Sybil – College Essay Example

style="text-align: justify">This disorder is usually caused by extreme sexual or physical abuse during the early stages of childhood. Throughout the years of constant study, the name had been changed due to expanding of information being recorded about it. “DID was called Multiple Personality Disorder until 1994, when the name was changed to reflect a better understanding of the condition—namely, that it is characterized by a fragmentation, or splintering, of identity rather than by a proliferation, or growth, of separate identities” (Psychology Today).

When a person is recalling memories of such abuse and/or other traumatizing events, is it usually when they are experiencing something similar to it within their everyday life that reminds them. “The dissociative aspect is thought to be a coping mechanism -- the person literally dissociates himself from a situation or experience that's too violent, traumatic, or painful to assimilate with his conscious self” (Mental Health Center). Some “less dramatic” symptoms of this disorder can include: mood swings, depression, thoughts of suicide, sleep disorders, hallucinations, and many others.

More serious and common symptoms can include the inability to recall certain personal information that in no way could be ever forgotten, and of course expressing themselves as someone else, and acting in ways in which they normally would not. “The ‘alters’ or different identities have their own age, sex, or race. Each has his or her own postures, gestures, and distinct way of talking” (Mental Health Center). The change of personalities is referred to as “switching”, namely because of how quickly it happens and how its literally a switch from one person to another.

There is no specific treatment for DID,

other than seeking repetitive treatment from a psychologist or psychiatrist. Certain medications can be provided to aid in managing certain emotional symptoms that can occur, but caution is exercised when prescribing it because it can possibly make the individual feel like they are being controlled, and re-traumatizing him/her. As a psychologist, dealing with someone who is acting so abnormally might be quite scary, but you have to look past that and examine the major events that they’ve been through to get to this point.

You need to have patience, and full understanding of those diagnosed in the past so you are never caught off guard. I would personally like to specialize in this branch of Psychology if I ever chose it as a major, because I feel as if these people can’t help the fact they are they was they are. Traumatizing events happening in general are bad, but as a child, you are still in the process of development. Altering something so fragile and so harshly will obviously end in tragedies like this disorder.

These people feel like aliens, as if there is no one else out there that has ever experienced anything close to what they have. Even so, if someone can relate, it truly will never be the same because they were not there to experience it for themselves. Although there really isn’t any true medical treatment for things like this, I feel as if this disorder, along with others like Schizophrenia, need to be more outline in psychology for the very fact of how much these individuals are suffering.