Personality and Personal Growth:
​Dissociative Identity Disorder

When it comes to exploring personality types, you also want to learn more about things that fall outside the norm. This is especially important when you are trying to create a personal development plan because if you have a personality disorder, you have to be able to account for this.

​Dissociative identity disorder, also referred to as multiple personality disorder, is a condition that falls under the dissociative disorder spectrum. It involves a breakdown in a person's awareness, memory and their perception or identity. As you can tell by the name, dissociation is what creates the hallmark of this disorder. In many cases, it is working as a type of coping mechanism that allows a person to disconnect from a situation or event that is causing them psychological pain.

Those with the most severe type of this disorder have a minimum of two personality states, but might have more than two. This is where the former term "multiple personality disorder" comes into play. Each personality is used to cope with a different situation and each can be completely independent from the others.

When it comes to your personality type and using it to create your personal development plan, make sure that your mental health provider knows that you have this disorder.

Exploring the Symptoms of this Personality Disorder

When someone has this disorder, they tend to have a number of symptoms. It is possible to experience a mixture of the following:

• Functional level changes that can be disabling at times
• Depersonalization
• Mood swings or depression
• Nervousness, anxiety or panic attacks
• Self-injury or suicide attempts
• Amnesia or losing your sense of time
• Pain
• Severe headaches
• Derealization
• Unexplained sleeping and eating pattern changes
• Sexual function problems
• Substance abuse
• Hallucinations

Knowing the Causes of this Disorder

Like other personality disorders, there is no general cause that experts have identified. Instead, they believe that a number of factors come into play and cause this disorder. For example, one strong belief is that repeated and extreme trauma is a common cause of this disorder, specifically when this occurs during childhood. The abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional or a combination of the three. Other types of trauma might also work to contribute to someone developing this disorder.

How this Personality Disorder is Diagnosed

Diagnosing this condition typically means first ruling out a possible physical cause for your symptoms and then referring you to a mental health provider. Your primary doctor will perform a full physical examination and do things like blood wok and X-rays to assess your overall general health. He or she will also make sure that any medications that you take are not responsible for your symptoms.

Once you start seeing a mental health provider, you will undergo a psychological examination. They will need to learn about your symptoms, your childhood, your lifestyle and how your symptoms are affecting you. They will use the DSM-5 criteria to make a diagnosis so that you know that it is accurate. Once you are diagnosed, you can start your treatment regimen.

The Treatments Used for this Disorder

There are several treatment options that your doctor might consider to treat your disorder and alleviate your symptoms. In most cases, you will get a combination of treatments to help in getting your condition under control. The treatments you receive might change over time. The following are common treatment options:

• Psychotherapy
• Cognitive therapy
• Family therapy
• Clinical hypnosis
• Creative therapies, such as music therapy and art therapy
• Medications, such as anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants

In most cases, people respond to treatment well, but it can take a long time to find the right mixture of treatments for someone, so it is critical to be patient and stick to the treatment plan that your doctor devises. Using a personal development plan can also help to ensure that your treatment is working, as well as to help you to improve other areas of your life that this disorder is affecting.

Now you have a general understanding of dissociative personality disorder and the toll that it can take on a person's life. You also have an idea about how it can affect someone's personality type. Your personal development plan has to account for the disorder in order to be successful. This means that you have to take into consideration things like your symptoms and how they alter your overall personality. This ensures that your plan can be successful despite the personality challenges that you face.

References:

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/neurological_institute/center-for-behavorial-health/disease-conditions/hic-dissociative-identity-disorder

http://josephkaminski.net/2015/03/25/multiple-personality-disorder/