Multiple Personality Disorder

According to Jacques Lacan, the French psychoanalyst, "all desire is the 'desire of the other'". The subconscious is a product of the different external social influences of life. The normal personality is often called the ego states. In case of multiple personality disorder (MPD), the personality of a person becomes fragmented into different parts and cannot communicate with each other. The symptoms and solutions are discussed in the following paragraphs.

What is Multiple Personality Disorder
Multiple personality disorder is also known as the Dissociative identity disorder (DID). In this condition, there are more than two personalities that control a person's behavior. These multiple personalities or identities are called the alter egos or alters. Each of the alters have their own pattern of interacting and perceiving the environment. One of the personalities takes over the person's behavior and this results in memory loss. This memory loss is thought of as normal forgetfulness on the person's part. Multiple personality disorder affects eight times more women than men. Women may have more alter identities in them than men, sometimes about 15 in one single woman.

Causes
It has been found more than 97% of the patients diagnosed with multiple personality disorder were either physically or sexually abused as children. When a child is severely abused, he/she tends to detach themselves from their surroundings. They feel as if they are in a fantasy world and the abuse they are going through is not for real. They go into something called self hypnotic state. This is called dissociation, where the child dissociates himself from the intense emotions. This means the child blocks these emotions even from himself, like a secret. Subconsciously, the alter ego knows all about the trauma and tends to come out when one is under severe stress.

However, not all who are severely abused develops dissociative identity disorder. It may occur when a child does not get time to recover emotionally and completely dissociates their thoughts and feelings from themselves. These dissociative thoughts cluster together forming a life of their own. Anger, frustration, pain may club together and fear, anxiety, phobias, etc. may become one. Soon these emotional clusters develop into a personality with its own memory and characteristic personality trait.

Symptoms
Patients with multiple personality disorder may have a few or more than hundred different alter egos. These alter egos may be similar to the normal personality of the person or may be of a totally different age, race, sex and behavior. The alter will have its own unique style of walking, talking, accent, even show a distinct way of dressing. Those who never speak more than the local language may start speaking in a foreign language fluently. These alter egos may not only take a human form, but may behave as an animal or an imaginary character. These alter egos take control over the normal personality of the person. This taking over of the alter ego is called a switching. These changes are almost sudden and may take only a few seconds for the person to switch back to their normal self. Thus, many times the multiple disorder symptoms go unnoticed by people around the patient. However, in a few cases, the person maybe in control of the alter personality for hours on end, even for days. A sudden stress in the patient's environment may trigger a switch. Multiple personalities are also known to make an appearance under hypnosis. Some of the multiple personality symptoms and signs to watch out for in a patient are as follows:

• Multiple attitudes, manners or beliefs that are totally opposite
• Loss of time
• Depersonalization
• Severe memory loss
• Frequent flashbacks of abuse or trauma
• Phobias
• Unexplainable headaches or pain in different parts of the body
• Sudden anger without any reason
• Panic attacks
• Auditory hallucinations of the alter ego
• Lack of personal connections or intimacy

There is one powerful alter ego that dominates over all other alters. The dominate ego may dictate other alters when to reveal themselves. In most patients of dissociative identity disorder, their own personality called the core or main personality is dominant. This is why most of the time they appear normal. A girl may suddenly behave like a boy or a 35-year-old man may start talking like a 5-year-old. And, suddenly within a few minutes the core personality is back in control as if nothing happened.

In some cases, alters are aware of all or few of the other alters. In some, the alters are oblivious of each other. When an alter ego takes over, the biological characteristics of the patient undergoes a change. This means the heart rate changes, body temperature differs, blood pressure may change, even changes in the vision power may take place. A patient who is not asthmatic, may show signs of asthma, if the alter ego has it.

Treatment
The most widely used treatment is psychotherapy. The therapist builds a bond of trust between the patient and himself. This helps the therapist address the different emotional issues of the patient and coping with dissociative identity disorder. In some cases, hypnosis is the mode of treatment for dissociative identity disorder. A few people may require hospitalization for a brief period. On an average treatment for multiple personality disorder may last up to 4 years.
Alter egos lay dormant in the subconscious mind of the patient indefinitely. You never know when and what might trigger an appearance of an alter ego. If you feel someone is having sudden memory loss, loses track of time, or find them somewhere you least expect to see them, you should speak to a psychiatric. You never know if they too are suffering from dissociative identity disorder. If they get proper treatment, they may be able to lead a more normal as well as safe life.