Multiple Personality Disorder Sample

Alter-egos: De-mystifying Dissociative Identity Disorder. Secret Window is a psychological thriller about a mind that is cracking right down the middle and separating into two different people with the most dominate of the two personalities taking over. Mort Rainey is a successful writer going through a rather unfriendly divorce from his wife of ten years, Amy. Alone and bitter in his cabin, he continues to work on his writing when a mysterious stranger named John Shooter shows up on his doorstep, claiming Rainey stole his story.Multiple Personality Disorder Sample

Mort says he can prove he wrote his first, but while Mort waits for the evidence to appear, Shooter starts to become more and more violent. Mort is sharing a mind with John Shooter, the man who claims that Mort stole his story from him. In the beginning, Mort just shrugs this off; however, as the movie progresses, Mort starts to doubt himself. This is significant because, the audience starts to wonder if Mort exactly stole the story or not. This helps viewers to relate to Mort even more and therefore, helps the audience to see things throw his eyes.

Someone around Mort should have seen that he was displaying odd and unusual behavior. If he had medical attention then maybe he would have gotten treatment for his disorder. The disorder in which I am speaking of is known as dissociative identity disorder or better known as multiple personality disorder (MPD). Dissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric condition in which a person displays multiple distinct identities. Each having a unique set of memories, behaviors, thoughts and emotions.Multiple Personality Disorder Sample

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Mort’s alter ego John Shooter is what is called a “host personality” this is when the personality has executive control of the body for the greatest percentage of time during a given time period. The conceptualization of dissociation among people is that it is a response to trauma. Research shows the relationship between different types of traumas, such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, and child abuse to the development of dissociative disorder. However, more recent studies raise questions whether the relationship of trauma to dissociation is as direct and casual as previously thought.

Even though there have been findings that support the believe that there is a complex relationship between trauma and dissociation. In conjunction with the trauma- based concept of dissociation a growing number of therapists believe that attachment, or more precisely the failure to develop resources for secure attachment can contribute to the development of maladaptive dissociative patterns of response. This would explain that the stress and trauma that Mort endured when he caught his wife with another man caused him to create an alter-ego to deal with his feelings.Multiple Personality Disorder Sample

Individuals diagnosed with DID display a variety of symptoms that fluctuate across time; functioning can vary from severe impairment in daily activities to normal or high abilities. I have included a list of symptoms: * Depression * Depersonalization * Sever memory loss * Flashbacks of abuse/trauma * Sudden anger without a cause * Paranoia * Auditory/visual hallucinations People with DID may experience an extremely broad array of other symptoms that may resemble epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, and eating disorders.

Dissociative alterations in identity may first be exhibited by odd first person plural or third person singular it may also be shown as plural self-references. Individuals may also refer to themselves using their own first names. People with DID are often mis-diagnosed because the symptoms are so familiar to other mental disorders, causing it to be difficult for professionals of this field of medicine to diagnose. Little is known about the natural history of untreated dissociative identity disorder in individuals.

Some people who do not get treated for this disorder are believed to continue on in abusive relationships, violent sub-cultures or both. Authorities believe a percentage of these people die by suicide or as a result of their risk taking behaviors. Psychotherapy is generally considered to be the main factor of treatment for dissociative identity disorder. In treating individuals with DID, therapists usually try to help clients improve their relationships with others and to experience feelings they have not felt comfortable being in touch with or openly expressing in the past.Multiple Personality Disorder Sample

Mental-health professionals also guide their clients in finding ways to have each aspect of them coexist, and work together, as well as developing crisis-prevention techniques and finding ways of coping with memory lapses that occur during times of dissociation. Hypnosis is sometimes used to help increase the information that the person with DID has about their symptoms/identity states, thereby increasing the control they have over those states when they change from one personality state to another.

This can be helpful because it enhances the communication that each aspect of the person’s identity has with the others. There is another option one has if therapy and medications are not working for them, and this treatment is called electroconvulsive therapy. ECT is a procedure where electrical current are passed through the brain causing seizures. This procedure is safely performed during out-patient surgery and only takes 5 to 10 minutes. This treatment can be costly for the individual; this is probably why it is usually the last option.Multiple Personality Disorder Sample