Dissociative Disorders  A person who has a break with their own identity or memories.

Dissociative Amnesia  One or more episodes of the inability to recall important personal information  Usually it is due to a traumatic or stressful incident  Causes significant distress in social or occupational functioning

Dissociative Fugue  A sudden, unexpected travel away from ones home or place of work with the inability to recall ones past  Confusion about ones identity  Assumption of a new Identity

Dissociative Identity Disorder  Multiple Personality Disorder  the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states  each with its own pattern of perceiving, relating and interacting with their surroundings  At least two of these identities take control of the person’s behaviors

Dissociative Identity Disorder  The mind of a multiple personality is like a roaming house in which two or more individuals co-exist.  When one personality is in charge, the others remain hidden in the inner recesses of the brain.  Each acts independently of the others and is totally different from them.  Research has shown that the average age for the initial development of alters is 5.9 years.

Dissociative Identity Disorder  When under the control of one identity, the person is usually unable to remember some of the events that occurred while other personality was in control

Symptoms  Hearing Voices  (confuse with schizophrenia)  Physical Differences  Heart Rate / Pulse  Breathing  Mannerism  Speech patterens  Difference in Handwriting  Time Loss / Blackouts  Depression  Suicide attempts  Self mutilation

Alters  Alters may have experienced  a distinct personal history  self image  Identity  including a separate name  age  At least two of these personalities recurrently take control of the person’s behavior.

Dissociative Identity Disorder  Typical types of alters:  A depressed, exhausted host.  A strong, angry protector.  A scared, hurt child.  A helper.  An internal persecutor who blames one or more of the alters for the abuse they have endured.

Different Personalities  Those with DID have a dominant personality that determines the individual’s behavior.  Each personality has a separate and consistent pattern of perceiving  Their environment  Themselves  Others.  Each Alter has a specific way they see the inside of their mind, where the alters live when they are not in control of the body.

Number of Alters  The person with “DID” may have  as few as two alters  or as many as 100  The average number is about 10  Often alters are stable over time, continuing to play specific roles in the person’s life for years.

Statistics  Dissociative disorders are not common psychiatric illnesses  Some estimate 1 per 10,000 in the population  Studies show that women make up 90% these cases

Controversy  Controversy  The disorder itself is still shrouded in mystery the subject of a good deal of controversy  Some psychiatrists deny that it even exists.  Recent Controversy over “Sybil”  Sybil Exposed by Debbie Nathan (2011)

Sybil Case Study  Identify each of the Alters portrayed in the movie.  Describe each Alter:  Looks  Personality  What role does each Alter have  Identify “triggers” for Sybil  What things cause Sybil to change from one alter to another