Rios1
Oscar Rios
Mr. Shipley
1/9/11
The Sense in Your Mind
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is an emotional illness that categorizes itself in
patients with two or more personalities or alters. The first case of Dissociative Identity Disorder
formally known as Multiple Identity Disorder was recorded in 1791 by Eberhardt Gmelin.
However there is say that there were earlier accounts of other persons writing about Dissociative
Identity Disorder such as Paracelsus. Paracelsus wrote of a woman who had a different alter that
stole her money in 1646. Gmelin wrote of a 20 year old woman that lived in Stuttgart. She began
to speak French and act like a Frenchmen, but spoke German. This happened during the French
revolution, when her French alter came out she remembered everything about the German girl,
but when the German alter came out she remembered nothing of the French women. (A History
of Dissociative Identity Disorder)
Around that same time Benjamin Rush the chief surgeon of the continental army also
known as the “Father of American Psychiatry” noted the history of dissociative cases. He was
the first to write the American text of Psychiatry “Medical Inquiries and Observations upon
Disease of the Mind” in 1812. His first argument about the illness was that the patient somehow
parted from one hemisphere of the brain to the other side of the hemisphere. (A History of
Dissociative Identity Disorder)
The first published case of Mary Reynalds in “Medical Repository” by Dr. Samuel
Rios2
Latham Mitchel and the first to be recognized by the people, in the magazine “Harper’s New
Monthly Magazine.” Mary went blind and deaf at the age of nineteen for a period of five to six
weeks. Three months later she awoke not knowing or remembering anything, but after a few
weeks later she began to learn the basic things. After a few weeks later she had awoken to find
herself normal again and not remembering anything that happened in those few weeks. This
occurred for years until her mid 30s where her alters stopped and she died at the age of 61. (A
History of Dissociative Identity Disorder)
Later on in the 19 century Eugene Azam, a general practitioner fascinated in hypnotism,
published a number of cases of Felida X which she appeared to have multiple personality
disorder. Felida X was born in 1843, lost her father when she was an infant and had a difficult
child hood. She showed having three different personalities which all said to be the real Felida.
Felida started to show the second alter at the age of thirteen when a sudden pain in her temple hit
her following by a deep sleep which lasted for a couple of minutes. The second alter showed no
signs of having the same illnesses as the first one. Her third alter wasn’t regularly, she suffer
from hallucinations and anxiety attacks. Switching occurred for her at the beginning of her first
alter almost everyday and then it revolved into switching after 25 to 30 days. (A History of
Dissociative Identity Disorder)
The literature case of multiple personality was said to be “extinct” by E. Stengel in 1943,
but after the case was said to be extinct, a paper was written in the journal founded by Morton
Prince now called “The Journal of Abnormal Psychology” there was no cases of multiple
personality disorder for a while until the case of Christine Costner Sizemore. Sizemore case was
popularized in the movie “The Three Faces of Eve” which Joanne Woodward, the lead actor won
a best actor Oscar award. The audience was fascinated of the movie because it was once thought
Rios3
as a rare disorder. (A History of Dissociative Identity Disorder)
Multiple personality disorder was brought back into publication by H. Ellenberger in
“The Discovery of the Unconscious: the history and evolution of dynamic psychiatry” which
dedicated on learning and discovering more about dissociation and multiple disorder. Margret
bowers and six other colleagues published “Therapy of Multiple Personality” which was called
“Brilliant” and shows on ways to treat multiple disorders which is still used today. (A History of
Dissociative Identity Disorder)
The case that was most significant to the studies of DID was the case of Sybil Isabel
Dorsett. This patient had sixteen different personalities that she used to cope with the abuse that
her psychotic mother induced her in. these alters changed when different problems occurred in
which the ‘real’ Sybil couldn’t handle. Sybil was unaware of the other alters when they came out
because she suffered from blackouts when they occurred. Her psychiatrist Cornelia Wilbur after
sixteen years finally helped her merge all those personalities in one. Her psychiatrist went into
great research to confirm the abuse that she went through from talking to her parents to seeing
her doctor and looking at her medical records consequently linking Dissociative Identity
Disorder to the child abuse. (A History of Dissociative Identity Disorder)
Putting all the effort from different psychiatrists and researchers into the field of
Dissociative Identity Disorder in 1980 they successfully published the “DSM-III” by the
American psychiatric Association. (A History of Dissociative Identity Disorder)
(Causes) . Doctors have traced on what might be causing Dissociative Identity Disorder and they
are; a natural ability to dissociate easily, repeated episodes of severe physical or sexual abuse in
childhood, lack of a supportive or comforting person to comforting person to counteract abusive
relative(s), and influence of other relatives with dissociative symptoms or disorders yet fully
Rios4
traced on what causes Multiple Personality disorder, but have a slight clue on what might be
causing it and it categorizes itself with two things that is childhood abuse physically and
mentally and living through a traumatic event .(Dissociative Identity Disorder)
The major cause of dissociative identity disorder is sexual, emotional, or physical abuse.
A child that lives through a constant abuse creates a different alter so that the main personality
can escape the torturing reality which they are enduring.
The primary cause of dissociative identity disorder is not yet known, but doctors have a
slight clue on what might be causing it. Recent studies have shown that sexual, mental, and
physical abuse is the primary reason. It all starts when the patients are at a young age and they
are more vulnerable for abuses. A female is more vulnerable to sexual abuse than males; the ratio
is 10:1 (Roxanne Dryden-Edwards)
Psychologist Nicholas P. Spanos argues that the cause of dissociative identity disorder is
the therapist, Because of the facts that they make them remember suppressed memories of
childhood abuse. (Multiple Personality Disorder [Dissociative Identity Disorder])
(Cure) There is a variety of treating dissociative identity disorder ranging from psychotherapy,
medications, and self help. Psychotherapy is one of the favored treatments for dissociative
disorders.( Dissociative identity disorder treatment) Psychologists help the patient in first
figuring out what happened, then they try to figure out how many personalities they have and
after that the psychologist tries to merge all the personalities back into one. Sometimes the
patients may appear to have a dissociative identity disorder when they don’t, making them
Rios5
consider themselves that they do and start to show more and more signs of the disorder.
When preferring medication over any other treatment, it should be carefully monitored.
Prescribing medications to patients may put them at risk (Dissociative identity disorder
Treatment)
Self-Help is a more interactive treatment where groups that have the same disorder form groups
in their communities to help one another. They form virtually everywhere on the internet.
(Dissociative Identity Disorder Treatment)
Dissociative Identity Disorder formally known as multiple identity disorder was renamed
after the psychological communities inferred that there was multiple personalities living in one
person, where Dissociative Identity disorder only has one that is split to different identities.
Dissociative identity disorder is a very serious psychological disorder, it needs to be handled
with extreme care. Patients with this disorder can be can have hostile alters. Alters can be
triggered by an unsuspected sound image or smell. Patients with this disorder lived through a
very traumatic childhood and they mostly blocked it from their memory creating different alters
to coupe with the happenings. The treatments that are offered are; psychotherapy, medication,
and self-help. Patients choose what treatment they prefer the most and go with it. Some
therapists have looked down upon the practice of multiple personality disorder and some have
not yet fully excepted multiple personality disorder as a disorder because of the fact that the
therapists who are trying to cure multiple personality disorder are making it worse or making
other patients believe that they have such a disorder.
Therapists put the patients in a state where they believe that something terrible happened
to them in their childhood when in fact nothing happened to them. This made health insurance
and malpractice insurance companies notice that if they have patients with multiple personality
Rios6
disorder that it would be costly for the therapy. As of mid 2009 twenty eight of the specialized
multiple identity disorder clinics have been closed in North America and only but a few practice
multiple personality disorder.
Rios7
Works Cited
"A History of Dissociative Identity Disorder." Demonic possession and psychiatry . N.p., n.d.
Web. 21 Nov. 2010. <http://www.fortea.us/english/psiquiatria/history.htm>.
“Dissociative identity Disorder (Formally Known as Multiple personality Disorder).” WebMD,
20 Jan ,Web. 23 Nov. 2010. <http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociativeidentity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder>.
“Dissociative Identity Disorder.” NAMI , Mar. 2000. Web. 20 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Helpline&Template=/ContentManagemen
t/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=20562>.
“Dissociative Identity Treatment.” psychcentral.John M Grohol, 1 Jun. 2010. Web. 21 Nov.
2010. <http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx18t.htm>.
Dryden-Edwards, Roxanne. "Dissociative Identity Disorder." medicinenet. Melissa Conrad
Stöppler, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.medicinenet.com/dissociative_identity_disorder/article.htm>.
Marrow, Allina . "Conditions and Diseases: Psychological and Mental Health." Ominisearch. 9
July 2010. Web. 23 Nov. 2010. <http://www.omnimedicalsearch.com/conditionsdiseases/dissociative-disorder-overview.html>.
“Multiple personality disorder (Dissociative identity Disorder).” Human illnesses and Conditions
JRank, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2010. <http://www.humanillnesses.com/original/MenOs/Multiple-Personality-Disorder-Dissociative-Identity-Disorder.html>.
Rios8
“Multiple personality disorder.” Faqs.org JRank, no date. Web. 20 Nov. 2010.
<http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/72/Multiple-personality-disorder.html>.
B.A, Robinson. "MPD/DID considered as a serious phsychological disoder." Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 13 Sept. 2009. Web. 20 Jan. 2011.
<http://www.religioustolerance.org/mpd_did3.htm>.