Multiple personality : Causes and Treatment

In the previous article, we discussed multiple personality or what is better known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, we have also discussed the characteristics of the disorder and a little about the types of personality that can arise.

In this discussion, we will discuss what causes someone to suffer from this disorder? how can someone develop another personality in him? how could this person be someone with multiple personalities?

The term dissociative identity disorder in accordance with this term disorder tends to refer to one of the defense mechanisms referred to by Freud, namely dissociation. This defense mechanism is considered to be the main cause of DID. Originally this concept of separation came from Pierre Janet.

The basic concept of dissociation is that consciousness is something that usually joins one's life experiences. In consciousness there are many things that involve the thoughts, emotions and motivations of the person concerned.

However, in a state of distress, or in a situation where a person has had a particularly terrifying traumatic experience that they do not wish to face, awareness can be suppressed in such a way that eventually the traumatic experience is accessed again when they regain consciousness. He forgot and didn't realize that he was having this terrible experience.

This condition is actually similar to self-hypnosis so that he does not feel pain due to the traumatic experience. For example Billy Milligan has a personality named Ragen, because he can't stand bullying from his friends, he creates Ragen to protect himself, so that Ragen's personality appears with the character of a grumpy person who has the power to fight back.

In the example above, Billy actually hypnotized himself so that it was not Billy who controlled the body but Ragen who had the ability to fight to protect himself. Billy as the main personality comes out of the body and allows Ragen to control him, so that when Billy's consciousness returns he will not remember that he has defeated his enemies.

Actually the causes of this disorder are very complex. People with DID usually experience severe traumatic experiences such as physical or sexual abuse during childhood, usually before the age of nine, which is a key period of personal growth.

The cause of this disorder can also be because the child is neglected by their parents or there is emotional abuse against them. Research has found that frightening parents are more likely to cause children to develop this disorder.

What connects traumatic childhood with multiple personalities is that traumatized children tend to run away by developing other personalities, or that is what is called dissociative.

They cannot endure the traumatic experience, so in order to escape from the traumatic experience they escape through fantasy and by suppressing their consciousness, so that they do not remember having experienced a terrible event. They run away from the scary fact that they are traumatized.

They learn to hypnotize themselves (of course without realizing it), with fantasy-laden suggestions or hypnotize themselves into other people. Repeated traumatic experiences will cause the child to enter this cycle over and over again, so that in the end they develop another personality completely. Researchers have found that people who develop this disorder are very easily hypnotized.

We already know what causes it, the next question is how can we help people with multiple personalities? Experts have developed several therapies that are considered effective for someone with multiple personality disorders, one of which is by doing hypnosis.

Because people with DID tend to get hypnotized easily, experts use hypnosis to treat them too. This is because in fact they themselves use hypnosis (unconsciously) on themselves, so that other personalities appear in them, and to unite these personalities, to recover as before, must be done hypnosis as well.

Hypnosis is done to avoid stressful conditions by creating a state of dissociation, a state similar to trance or trance, this, as mentioned above, serves to prevent him from remembering the frightening and painful experiences he has experienced. Hypnosis is carried out with the aim of:

• The multiple personalities of change come back together.

• Every personality alter can understand that he or she is one person

• Therapists call their names for the convenience of each change, not to confirm that they are someone with an independent identity.

• Every personality alter must be treated with empathy and fairness

• It takes empathy and a gentle attitude to be able to solve the problems and traumatic experiences that the person is experiencing.

The goal of this therapy is to convince people with DID that self-destructing is not an effective way of dealing with problems and traumatic experiences.

Well, that's an explanation of the causes and a little bit about how to deal with multiple personalities. May be useful.