Mutiple Personality

A basic knowledge of how Multiple Personality Disorder is described is needed to continue. MPD is hypothesized to be caused by severe childhood trauma that creates a mental split or "dissociation" as a defense against that trauma. The different personalities that occur are called alters. These different parts develop separately and in adulthood help the sufferer deal with stress by expressing resentment or help calm the main personality. Each patient possesses two or more selves and each identity has it's own mood, memories, behaviors, and experiences.

The disease theory of Multiple Personality Disorder is that unhappiness in adulthood stems from trauma in childhood and the trauma is so severe that the individual creates multiple identities to cope with it. The severe trauma is thought to be a result of physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Likewise, most modern patients are women who have been diagnosed with other disorders before being diagnosed with MPD. This is because the intense trauma caused by abuse may create other disorders as well. Because it is associated with other disorders, it was not long before MPD appeared in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.