Conditions That Can Land You In The Psych Ward

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) was once known as multiple personality disorder. It is considered a response to trauma. Individuals with this disorder have fragmented aspects of their personality, which in turn become two or more distinct personas, which essentially "take over" or control the original personality. It is believed that this fragmentation is designed to protect the individual's conscience from an extremely traumatic event. Other symptoms of dissociative identity disorder include memory loss, change in behavior to include speech pattern and accent, and changes in the sense of self, cognition and motor function. Individuals with this disorder may find themselves in distress due to the memory loss or gaps in time in which one of the alter personalities have taken over. The gaps in memory are different from ordinary forgetfulness and can include forgetting people and places. Treatment for DID involves long-term psychotherapy, but there may be instances in which an individual will need inpatient services. This may happen if an alter personality that is self-destructive takes over the individual's primary personality for an extended amount of time.