What is Dissociative Identity Disorder? What are Dissociative Identity Disorder Therapies?

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is also called multiple personality disorder. This is one of the most difficult and least understood mental health issues. It involves an identity disruption characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality states. These personality states are often referred to as “alters.” These changes can change the way people think, act, remember things, and even how their bodies react. There are many dissociative identity disorder therapies to treat it.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) may show extreme symptoms. However, it can be extreme human response to severe traumatic experiences, frequently associated with childhood abuse or trauma. People have hope for recovery and healing when they learn how the mind protects itself by dissociating and how modern dissociative identity disorder therapies help people become whole again.

What is Dissociative Identity Disorder? What are its Symptoms?

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) from the American Psychiatric Association, Dissociative Identity Disorder is a type of dissociative disorder. The diagnostic criteria for dissociative identity disorder is:

Diagnostic Criteria A.

In dissociative identity disorder individual have two or more personality traits. These different personality states described in some cultures as experience of possession. In dissociative identity disorder individual have significant discontinuity between sense of self and sense of agency. This discontinuity effect the memory, consciousness, perception, cognition and behavior of individual. Sensory and motor functions of individual are also disturbed. These symptoms can be observed by others and also reported by individual as well.

Diagnostic Criteria B.

Individual have recurrent gaps and difficulty in recalling every day life events. Individual face difficulty in recalling personal information, traumatic events and every day life events. This difficulty in recalling is not consistent with ordinary forgetting.

Diagnostic Criteria C.

The above mentioned symptoms can disturb the daily life functioning of individual.

Diagnostic Criteria D.

The disturbance in behavior mentioned in above criteria is not due to religious and cultural practices.

Diagnostic Criteria E.

The symptoms are not to physiological effects of any substances.

People with DID may forget things, lose track of time, feel like they’re not in the real world, and hear voices in their heads that sound like different people. Each identity or “alter” may have its own memories, behaviours, and feelings. Some alters may be aware of others, while others remain unaware, resulting in internal chaos and emotional distress.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is thought to be a long-term defence mechanism that starts in early childhood. If a child goes through a lot of trauma, like abuse as a child, their mind may “split” to deal with the stress. Dissociation is how the brain makes you feel safe, even when things are scary.

What is Dissociation?

Dissociation is a mental process that divides thoughts, emotions, memories, or one’s sense of self. When pain or fear that is too much for the brain to handle and individual try to get away from it. For example, a child may “detach” mentally from a traumatic event to deal with their feelings.
This mechanism works for a short time because it lets the child live their life even though they are hurt. But over time, it can make different parts of memory and identity stay separate, which can cause DID.
This fragmentation keeps the person from reliving trauma, but it also makes life harder every day. A lot of people forget important things about themselves or do things that aren’t like them without knowing why.

Dissociative identity disorder therapies help people bring their different parts back together so that they can work as one.

What are causes of Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is often confused with depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia because the symptoms are similar. To make a correct diagnosis, professionals who are trained in trauma and know about therapies and diagnostic frameworks for dissociative identity disorder must do a full evaluation. Some causes of DID are:

• Childhood Trauma

Severe trauma in childhood is the most common cause of DID. Trauma may originate from childhood abuse or neglect, or from prolonged emotional distress. When a child goes through traumatic events over and over again and doesn’t have anyone to help them, their brain may separate these events into different parts as a way to protect itself.

• Environmental Causes.

Environmental factors, such as inadequate emotional support, familial instability, or exposure to violence, can increase the risk of developing dissociative disorders.

Dissociation often begins as a temporary survival strategy. The mind will continue to use the dissociative process into adulthood if the trauma doesn’t stop and healing doesn’t happen.

Dissociative Identity Disorder Therapies:

You can get better from DID, but it takes time, help from professionals, and specialised care. Therapies for dissociative identity disorder are very important in this case. These therapies are designed to assist individuals in integrating their distinct identities, recalling forgotten information, and restoring emotional equilibrium.

1. Social Support

This is also called talk therapy. It is effective way to treat DID. Most of the time dissociative identity disorder therapies treatment consist of three steps.

1. Stabilization:

In this the main goal of therapist is to make patient emotionally stable. Therapist focus of trust building and making patient to feel emotionally and physically safe.

2. Trauma Processing:

In this step when individual feel stable therapist start to deal with traumatic events. For dissociative identity disorder therapies, therapist start to deal with traumatic events in controlled and safe way.

3. Integration:

Integration is step to combine different identities of individual in one strong identity who you are.
You need to be patient and stick with this process because it takes a long time. It can take a longtime to make progress. But it does make a big difference.

2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is not only for dissociation, but it can be a big part of treatments for dissociative identity disorder. CBT helps people challenge negative thoughts about themselves and learn to think in more positive ways.

Someone with DID might think things like “I’m broken” or “I’m dangerous because of my other personalities.” CBT helps you see these thoughts in a different way, which makes you feel less guilty and ashamed. It helps people deal with stress, anxiety, and depression, and it makes their emotions more stable in the short term.

3. Trauma Focus Therapy.

Trauma-focused therapy is a type of treatment for dissociative identity disorder that helps people deal with traumatic memories. It focuses a lot on grounding exercises, ways to calm down, and gradually exposing yourself to upsetting things.

This therapy helps people remember trauma while staying in the present, which helps them control their emotions and be stronger. It also helps different parts of the self work together instead of being scared or fighting.

4. Making People Feel Safe and Supported

People feel safe right away when they start therapy for dissociative identity disorder. A person can’t start to heal from trauma until they feel safe. Therapists do a lot to make sure their clients feel safe, cared for, and like they know what to expect.

Safety is more than just going to therapy; it also means making safe friends, finding safe places to live, and learning how to take care of yourself. A lot of people who were abused as kids have never felt safe all the time, so learning what it feels like is a big step towards getting better.

5. Medication

There is no drug that directly treats DID, but antidepressants, antianxiety medications, and mood stabilisers can help with other issues that come with it. They help people feel more stable emotionally, which makes it more likely that they will get the most out of therapy.

Mindfulness, journaling, and grounding exercises can also help people stay in the present and work well with treatments for dissociative identity disorder.

What is the link between DID and other Dissociative Disorders?

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) frequently coexists with other dissociative disorders, such as dissociative amnesia and depersonalization/derealization disorder. All necessitate alterations to identity, memory, and perception.

Because of these overlaps, professionals who are trained in therapies for dissociative identity disorder can tell the difference between conditions and change treatment as needed.