Dissociative identity disorder is common in people with a traumatic experience or past. It is quite common for the effect of the past trauma to persist even after weeks, months, or years.

In this post, we will discuss the impact of past trauma on people and how it can trigger dissociative identity disorder. 

What is Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a mental health condition where people with the condition can have two or more distinct personalities and affect the way a person views reality. This condition was known as Multiple Personality Disorder some years back.

The different personalities of people with this condition control how they behave at different times. Each of the assumed personalities has its own characteristics, likes, and dislikes including personal history.

Dissociative identity disorder can also cause hallucinations and create a memory gap where and many other mental health problems. Dissociative identity disorder is not very common as it affects between 0.01 and 1% of the population. 

However, it can occur at any age and women are more likely to have this condition than men.

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Types of Dissociative Disorders

There are four types of dissociative identity disorder and they include:

1. Dissociative amnesia: This refers to when a person often forgets things or doesn’t recall a past experience. 
2. Dissociative fugue: It is a trait of amnesia in which the person can suddenly travel to an unexpected space while leaving behind the usual environment and denies all the experiences or memories.
3. Dissociative depersonalization: This is known as an out-of-body condition. This refers to when a person’s body is disassociated from the person.
4. Dissociative identity disorder: This is when the person with the condition is totally detached from reality and the world.

Best Dissociative Identity Disorder Quizzes to Try

1. Formplus Dissociative Identity disorder quiz

Formplus has a useful dissociative identity disorder quiz. You can participate in taking the quiz or send the link to your loved ones who might need it to partake. The quiz is aimed at providing clarity about your symptoms and determining if you have the condition.

Please note that the quiz should not be used as a replacement for medical consultation. Express all the signs and symptoms you have to your medical practitioner for a more informed evaluation. Visit Formplus to access the quiz.

2. Psymed Dissociative Identity disorder quiz

The dissociative identity disorder test by psymed only takes a few minutes to answer yet asks the necessary questions for proper analysis. Visit the website to learn more about the quiz.

3. Illness quiz Dissociative Identity disorder test

The test by Illness is designed to determine whether a person has symptoms of dissociative identity disorder or not. All you need to do is to answer True or False

4. ieTherapy Dissociative Identity disorder test

This test will ask questions that range from whether you experienced mood swings, had a traumatic childhood, or witnessed a traumatic event.

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Signs and Symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder

The symptoms of dissociative identity disorder often show up during childhood when a child is between the ages of 5 and 10. Oftentimes, parents, teachers, and primary healthcare providers may omit the symptoms or even confuse the signs with some learning problems or behavioral changes in children. 

Hence, dissociative identity disorder is usually not diagnosed until adulthood.

Now, what are the symptoms and signs of dissociative identity disorder?

• The feeling of depression
• Being disoriented
• Heightened anxiety mode
• The loss of memory
• Having suicidal thoughts
• Abuse of alcohol and or drug substances.
• Feeling delusional.

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Also, note that a person with dissociative identity disorder will have two or more specific or unrelated personalities or identities. The primary identities are known as Core and Alters. The “core” identity or personality is the actual personality of the person. 

Alters on the other hand are the alternate identities or personalities of a person. It is worthy of note that a person with dissociative identity disorder may have up to 100 alters. These alters are usually different from one another and each of the identities will have its own interests, genders, and mode of interaction with the environment.

Causes of Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative identity disorder is usually caused as a result of sexual or physical abuse during childhood. It is also possible for dissociative identity disorder to develop as a response to a natural disaster or a traumatic experience. 

This is why the reason for the disorder is mostly a way for victims of abuse or trauma to distance or detach themselves from those events.

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Effects of Dissociative Identity Disorder 

The effects of dissociative identity disorder can be divided into short-term effects and long-term effects.

The short-term effects of dissociative identity disorder can be auditory and visual distortion, the sense of floating or the feeling of detachment from reality. 

Taking medications for dissociative identity disorder can also cause short-term anxiety and memory loss. It can also cause numbness and tremors.

Dissociative identity disorder also has some long-term effects such as abuse of alcohol and drugs, an increase in self-inflicted injuries, and relationships impairment. Furthermore, dissociative identity disorder can lead to severe headaches, body pains, insomnia, sleepwalking, and night terrors. 

Take this: Schizoid Personality Disorder Test

Can DID Be Cured?

There is no known cure for dissociative identity disorder. Although with medications and therapy to help reduce the symptoms, most people can manage the condition for the rest of their lives. 

They can learn to have more control over their behavior. But the goal of the treatment for dissociative identity disorder is primarily integrated function and fusion. 

This is because as earlier noted, a person with multiple identities may feel like different people who each have their own distinct personalities with individual names, memories, e.t.c. You should also visit your medical health professional to specifically prescribe antianxiety and antidepressants medications that can help with the disorder.

Dissociative Identity Disorder Examples

Here are some famous people diagnosed to have the dissociative identity disorder condition. Comedian Roseanne Barr, Adam Duritz, and Herschel Walker, a retired NFL star.

Walker in particular wrote a book about his struggles with dissociative identity disorder. He explained his feeling of disconnect and his multiple suicide attempts.

He explained that he had to develop a tough personality that was fearless and didn’t feel lonely to cope. According to him,  These “alters” could cope with the abuse he felt; while his other alters helped him rise to national fame. 

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Another example of dissociative identity disorder is that of Kim Noble. She had different characters who have their own identities. One of the characteristics or personalities is “Julie”. Julie was so destructive that she ran Noble’s van into some parked cars.

Then there was “Hayley,” who was involved in a pedophile ring. Kim Noble received a dissociative identity disorder in 1995 and has been getting psychiatric help ever since.

Another example is Billy Milligan who was charged with rape at the age of 22. Between 14-26 of October 1977, three women were adopted, robbed, and raped. The account from two of these women suggested that they were raped by different men.

One claimed that the rapist had a German accent while the other described him as “a kind of a nice guy”. Investigation revealed that it was only Billy and while diagnosed by a psychiatrist, it turned out that he had 24 distinct personalities.

Some of these personalities were Ragen (a man from Yugoslavia) and Adalana (a lesbian) whom Billy with the help of his lawyer claimed to have committed the crimes.

Conclusion

People with dissociative identity disorder may often feel detached and uninterested. However, they could cause harm to themselves and others.

It is important to check people with this condition into a psychiatrist home where they can get all the help they need.