Personality Disorders: Multiple Personality Disorders

1187 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Multiple personality disorder thesis abstract

There are four body bags lying on the floor. The house is roped off with crime scene tape, and there are cops wandering the scene, their faces showing a mixture awe and terror. The cries of the neighbors and friends of the family can be heard throughout the entire neighborhood, but no one dares to go near the gruesome scene. The death of the family leaves others wondering how and why someone would have the heart to rip lives away from innocent people. While some people do not consider people with personality disorders threatening or dangerous, they can have harmful or negative effects on other people, society, and themselves. To begin, the most common personality disorder is Multiple Personality Disorder. The name itself is self-explanatory because the mind of the person with this disorder creates more than one personality inside their head. Because the person behaves as if they have more than one personality, it used to be believed as the “phenomenon of possession” (Coons 1) instead of a clinical disease. Clinically it is defined as “the existence of two or more distinct personalities” (Coons 1) in which the “dominant” personality “determines the individual’s behavior” (Coons 1). If a person has multiple personalities, it would be difficult to remember exactly who they are, what they have done, or any memories of the past because their personalities would always be conflicting. When a human being is unstable in the mind, they create not only a threat to their well-being, but a threat to the well-being of innocent by-standers, family members, coworkers, and friends. Unfortunately, the causes of Multiple Personality Disorder can be traumatizing. The most common causes are sexual and physical abuse, death of family members, chi... ... middle of paper ... ....” WebMD – Better Information. Better Health. Ed. Michael W. Smith. WebMD, 17 Apr. 2008. Web. 16 Dec. 2013. http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder “What Causes Personality Disorders?” American Psychological Association, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. http://www.apa.org/topics/personality/disorders-causes.aspx Zuriff, G. E. “Personality Disorders Should Not Be Accommodated in the Workplace.” Mental Illness. Greenhaven Press, 2000. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&limiter=&u=odl_brokenahs&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010154219

Show More
Related

  • Annotated Bibliography: The Nature And Nurture Of Personality Disorders

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    Torgersen, S. (2009). The nature (and nurture) of personality disorders. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 50(6), 624-632. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00788.x

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Involuntary Commitment of the Mentally Ill

    3295 Words  | 7 Pages

    Szasz, Thomas Stephen, "The myth of mental illness; foundations of a theory of personal conduct", New York : Hoeber-Harper, 1961.

    Read More

  • Outline: Borderline Personality Disorder

    2494 Words  | 5 Pages

    Personality, defined by Merriam-Webster, is a set of enduring behavioral and mental traits that distinguish human beings from one another. Therefore, a personality disorder “is a type of mental illness in which you have trouble perceiving and relating to situations and to people—including yourself” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In general, someone who suffers from a personality disorder has a long-term pattern of behaviors and emotions that are very different from the society’s view of “normal”.

    Read More

  • Personality Disorders: Fact or Fiction?

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    The causes of personality disorders are still unknown as of today. However, there are theories of the causes of personality disorders are but not limited as being neglect and heavy burden (Soeteman, Verheul, & Busschbach, 2008). Neglect can be bought on by a person that does not take care of him or herself. It is hard to diagnosis someone with a personality disorder unless it is companied by some other form of disease for instance diabetes (Soeteman, Verheul, & Busschbach, 2008). The person may not take care of him/her self causing symptoms to manifest. If the person allows this to happen, it is believed that the person may have other issues then just the disease.

    Read More

  • Dissociative Identity Disorder Case Study

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    "People may be born with some risk factors, while others may be triggered by physical or emotional trauma, stress, drug abuse, or physical illness." (Bjornlund, 2011) DID sufferers frequently report severe abuse as a child, either physical or sexual. (Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder), Nov. 2014) “Child, persecutor, and protector identity states are often exhibited by DID sufferers.” (Rosik, 2012). Research shows that the development of the disorder is probably a mental response to interpersonal and environmental hardships, particularly at a young age when emotional abandonment or abuse can interfere with personality growth and development. (Goldberg, 2014) “The common belief among most professionals is the personality splintered or fractured before the age of five.” (Swartz, 2001) Victims use their multiple personalities as a coping mechanism when too difficult to remember the trauma they have been through. For example, in the study Recovering Identity, the abuse history

    Read More

  • Psychological Disorders

    1870 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are multiple criteria that come into play when determining a psychological disorder. One reason is because, it is hard to know for sure if an action is abnormal or not. Something could be abnormal in our country, but a custom in another.

    Read More

  • Multiple Personality Disorder Essay

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Multiple Personality Disorder

    2009 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • psychological disorders

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Culture has a huge influence on how people view and deal with psychological disorders. Being able to successfully treat someone for a mental illness has largely to do with what they view as normal in their own culture. In Western cultures we think that going to a counselor to talk about our emotions or our individual problems and/or getting some type of drug to help with our mental illness is the best way to overcome and treat it, but in other cultures that may not be the case. In particular Western and Asian cultures vary in the way they deal with psychological disorders. In this paper I am going to discuss how Asian cultures and Western cultures are similar and different in the way they view psychological disorders, the treatments and likelihood of getting treatment, culture bound disorders, and how to overcome the differences in the cultures for optimal treatments.

    Read More

  • Psychological Disorders

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a country based around free will, the United States contains a vast variety of personalities and behaviors. Plenty of people, probably more than we know, exert abnormal behavior. Abnormal behavior is patterns of emotion, thought, and action that are considered pathological. Historically, people blame witchcraft for this eccentric type of behavior and tended to perform exorcisms in hopes of abolishing such actions. Anxiety disorders and personality disorders, two forms of abnormal behavior, can alter a person’s personality as a result of life experiences.

    Read More

  • Sybil Sparknotes

    1593 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the book Sybil, written by Flora Rheta Schreiber discuss the life story of Sybil Isabel Dorsett, who has developed 16 distinct personalities because of her childhood abuse. Sybil story became one of the most severe cases ever recorded with multiple personalities. Which is currently called Dissociative Identity Disorder in the current DSM-V. “Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a severe condition in which two or more distinct identities, or personality states, are present in—and alternately take control of—an individual. The person also experiences memory loss that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness” (Psychology Today, 2008, para 1). Sybil’s distinct sense of selves helped protect her from the trauma she experienced as a child.

    Read More

  • Dissociative Identity Disorder

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Dissociative Identity Disorder in the Secret Window

    1542 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tracy, N. (2010, September 30). Everything You Know About Dissociative Identity Disorder Is Wrong. Retrieved from http://natashatracy.com/: http://natashatracy.com/mental-illness/did/everything-about-dissociative-identity-disorder-wrong

    Read More

  • Histrionic Personality Disorder

    1601 Words  | 4 Pages

    We have all met a person who always has to be the center of attention and engages in inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior. It may be obvious that something is “off” or not quite “normal” but many do not realize this behavior could be the result of a disorder known as Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD). According to Paul Rasmussen of Furman University, “an individual with a histrionic orientation displays an active dependency characterized by a strong need for external validation in the form of interpersonal attention, support, and reassurance”. This paper will explore the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment as well as risk factors of Histrionic Personality Disorder.

    Read More

  • Essay On Personality Disorders

    541 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many different types of psychological disorders ranging from anxiety disorders, sexual disorder, dissociative disorders, even eating disorders. These disorders happen to affect many people all over the world. A dissociative disorder to me is when you have trouble understanding what reality is and when something isn’t real. You may have this disorder if you have double personalities. This could also fall under the category of a personality disorder, which by definition is a disorder characterized by a set of inflexible, maladaptive behavior patterns that keep a person from functioning appropriately in society. There are many forms of a dissociative disorder.

    Read More

More about Personality Disorders: Multiple Personality Disorders

Open Document