Multiple Disorder Research by Sumon Ghosh

What is meant by multiple disorder? Formerly known as multiple personality disorder, this disorder involves “switching” to other identities. You may feel as if you have two or more people talking or living inside your head. You may feel like you’re possessed by other identities. Each identity may have a unique name, personal history and features. For example, it is not uncommon for people to have a mental health condition, such as ADD/ADHD, as well as a substance use disorder, which is known as dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorders. People may also struggle with more than one mental illness, which is referred to as comorbidity or co-existing conditions. Dissociative disorders are mental health conditions that involve experiencing a loss of connection between thoughts, memories, feelings, surroundings, behavior and identity. These conditions include escape from reality in ways that are not wanted and not healthy. This causes problems in managing everyday life. Dissociative disorders usually arise as a reaction to shocking, distressing or painful events and help push away difficult memories. Symptoms depend in part on the type of dissociative disorder and can range from memory loss to disconnected identities. Times of stress can worsen symptoms for a while, making them easier to see. Treatment for dissociative disorders may include talk therapy, also called psychotherapy, and medicine. Treating dissociative disorders can be difficult, but many people learn new ways of coping and their lives get better. Symptoms: Symptoms depend on the type of dissociative disorder, but may include:

• A sense of being separated from yourself and your emotions.
• Thinking that people and things around you are distorted and not real.
• A blurred sense of your own identity.
• Severe stress or problems in relationships, work or other important areas of life.
• Not being able to cope well with emotional or work-related stress.
• Memory loss, also called amnesia, of certain time periods, events, people and personal information.
• Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

The American Psychiatric Association defines three major dissociative disorders: Depersonalization/derealization disorder, dissociative amnesia, and dissociative identity disorder. Depersonalization/Decreolization disorder Depersonalization involves a sense of separation from yourself or feeling like you’re outside of yourself. You may feel as if you’re seeing your actions, feelings, thoughts and self from a distance, like you’re watching a movie. Derealization involves feeling that other people and things are separate from you and seem foggy or dreamlike. Time may seem to slow down or speed up. The world may seem unreal. You may go through depersonalization, derealization or both. Symptoms, which can be very distressing, may last hours, days, weeks or months. They may come and go over many years. Or they may become ongoing. Summarize: Multiple personality disorder is understood today as chronic dissociative psychopathology that most often develops in response to severe abuse in childhood. The dissociative component is a manifestation of a defense mechanism out of control. The person with a biopsychological capacity to dissociate flees inward from overwhelming abuse or feared abuse. When continuing abuse perpetuates dissociations and they are chained by common affective themes, the foundations of multiple personality disorder are laid. Although the disorder has its roots in childhood, most patients are not diagnosed with this condition until 20 to 50 years of age. Many have received several prior, erroneous diagnoses of mental or physical disorders or both over a period of 7 or more years. Failure of diagnosis is an indication of the multiple factors that contribute to making this a covert disorder. Diagnosis and management begin at the same place: the establishment of trust and therapeutic alliance between patient and therapist.