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People like Billy Milligan are not uncommon. It’s just that such complex patients are not customary to talk about in public. They are placed in psychiatric clinics, are treated by experienced doctors who, throughout the course of therapy, try to find the most gentle, safe, but at the same time effective method of treatment. Split personality and schizophrenia are often confused with each other because the schizophrenic does not split consciousness, but emotions. That is, a schizophrenic has a difference from a person who has only one personality “I”, but he can become aggressive in one second and kind in another. This is different, because it is often said that a schizophrenic has a split personality, but in fact only emotions change. It is worth understanding these concepts in more detail.
The concept of bifurcation of personality
The essence of personality splitting is that under the influence of a strong mental shock, a person’s consciousness breaks up into two, three or more parts. This happens as a defense mechanism to keep the person away from bad memories. Each of these puzzles becomes a separate unique mini-consciousness. Simply put, other personalities appear inside one person, as if they were different people enclosed in the same room.
It would seem fun and not boring. Only the problem lies in the fact that each of the personalities has its own character and most often these are problematic, aggressive “consciousnesses” that are trying to protect the main “I” from the outside world and pain.
These attempts at self-defense lead to terrible consequences: people can get hurt. To cope with such a mental problem, the doctor needs to understand the cause of the splitting of the psyche and select effective methods of treatment.
The main reason for the splitting of consciousness and types of personalities
Usually this mental disorder goes back to the patient’s childhood, in which something terrible happened that shook the person to the core. This helps protect him, protect him from strong feelings. Often such processes that occurred in childhood persist for life.
Appeared personalities can be divided into three types:
- Critic — he controls and protects his carrier. Responsible for ensuring that a person never again experiences what happened to him in childhood.
- Wounded — it contains all the experiences, bitter memories, pain. This personality usually sits deep in the subconscious and appears in the real world only occasionally to take control of the life of the main «I» in their hands.
- The observer is aware of the presence of several people inside, accepts this and tries to eliminate the problem.
It is very difficult to reunite them, but with the right approach, it is quite possible. This will allow the patient to finally free himself from the emotional burden and take control of his life.
Hypnosis in the treatment of split consciousness
It helps to return the patient to the time when the event occurred that led to the current state. The patient needs to go through this again, but now to cope with the situation and take everything under control. There is a method of immersion in deep sleep and disadvantages. There were cases when such a method of treatment worked in the opposite direction, causing even greater destruction of the psyche. Hypnosis is most often practiced today to minimize feelings of anxiety, worries, and fear. This helps the doctor to bring the dominant personality out and study it.