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Split personality, also known as multiple personality disorder, is a dissociative identity disorder that results in the person having at least two independent selves. Only one personality is revealed at a time, and the individual ones are usually unaware of the existence of the others. Each of the selves may have different patterns of behavior, their own identity and memories, as well as their age, gender, sexual preferences, visual acuity, and allergies. Relevant research can even reveal differences in the brain’s work of individual personalities. The transition between selves usually occurs unexpectedly as a result of stressful or emotional events, and is often accompanied by amnesia. It is estimated that about 2% of the population suffer from split personality, and it is more often diagnosed in women than in men.
Split personality symptoms
Although split personality is a frequent subject of numerous movies and books, where we deal with characters with extremely different and distinct personalities symptoms disease, in fact due to the patient’s unawareness and frequent withdrawal from social life to be diagnosed split personality can occur many years after the first symptoms appear. Symptomsthat indicate the possibility of this disease, the most common are rapid changes in mood, psychotic episodes, headaches, panic attacks, sleep disturbances and amnesia. Due to their contradictory behavior, sick people often have problems in social relations, which can lead to a feeling of loneliness, low self-esteem, depression and autoaggression, as well as a tendency to become addicted (alcoholism, drug addiction) and compulsive behavior. Children of split personality they may have educational problems and have difficulty concentrating.
All disturbing mood changes should be consulted with a specialist. You can choose to visit online and talk to a psychiatrist from the comfort of your home. Make an appointment for an e-consultation now and you will receive professional advice without leaving your home.
Split Self – Causes
The mechanism leading to split personality still not thoroughly investigated. Dissociation, i.e. the breakdown of connections between the elements of personality, leading to this disorder, however, is defined as an adaptive reaction to particularly painful and traumatic situations, usually experienced during childhood. Split personality it can be the result of experiences of war, death of loved ones, catastrophe, domestic violence, sexual harassment and many other tragic experiences. In this case traumatic event it is pushed into the subconscious to allow the individual to continue functioning. The repressed memories form a new, separate self.
Split personality – treatment
Treatment split personality it is a long-term process involving psychotherapy, appropriate medications, and sometimes even hypnosis. Its main goal is to integrate all the patient’s personalities so that they form one coherent one identity. To achieve this, the dissociative defense mechanism must disappear as a result of working through the trauma that caused it split personality. Confronting painful memories and incorporating them into the image of “oneself” makes it possible to find connections between different selves and integrate them. In addition, an important role in treatment plays learning how to deal with anxiety and stress in order to avoid the possibility of repressing unwanted memories again. Additionally, it applies pharmacotherapy in the form of antidepressants.
A split personality may be preceded by a deep depression, so in the case of long-lasting malaise, constant fatigue or lack of concentration, it is worth performing diagnostic tests to detect it, and then start appropriate treatment.
Schizophrenia and split personality
Schizophrenia, meaning “split mind” in Greek, may be wrongly confused with split personalityalthough each of these diseases has different origins and symptoms. Schizophrenia classified as endogenous psychoses, it consists in the disintegration of mental functions, which means that the patient’s brain has difficulties with a consistent reception of thinking, emotions and perception, and thus – with an adequate reception of oneself and real reality. Split personality and it is a dissociative disorder that does not affect mental functions. Schizofrenik may experience delusions and hallucinations, and the disease makes it impossible to function in society without proper treatment, even under the guise of normality.