At a basic level, An is an emotional, psychological, and spiritual being that is alternately pleasure-focused and pain-focused. You may experience An as a challenging and enticing part of you.
An is a part of you that is created when two or more parts of your consciousness don’t communicate well with each other. When one part of you doesn’t feel like communicating with the other parts, they alternate between different personalities.
This phenomenon happens in people as well as in things. For example, when you look at a tree and think about how strong it must be, it may form a strong personality that resists change. The tree may have trouble communicating with the rest of its body, so it decides to change its self-image by moving to a new place.
Since this new personality doesn’t communicate well with the rest of its body, it has to leave behind some remnants to explain what happened. Thus, the tree forms two new personalities: one for what happened and one for what now thinks and feels.
What is dissociative identity disorder?
Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a condition in which someone can have two or more distinct personalities, or dissociation periods. One personality may alternate between being in a dissociation period and immediately following a period of consciousness without dissociation. The second or alternate personality stays engaged in the same situation with no change in consciousness, but with the second or alternate personality now present during the Dissociations than the first.
Dissociative identity disorder is not a disease, but a mental condition that can occur as part of a disease process. It’s most common among people in their late twenties and early thirties, though anyone can experience it.
Why does having one dissociating personality change diapers? I don’t know either, but I do know that DID doesn’t show up on any medical tests — at least not yet.
Causes of dissociative identity disorder
While relatively rare, dissociative identity disorder (DID) can be caused by a variety of things. The most common cause is a traumatic event in childhood that triggered dissociation as an adult.
Another cause is chronic stress or repeated trauma. This can happen in life, relationships, and even at times of death, when memories are re-branded and filed away as different personalities.
A final cause is brain injury such as from a major stroke or TIA (transient ischemic attack). This can occur weeks to even years after the original dissociation occurs.
The first two causes are called outlet syndromes and the last is called re-occurring personality disorder (RPD) syndromes. The two types of outlet syndromes are relatinships like and alternating shifts in personal characteristics.
Symptoms of dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder is a symptom-based condition, where someone has two or more distinct and alternating personalities, usually lasting a few hours to days. This condition can be treated and managed, making it a symptom-based condition.
Symptoms of dissociative identity disorder can be funny! One person I know was dubbed The Voice because he could always hold the phone up to his head and talk. He also had the habit of randomly speaking in a different language, even though he didn’t know how to say the same thing in English.
These two people were always fighting inside him, so when one left, the other would come back out. It was weird and confusing at times, but it was never painful or uncomfortable. It was like they were switching bodies inside him.
This person said he felt like two people who don’t agree on much but love each other very much.
How is dissociative identity disorder diagnosed?
Diagnosed as a dissociative personality type, you can either have one or multiple personalities and one dissociation pattern does not equal A(n) diagnosis.
However, there are criteria that doctors use to diagnose A(n)s. These include:
A strong sense of alternate identities or personalities, lasting for a long time (a few weeks to months is normal) and/or a narrative about the identities or a narrative about the personification of the identity.
A lack of historical information or awareness about previous identities or personifications of the dissociative personality. This may be a factor in causing guilt and shame associated with the new dissociative identity, making it hard to recognize it as such.
A lack of recognition or diagnosis by other people, including family members. Diagnosis is made by other people who know nothing about A(n).
What are the treatment options for individuals with dissociative identity disorder?
There are many ways to treat dissociative identity disorder, and most doctors use one of the above methods as their standard treatment.
It may be difficult to determine which personality someone has in a dissociative identity, so the doctor may switch between personalities when treating them. This makes it more challenging to maintain a treatment regimen, as each personality has to be addressed individually.
This is not a specific feature of the alternate personalities in Dissociatia, however; they can have any number of personalities, even if they are only on display for a short time before they disappear again.
As with all mental illnesses, know that people with dissociative identity disorder can be nice (or not), funny (or not), or sad (or not), angry (or not) and normal (or not). These symptoms do not change regardless of whether or not there is a second personality present.
Can individuals with dissociative identity disorder control their alternate personalities?
While there are no studies on the controlability of the alternate personalities that have control over their dissociative personalities, experts do agree that it can be done.
In fact, several experts within the dissociation community have stated that they find it therapeutic to have a personality that they can control. As this seems like a natural thing for people to do, you would think!
What makes a person with dissociative identity disorder (DID) with two or more distinct personalities capable of controlling them? According to medical professionals, it is usually the repetitiveness of the symptoms that causes difficulty in controlling them.
These symptoms include having depersonalization and depersonalization feelings, hearing voices without any sense of who is talking, and having two different bodies when one is present.
What is the long-term prognosis for individuals with dissociative identity disorder?
Individuals with dissociative identity disorder can have two or more personalities, each with its own memory and personal experiences. This is a common symptom of atypical dissociation, where one side of the dissociation continuum is lighter or less intense than the other.
In addition to having two or more personalities, individuals with dissociative identity disorder can have trouble remembering recent events and can be in two different places at the same time. This is very abnormal, as people usually remember events in order from least to most recent.
A(n)s typically regain awareness of past events about a week to four weeks after the return of their other personalities. They may also experience reliving of parts of these episodes, especially if they were significant to them.
Because A(n)s typically don’t remember events that involved other people very well, they are usually referred to as H(a), H(b), and H(c), which are short for their first-, second- and third-person names.
Who gets multiple personality syndrome?
One in five people suffers from a variant personality disorder, also known as a personality change disorder. This rare condition is characterized by two or more distinct and alternating personalities, often sparked by an emotional trigger.
One in five people suffers multiple personality syndrome, or a variation of it. (Getty Images)
It is more common in men than women, though both groups can experience alternate personalities. The disorder is usually diagnosed in mid to late adulthood, though some develop it later in life.
Who gets multiple personality syndrome? In the past, doctors thought it was a mental condition that only happened to people with high levels of stress. Recent research shows that even with minimal stress, some individuals can suffer from alternate personalities.
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