recover repressed
ideas and memories.

18. Peers:
 Certain factors can help prevent children
from developing personality disorders.
Even a single strong relationship with
a relative, teacher or friend can offset
negative influences, say psychologists.

19. QUIZ
True/False
1. Dissociative Identity Disorder is directly
related to Schizophrenia.

20. True/False
1) Dissociative Identity Disorder is directly
related to Schizophrenia.
False: Schizophrenia is mainly characterized by
hearing or seeing things that aren't real
(hallucinations) and thinking or believing things
with no basis in reality (delusions).
QUIZ

21. QUIZ
True/False
2) One of the symptoms of DID is known as
an “alter”.

22. QUIZ
True/False
2) One of the symptoms of DID is known as
an “alter”.
True

23. QUIZ
True/False
3) Every one of us has experienced some mild
form of dissociation.

24. QUIZ
True/False
3) Every one of us has experienced some mild
form of dissociation.
True

25. QUIZ
Multiple Choice
1) Which of the following are NOT symptoms
of DID?
a)mood swings
b)suicidal tendencies
c)eating disorders
d)hallucinations

26. QUIZ
Multiple Choice
1) Which of the following are NOT symptoms
of DID?
a)mood swings
b)suicidal tendencies
c)eating disorders
d)hallucinations

27. QUIZ
Multiple Choice
2) Which of the following is a known treatment
for DID?
a)psychotherapy
b)medication
c)hypnotherapy
d)all of the above

28. QUIZ
Multiple Choice
2) Which of the following is a known treatment
for DID?
a)psychotherapy
b)medication
c)hypnotherapy
d)all of the above

29. QUIZ
Multiple Choice
3) Which of the following symptoms does NOT
distinguish DID from other mental
disorders?
a)delusions
b)memory disruption
c)separate identities
d)amnesia

30. QUIZ
Multiple Choice
3) Which of the following symptoms does NOT
distinguish DID from other mental
disorders?
a)delusions
b)memory disruption
c)separate identities
d)amnesia

31. SOURCES
 Acocella, Joan. Creating Hysteria: Women and
Multiple Personality Disorder. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999.
 Alderman, Tracy, and Karen Marshall. Amongst
Ourselves, A Self-Help Guide to Living with
Dissociative Identity Disorder. Oakland, CA: New
Harbinger Publications, 1998.
 American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th edition,
text revised. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric
Association, 2000.
 Saks, Elyn R., with Stephen H. Behnke. Jekyll on
Trial, Multipersonality Disorder and Criminal Law.
New York, NY: New York University Press, 1997.