I was assigned a case in which I must decide the psychological state of the person accused of brutally murdering Arch Bishop Rushman. I first met Aaron Stampler when he walked into my office two weeks ago. He is a 19 year old Caucasian male with a stutter that was an alter boy for the Arch Bishop. Aaron ran away from home at the age of 16 because he suffered traumatic circumstances and abuse from his father back in Kentucky. He claims the Arch Bishop was like a father to him who saved him from begging on the street (Hoblit, 1996). The Arch Bishop took him in, gave him shelter, and gave him the position of being an alter boy for the church.
Aaron fled from the church covered in blood after the vicious death of Arch Bishop Rushman. The Arch Bishop was inhumanly stabbed over 78 times, had fingers chopped off, his throat slashed, and had the number B32.156 carved into his chest. The blood that was all over Aaron was matched to the Arch Bishop. However, upon being questioned by the police, Aaron said he lost time and didn’t know why he was covered in blood, so that’s why he ran away. He said that he often “loses time” where he can never recall what happened during those times (Hoblit, 1996). Psychological evaluation was called for by his attorney Martin Vale, so they sent Aaron to me.
Aaron Stampler gave me a run for my money—on the surface he seems like a normal young man. His psychological problems were hard to pick out, but I have come to the conclusion that Aaron suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, formally know as Multiple Personality Disorder. According to Discovering Psychology, the definition of dissociative identity disorder (DID) is “a dissociative disorder involving extensive memory disruptions along with the prese...
... middle of paper ...
... Psychology Review, 21(2), pp. 301-320.
Hart, O., Bolt, H., & Kolk, B. (2005). Memory Fragmentation in Dissociative Identity Disorder. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 6(1), pp. 55-67.
Hoblit, G. (1996). Primal Fear. USA: Paramount Pictures.
Hockenbury D. H., & Hockenbury, S. E. (2011). Discovering Psychology (5th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.
Maisano, M. (2010). Dissociative Identity Disorder (Treatment). Retrieved from http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101214233217/adultpsychopathology/images/7/7c/Dissociative_Identity_Disorder.pdf
Rush University. (2014). About the program. Retrieved from http://www.rushu.rush.edu/servlet/Satellite?MetaAttrName=meta_university&ParentId=1249914457497&ParentType=RushUnivLevel3Page&c=content_block&cid=1297690895990&level1-p=3&level1-pp=1249914456127&level1-ppp=1249914456127&pagename=Rush/content_block/ContentBlockDetail
The World of Psychology. (2002). A Pearson Education Company. Boston, MA: Samuel Wood & Ellen Green Wood p. 593
According to DSM-5 and class notes, Dissociative Amnesia is confusion and failure to recall information or events related to a person’s own identity. Steven Kazmierczak always seemed to know who he was and what he was doing, depressed and anxious as he may be. He did not seem confused about his personal identity, and he did not struggle to recall any information at any time. He was a disturbed man, but he did not show any signs of Dissociative
Davis, S. F., & Palladino, J. J. (2003). Psychology. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Cacioppo, J. T., & Freberg, L. A. (2016). Discovering Psychology: The Science of Mind. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning
McKinley, J. and Fryer, D. (2004), Higher Psychology: Approaches and Method. KEEGAN, G. (2002) Hodder and Stoughton, London, 298 pp
The first recorded diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder was in 1815. The patient's name was Mary Reynolds. This case however was not associat...
Do you ever feel like you just can’t take reality anymore? You just want to escape it and in order to do so, your conscious awareness becomes separated from all the painful things you can’t stand, including your painful memories. Then suddenly you’re a totally different person. Another identity takes your place in suffering all the painful things you want to escape. Today, I’m going to talk to you about dissociative identity disorder (DID). I will be talking about what DID is, what causes DID and how it affects the individual (host/core). I will also mention a famous case in psychology.
Cacioppo, J. T., & Freberg, L. A. (2012). Discovering Psychology: The Science of the Mind:
Hockenbury, Don H., and Sandra E. Hockenbury. Psychology. 6th ed. New York, NY: Worth, 2013. Print.
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.
Fifty years ago, a person breaking the law would either be called crazy or a criminal. Today, the mental health community has much more specific diagnoses. However, the explanation of certain behaviors may be difficult because there is much overlap among mental conditions. In Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, the protagonist, Patrick Bateman, is apparently simply a psychopath. However, Bateman can be diagnosed with other mental illnesses such as Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, narcissism, and antisocial personality disorder. In both the book and film adaptation, Bateman’s actions can be understood more accurately when analyzed in light of modern psychology.
(Feldman, 2009; Pg. 401) (Feldman, 2009; Pg. 401) (Feldman, 2009; Pg. 401-402) (Feldman, 2009; Pg. 401-402) ¬Essentials of Understanding Psychology, 8th Edition Robert S. Feldman McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009
(2004) Psychology (2nd European edition). Essex: Pearson Education Limited Gross, R (1996).Psychology, The Science of mind and behaviour (3rd Ed). London: Hodder & Stoughton
Johnston, J. E. (2009). The Complete Idiots Guide to Psychology (4th ed.). Indianapolis, Indiana: Alpha Books.
Boyd, D., Wood, E.G., Wood, S.E. (2014, 2011, 2008). Mastering the world of psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. 128-129, 329-330, 335-340. Print.