Multiple personality disorder even in the 21st century causes the separation of psychiatric specialists into two camps. Some are sure that such a “deviation from the norm” in a patient is far-fetched, while others are sure that the disease really exists. They give a lot of evidence to this from real life, accompanying them with the symptoms and causes of the multiple personality syndrome, and also provide a scientific explanation for this phenomenon in psychiatry. In the article we will talk about what is multiple personality syndrome.
What it is?
Dissociative personality disorder (multiple personality syndrome) is the general name of the patient’s condition, which at the same time coexists, besides the main personality, at least one more. This second is called subpersonality. It is able to take away the right to control the whole body of a person, his feelings, mind, will from the main (dominant) personality that is given to a person from birth.
Some psychiatrists believe that dissociative personality disorder arose under the influence of many fantastic stories, as a result of watching unscientific programs, operating with unscientific terms and facts. Other experts believe that people with multiple personality syndrome do exist. And proof of this is the work of doctors who describe such disorders long before the advent of psychiatry as a science (around the end of the 18th century).
Does this syndrome really exist?
It is often difficult to recognize that one person has several personalities at once. And the patient himself often can claim that his personalities do not know anything about each other, they have a completely different opinion, their behavior models are completely different. But there is no doubt that personality splitting syndrome does exist. Today, specialists treat this phenomenon with minimal skepticism and do not try to immediately reject it, but try to explain and characterize it from a scientific point of view.
We distinguish multiple personality syndrome from schizophrenia
Do not confuse the concepts of schizophrenia and multiple personality syndrome, since these are completely different phenomena in psychiatry. So, people with schizophrenia do not have many personalities. Their disease is characterized by the fact that under the influence of chronic psychosis they suffer from hallucinations, which make them see or hear those things that do not actually happen. The main symptom of schizophrenia is the presence of a so-called delusional idea in a patient. Approximately 50% of patients hear voices that do not exist in reality.
Personality splitting syndrome and schizophrenia have one thing in common: people suffering from these diseases are more likely to commit suicide than patients with other mental disorders.
Who is most susceptible to the development of the syndrome?
The reasons for the appearance of dissociation are still not clearly identified, but there are common points. So the root cause of the multiple personality syndrome originates in a person usually up to 9 years old. It can be associated with the strongest emotional experiences, the deepest stress suffered, psychological or physical abuse, improper upbringing and attitude of parents, especially when they behave unpredictably and frighteningly for the child.
Description of the disease by the patients themselves
Patients suffering from a split personality can describe their condition as follows:
- The concept of depersonalization, when the patient says that "is outside his body."
- Derealization, when the patient describes the world around him as unreal for him, as if he is looking at everything that happens through the distance or a veil of fog.
- Amnesia. The patient makes every effort, but cannot remember important personal information about himself. Often he forgets even those words that were spoken a few minutes ago.
- Confusion in self-awareness. A person suffering from multiple personality syndrome is in a state of complete disorientation of his own. He cannot clearly answer the question of who he considers himself or represents. Often, he catches himself thinking that he hates his personality at the moment when he is engaged in any kind of activity (violates traffic rules, drinks alcohol).
- There is no clear understanding of where a person is, how much time is now, what situation he is in.
A person with multiple personality syndrome has one host personality, which can provide basic real information about him. Other dissociative states (other personalities) are not mature, they can only tell about individual episodes and sensations from life, their memories are scarce and one-sided. It so happened that the host personality often does not even suspect the presence of other personalities.
Multiple Identity Syndrome: Causes
Among all the reasons that may become the impetus for the formation of a syndrome of a dissociative personality in childhood, one main factor is violence. It can be both emotional and physical. In any case, the violence causes irreparable harm to the psyche of the child. The next reason is the parents' improper upbringing, when the child experiences a strong fright near them or severe psychological discomfort.
Recently, drug addiction and alcoholism have become the cause of the crisis in human mental health, provoking the appearance of a dissociative personality.
Signs (symptoms) of a disorder
How is multiple personality syndrome manifested ? The symptoms of the disorder are as follows:
- Amnesia, when the patient cannot tell basic information about himself as a person.
- The presence of two or more subpersonalities, each of which has its own model of behavior, its own character, habits, gestures, race, gender, conversation, emphasis, etc. Publicity can even be an animal.
- Switching from one person to another. This process takes from several minutes to several days.
- Depression.
- Sharp mood swings.
- Suicidal tendencies.
- Sleep disorders (both insomnia and nightmares).
- A feeling of anxiety on the verge of panic or phobias.
- Often the use of drugs or alcohol.
- Rituals and compulsions.
- Hallucinations (both visual and auditory).
- Eating disorders.
- Severe headaches.
- A state of trance.
- Self-persecution and a tendency to violence, including in relation to oneself.
Many patients say that, under the guidance of a particular person, they cannot control their bodies or their actions. In fact, they are outside observers of everything that their personality does with their body and the world around them. Often they are ashamed of such actions, they admit that their master personality would never have committed this or even dared.
Multiple Identity Syndrome: Examples
According to the most conservative estimates, the world today knows about 40 thousand patients suffering from multiple personality syndrome. The most famous psychiatries and society as a whole are the medical histories of people such as Louis Vive (one of the first officially recorded cases of a dissociative personality), Judy Castelli, Robert Oxnam, Kim Noble, Truddy Chase, Shirley Mason, Chris Costner Sizemore, Billy Milligan, Juanita Maxwell. Most of these patients suffered from severe violence in childhood, which caused their dissociative personality disorder.
Billy Milligan
Billy Milligan is a person with multiple personality syndrome. He became known to the general public thanks to a completely unbelievable court decision against him. So, in the United States, a court found him not guilty of committing several serious crimes at once because of his multiple personality syndrome. Billy Miligan underwent a thorough psychiatric examination, the results of which not only did not constitute medical secrets, but were even published in newspapers, magazines, and were broadcast on television. At the trial, 4 psychiatrists confirmed the diagnosis of a dissociative personality under oath.
Billy repeatedly received medical psychiatric care. Billy Milligan's Multiple Syndrome has been discussed very actively. The society is still divided into two camps and is arguing over who Milligan really was: a skilled swindler who managed to circle a large number of psychiatrists, scientists, judges, jurors and police, or whether he really suffered from living in it 24 personalities and did not belong to himself.
The multiple personalities of Billy Milligan
The reason for Billy Milligan's syndrome of personality split was the violence and humiliation experienced by him in childhood. Psychiatrists counted as many as 24 individuals. Each of them had its own name and received a detailed description.
After being recognized by the court as insane, Milligan is sent for treatment to the psychiatric clinic Athens State Hospital. Thanks to highly qualified personnel, as a result of the work done, 10 persons were discovered in Billy Milligan, and after a while - 14 more.
The personalities of this person were of different ages, sex, nationalities, different in character, inclinations, habits, behavior. Some of them spoke with an accent. So who got along in a person who was diagnosed with multiple personality syndrome ? Kevin, a 20-year-old guy acting in turn with Phil - both bullies, capable of crimes coming out to lead Milligan in turn; 14-year-old boy Danny, panicky afraid of men; David, 8 years old, who was responsible for storing pain; Adalana - a 19-year-old lesbian who is credited with committing one of the serious crimes; the boy Sean is a deaf disabled person with disabilities and many others.
After 10 years of intensive treatment, Billy Milligan was released from a psychiatric clinic. The result of the treatment was the conclusion of the doctors, which stated that the patient completely identifies himself, which means that he got rid of all subpersonalities. After leaving the clinic, Milligan disappeared to communicate with the press and the public, it is not known for certain whether the treatment gave the real result, whether he got rid of all 24 personalities and whether they returned to him over time.
Manga
The problem of multiple personality syndrome has always interested not only psychiatrists, but also artists. So, a popular work, the main theme of which is multiple personality syndrome - the manga MPD Psycho. She is a Japanese comic book. The history of their occurrence totals at least one thousand years.
The manga MPD Psycho describes an amazing and interesting story from the mystical detective story. It contains frankly cruel and bloody scenes, often located on the border between madness and logic. The main character of the manga is a detective working with the help of intellectual methods to solve the crime. He suffers from multiple personality syndrome. He has to deal with the disclosure of regularly committed bloody crimes. The main clue is the presence of a bar code under the killer’s eye. But the detective himself has exactly the same mark. How can all these coincidences be related?
Scientific papers providing the most comprehensive information about multiple personality syndrome
Syndrome of dissociative personality has been taking the leading place in the writings of many scientists for more than a dozen years. One of the first descriptions dates back to 1791, when a doctor from Stuttgart E. Gmelin described a German woman who, under the influence of the bloody events of the French Revolution, began to suffer from multiple personality syndrome. Her second “I” is a Frenchwoman who spoke perfect French.
A special place is occupied by books by Chinese experts not only on the study of the syndrome, but also on the methods of its treatment.
In the documents, officially, until the mid-20th century, specialists registered and described in detail about 76 cases of a dissociative personality.
Writers also paid close attention to the topic of multiple personality syndrome and dedicated their works to it. The general public was told about what is the syndrome of multiple personality, books: “Three Faces of Eve” and “Sybil”. The first was created by psychiatrists K. Tigpen and H. Kleckley in 1957. The book tells the story of the dissociative personality of their patient Eva White. The second famous book "Sybil" was published in 1973. Her heroine also suffered from this disorder.
Today, there are no preventative measures that could prevent the development of multiple personality syndrome. The main cause of the onset of the disease is psychological or physical abuse of children. All efforts should be devoted to preventing such situations. If the violence nevertheless happened, then it is necessary to take measures, as well as refer the child for help to a psychologist who will help to survive the severe stress from the injury.