2. Are persons with MPD/Dissociative Identity Disorder responsible for bad actions committed when in an alter state? Why or why not? Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) Diagnostic criteria dictates that the presence of two or more distinct identities (each with its’ own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self), as well as at least two of these identities recurrently taking control of the person’s behavior coupled with the inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. The disturbance must also be proved to not be due to direct physiological effects of a substance e.g alcohol or due to a general medical condition e.g complex partial seizures. I will take it upon myself to argue that persons with MPD/Dissociative Identity Disorder should be held responsible for bad actions committed when in an alter state because these alters are not independent selves, but rather parts of a single person. And a person should be held responsible for what a part of them did. If lack of control over past selves( or in this case ‘alters’) removed criminal responsibility, then all criminals would be free. Lack of control over a past self or alter should also not remove criminal responsibility. In simplistic terms, I cannot control what I did yesterday since it is past, and even if I may even be unaware of doing it because I have forgotten, I should still be held accountable. Being forgetful of my actions yesterday and/or unaware of what occurred yesterday does not mean I am not the same person that I was yesterday. Therefore persons with MPD/Dissociative Identity Disorder should be held responsible for bad actions committed... ... middle of paper ... ...t is put to trial but rather their sanity. They are still seen as only part of a person, but what if one part of this person is criminally insane? Thus punishment for bad actions one’s alter has committed may not always be appropriate, in the case of the criminally insane. Thus in conclusion I would like to reinstate my point that persons suffering from MPD/Dissociative Identity Disorder are not separate selves, and are in fact parts of the same person and should be held responsible for bad actions enacted by their alters. = Bibliography: Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Stephen Behnke ‘Responsibility in Cases of Multiple Personality Disorder,: Nous, vol 34, supplement 14 (2000) , pp.301-23 Jeanette Kennett and Steve Matthews, ‘Identity, Control and Responsibility: The case of Dissociative Identity Disorder, ‘Philosophical Psychology, vol. 15, no.4 (2002), pp. 509-26
If we asked most people about insanity the image of a person in a straight jacket, bouncing off padded walls would jump to mind. They might not admit it for fear of being politically incorrect, but the image is a general association with insanity. Yet, most people who suffer from insanity live every day to the fullest—in society. We lock away only those who we “believe” are clinically insane, and we lock sentence most of them without a chance at trial.
There is substantial scientific evidence that supports the argument for mitigation of blame when concerning psychopaths. Certainly the vast plethora of deficits causes some amount of impaired
...eople that went to jail because of the confusion with the insanity defense and the law has become unfavorable towards the insanity defense. As the New York Times says,” Congress barred federal courts from finding defendants legally insane “merely” because they were too mentally ill to have avoided committing the crime.” This means that mentally unstable people are going to jail untreated. The insanity defense has come to questioning our morals. When someone is mentally unstable, do they deserve to be endure the sometimes harsh punishments of our law or should they be treated for their illness in a psychiatric hospital?
Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder is a psychological disorder that can be caused by many things, but the most common cause is severe childhood trauma which is usually extreme, repetitive physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. A lot of people experience mild dissociation which includes daydreaming or getting momentarilly distracted while completing everyday tasks. Dissociative identity disorder is a severe form of dissociation. Seveer Dissociation causes a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. Dissociative identity disorder is thought to stem from a combination of factors that may include trauma experienced by the person with the disorder. When a
MPD has been called many different things from split personality to what is it referred to in this century as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). When you research all of the categories associated with MDP, they still calculate to MPD. MPD is a mental illness or disorder caused from abuse. The abuse may be emotional, mental, or physical. The abuse may be from someone the individual knows or someone that has kidnapped them. To cope with the abuse a person will create an alter personality that will take all the pain and abuse the individual is feeling or seeing. Alters can have different ages, likes, and dislikes, names, races, and gender. Millions feel MPD does not exist. Including twenty-five-year old G.L. Seeking help with, some problems G.L. therapist proved her wrong about MPD by diagnosing her with MPD. Like most, that have MDP G.L. thought she was crazy and even had thoughts of committing suicide. She did not know what was happening so she finally decided to seek professional help. She found she had six other alter selves, five women and one man. As a child, G.L. was being sexual abused from the age of three to eleven ...
People often think that D.I.D. (Dissociative Identity Disorder) is something made up, something that a person is just inventing in order to get attention; that statement couldn’t be more Incorrect. Dissociative Identity Disorder, formally known at Multiple Personality Disorder, is a dissociative disorder, not a personality disorder or a psychosis. D.I.D. is a severe form of dissociation, a mental process which produces a lack of connection in a person’s thoughts, memories, emotion, behavior, or sense of identity. D.I.D. is thought to stem from trauma experienced by the person with the disorder. The dissociative aspect is thought to be a coping mechanism; the person literally dissociates himself or herself from a situation or experience that is too violent, traumatic, or painful to assimilate with his or her conscious self.
Much of my skepticism over the insanity defense is how this act of crime has been shifted from a medical condition to coming under legal governance. The word "insane" is now a legal term. A nuerological illness described by doctors and psychiatrists to a jury may explain a person's reason and behavior. It however seldom excuses it. The most widely known rule in...
Dissociative disorders can affect someone’s memory and make someone forget some of the important things in his or her life suck as their own identity. “When a dissociative identity disorder comes in to a person life it normally can make that person seem very distant and never aware of the other people in their lives.” (Diseases; 1) Which means that this person has absolutely no socials life. This person, when having a traumatic childhood, he or she can establish two or more different sets of personality. As an adult, this person may see an object that triggers the other personalities to come out; meanwhile, attempt to take control over the body.1a. SV; conj. adv, SV.) This other personality can be a different gender and he or she will most likely go by a different name. When this personality is in play the person’s original personality will have no memory of what the other being inside of him or her may have done.
More than two million cases can be found in psychological and psychiatric records of multiple personality disorders also called dissociative identity disorders. Dissociative Identity, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is a condition in which, an individual has a host personality along with at least two or more personalities with each identity having his or her own ideas, memories, thoughts and way of doing things (Bennick). Personality disorders are a group of mental illnesses. They involve thoughts and behaviors that are unhealthy and inflexible. A person with a personality disorder has trouble perceiving and relating to situations and people. This causes significant problems and limitations in relationships, social activities,
Mental disorders have baffled physicians, psychiatrists and the general public since the beginning of time. One particular disorder called Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder, has caused controversy between those who believe it is real and those who think it is purely part of an individual’s imagination. For those who believe strongly in its existence, it poses very real consequences and hardships. Dissociative Identity Disorder has many causes, symptoms, and treatments; unfortunately, those who don’t take it seriously use it as a scapegoat for others undiagnosed problems.
The insanity defense pertains that the issue of the concept of insanity which defines the extent to which a person accused of crimes may be alleviated of criminal responsibility by reason of mental disease. “The term insanity routinely attracts widespread public attention that is far out of proportion to the defense’s impact on criminal justice” (Butler,133). The decision of this defense is solely determined by the trial judge and the jury. They determine if a criminal suffers from a mental illness. The final determination of a mental disease is solely on the jury who uses evidence and information drawn from an expert witness. The result of such a determination places the individual accused, either in a mental facility, incarcerated or released from all charges. Due to the aforementioned factors, there are many problems raised by the insanity defense. Some problems would be the actual possibility of determining mental illness, justify the placement of the judged “mentally ill” offenders and the total usefulness of such a defense. In all it is believed that the insanity defense should be an invalid defense and that it is useless and should potentially be completely abolished.
My topic of choice for this research paper is Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID. This appellation is rather new; therefore, most are more familiar with the disorder's older, less technical name: Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD. When first presented with the task of selecting a topic on which to center this paper, I immediately dismissed Dissociative Identity Disorder (which for the sake of brevity will be referred to as DID for the remainder of this paper) as a viable topic due to the sheer scope of the disorder. However after an exhaustive examination of other prospective topics, I found myself back at my original choice. There are several reasons why I chose DID. The foremost of which is the widespread fascination of this disorder by many different types of people; most of whom otherwise have no interest in psychology or its associated fields. One would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t been captivated at one time or another by the extraordinary, all too well known symptoms of this disorder. This fascination… dare I say ‘allure’ to this disorder is exemplified by the myriad of motion pictures that have been produced based on cases, real or fictitious, of DID. Another reason for my choice is what I feel is the insufficiency of effective treatments for DID. Despite what is known about this disorder, (which is relatively a lot) there are only two chief treatments for DID; the first and most prevalent is psychotherapy; also known as ”talk therapy”, the second is medication. The third and final reason for my choice is my own enchantment with DID. I must admit that ever since I read about Sue Tinker, a woman who was diagnosed with over 200 different personalities. In writing this paper I hope to discover more about this disorder and perhaps be able to identify a few areas that I feel might require more research on the part of psychologists specializing in DID.
Traub, C. M. (2009). Defending a diagnostic pariah: validating the categorisation of Dissociative Identity Disorder. South African Journal of Psychology, 39(3), 347-356.
It is apparent that insanity, automatism and diminished responsibility share similarities and differences in their range of application and in definition. Insanity and automatism are most similar in that they both are full defences (with different outcomes) which exist when a defendant does not have the necessary actus reus or mens rea, whereas diminished responsibility is a partial defence which only applies to murder. The source of the defendant’s mental abnormality is the greatest point of distinction between all of the defences. Whether the abnormality is internal, external or a diagnosed medical condition will play a significant role in which defence can be used. As defences they are all used for a similar reason, and that is to eliminate or reduce liability for criminal offences.
Traub, C. M. (2009). Defending a diagnostic pariah: validating the categorisation of Dissociative Identity Disorder. South African Journal of Psychology, 39(3), 347-356. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.