DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER (DID)

WHAT IS DID?

• Mental disorder
• Two or more identities

SYMPTOMS

• Short term amnesia
• Startle easily
• Nightmares/flashback
• Attempted suicide and self-inflicted injury
• Post-traumatic stress disorder

SYMPTOMS (CONT.)

• Hide personalities from family and friends
• Primary=depressed, passive, displays guilt

CAUSE AND PREVENTION

• Healthy, safe relationships
• Cause: criminal attack or other traumatic event

DIAGNOSIS

• Exclude physical disease/condition
• Two or more distinct identities
• Each must become 'dominant' for some time

TREATMENT OPTIONS

• Psychotherapy/Cognitive Therapy
• Hypnosis
• Psychopharmacological Therapy
• Electroconvulsive Therapy
• Adjunctive Treatments

PSYCHOTHERAPY AND COGNITIVE THERAPY

• Goals:
• Recognize all alters share 1 body
• Integrated person

PSYCHOTHERAPY AND COGNITIVE THERAPY

• Obstacles:
• Sharing a body concerns safety
• If one gets hurt, all alters get hurt
• Uniting alters causes an alter to die

PSYCHOTHERAPY AND COGNITIVE THERAPY

• Desired outcome:
• Bridge dissociative gaps
• Remembering past self
• Consciously in the present
• Aware of varying moods and self-states

HYPNOSIS

• Access alter personalities
• Alleviates self-destruction
• Reduces symptoms of:
• Flashbacks/hallucinations
• Passive-influenced events

PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS

• Medications/somatic treatments
• PTSD
• Affective disorders
• Anxiety disorders
• OCD

PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGICAL MEDICATION

• Thought disorder
• Acute dyscontrol
• Sleep problems
• Self-injury
• Addiction

ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY

• Treat refractory depression

ADJUNCTIVE TREATMENTS

• Group therapy
• Family therapy
• Self-help groups
• Expressive/occupations therapies

HOW COMMON IS DID?

0.1-1% (30,000-300,000)

• Controversial
• 1970-1990
• Childhood trauma
• Very hard to diagnose (6-7 years)
• Side issues

SIDE ISSUES

• Depression
• Alcoholism
• Drug addiction
• Anxiety
• PTSD

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE

SYBIL DORSETT

• 22 year old college student
• Amnesia - psychiatrist
• Started showing different personalities
• "Almost as if there were more than one person inside of Sybil's body"

IDENTITIES

• Vicky - petite Paris girl
• Peggy Lou - tough, showed no fear
• Writer, flirt, pianist
• Infant
• Two men

IDENTITIED

• Each acted differently
• Sounded different
• 16 total
• Described physical appearance differently

CURRENT RESEARCH

• Restoration vs integration
• Assimilation model
• Negotiation and dialogue between alters

RESTORATION

INTEGRATION

STATISTICS

• 3-9x more females
• Females: 15+
• Males: 8 average
• Same all over the world
• Genetically passed on

OTHER INFORMATION

• Very rare
• Sometimes patient is aware, sometimes not
• Frequently misdiagnosed
• Don't know how to treat it

OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE?

• Treatment is long and painstaking
• Reluctancy-coping mechanism
• Other mental diseases

IS DID REAL?