Types of Alter Personalities. Several authors have described alter personality types: Child, persecutor, helper, opposite gender, memory trace, and suicidal alter personalities are among them [6].
With DID, there are two or more personalities (or identities) in one person. The main personality is known as the "host." The personalities can take over at different times. They may make you act very differently. That can make it hard for you to remember things that happen when another personality was in charge.
In some cases all of the personalities remain mutually unaware of the others' existence. In a more common form of the disorder, there is one personality that basically dominates the person's conscious awareness.
Dissociative identity disorder used to be called multiple personality disorder (MPD). This is because many people experience the changes in parts of their identity as completely separate personalities in one body.
The names of the alters often have a symbolic meaning. For example, Melody might be the name of a personality who expresses herself through music. Or the personality could be given the name of its function, such as “The Protector” or “The Perpetrator”.
Individuals faking or mimicking DID due to factitious disorder will typically exaggerate symptoms (particularly when observed), lie, blame bad behavior on symptoms and often show little distress regarding their apparent diagnosis.
Sudden mood swings: When someone is in a splitting episode, it can cause rapid and dramatic changes in mood, unstable emotions, and impulsive behavior. They might instantly become furious or thrilled, even if they felt the opposite way before.
It doesn't have to have been caused by a traumatic or stressful event. Many people think that this disorder might be more common than previously thought.
They may appear to have fazed out temporarily and put it down to tiredness or not concentrating; or they may appear disoriented and confused. For many people with DID, switching unintentionally like this in front of other people is experienced as intensely shameful and often they will do their best to hide it.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and multiple personality disorder/dissociative identity disorder (MPD/DID) have similar symptoms but underlying differences in dynamics, process, and structure.
The different identities, referred to as alters, may exhibit differences in speech, mannerisms, attitudes, thoughts and gender orientation. The alters may even present physical differences, such as allergies, right-or-left handedness or the need for eyeglass prescriptions.
Dissociative Identity Disorder is a common and under-researched disorder. Borderline Personality Disorders frequently co-occurs with DID and has been noted to worsen its course.
Periods of dissociation can last for a relatively short time (hours or days) or for much longer (weeks or months). It can sometimes last for years, but usually if a person has other dissociative disorders. Many people with a dissociative disorder have had a traumatic event during childhood.
A split personality is a popular term for DID. In the past, DID was known as multiple personality disorder. People with DID have two or more distinct personalities. They do not present as simple changes in traits or moods.
A positive trigger is something non-trauma related and is pleasant enough to cause an alter to come forward and experience happy emotions, such as a special toy, cute puppies, or a favorite ice cream flavor. A positive trigger, in some instances, can be used to bring forth an alter.
Most people with DID rarely show noticeable signs of the condition. Friends and family of people with DID may not even notice the switching—the sudden shifting in behavior and affect—that can occur in the condition.
Alters may provide a means of expressing anger or other feelings. Aggression towards the body may be sexually oriented, so one may ask whether aggression could make self-rape possible. If so, such expression of self-injuries may be observed in a person with multiple personality as when one alter may injure another.
Your Memory of Trauma Does Not Invalidate Your DID Diagnosis. Regardless of whether or not you remember trauma, don't doubt yourself. Don't question your diagnosis just because you can't remember everything, or invalidate yourself because you feel like you haven't had it "bad enough" to have DID.
Fragment: A fragment is an alter that is not fully differentiated or developed. Fragments may exist to carry out a single function or job, to hold a single memory or emotion, or to represent a single idea.
' Alters typically develop from dissociation caused by prolonged early childhood trauma, as evidence suggests (International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, 2011). The alters may have different names, genders, ages, roles, attitudes, preferences, and even memories.
Yes. They are sometimes misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia, because their belief that they have different identities could be interpreted as a delusion. They sometimes experience dissociated identities as auditory hallucinations (hearing voices).
Many times, people who are dissociating are not even aware that it is happening, other people notice it. Just like other types of avoidance, dissociation can interfere with facing up and getting over a trauma or an unrealistic fear.
You might have imposter syndrome if you find yourself consistently experiencing self-doubt, even in areas where you typically excel. 1 Imposter syndrome may feel like restlessness and nervousness, and it may manifest as negative self-talk. Symptoms of anxiety and depression often accompany imposter syndrome.