What is a Dissociative Disorder ?

Can someone explain the usual symptoms and how it affects your thinking and moods?

What is DID: http://home.att.net/~boyym/Simple.html

Inner child: http://www.aest.org.uk/innerchild/

https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dsp..._1_1_2_OCR.pdf
(Just go to "continuem of dissosation) (It's one of the pictures on page 9. Use the scrolling thin.)

Hope this helps.

ShadowsinTheDay (No ones saying I'm DID or even have a DD)

ain't that easy babe. i think you can see for yourself at http://www.guidetopsychology.com/mpd.htm

why do you ask?

nona

Can anyone share their own personal experiences with dissociative disorder and list their symptoms? How does DD differ from multiple personality disorder or does it?

how is questioning us about our disorders this way helpful to us it only upsets us if you ask me but then maybe you weren't asking me but i did ask you why do you want to know?
nona

zen, maybe if you share what your going through we can answer you better, isn't that right nona?
Iris

I just wanted to remind everyone to try and be kind to each other. IT sounds like zen just wants to learn, and learning can't be a bad thing, right?

I agree with Rainbowzz.

I understand that there have been a few questions lately. That happens in any and almost every forum. That's part of what it's about.

If you don't like the questions, you certainly don't have to answer. There are some that care to discuss it, and actually like to share so that others will understand and to help increase knowledge about dissociative disorders...

Increasing knowledge helps others understand? It's a good thing, I think.

Again, if you don't want to participate, that's fine too! Let those that do work with questions.

KD

Thanks KD. . I personality have had enough of people being annoyed at people JUST for asking questions... If they don't like it they shouldn't contribute to the threads that ask the quetions, and let the ones who want to contribue, do so, so the thread is nothing (almost) but possitives. .

ShadowsinTheDay

back to the original questions by the poster...

Let me think on it and I'll get back with you...sorry.

There's alot to answer there potentially.

KD

hmm..

kimmydawns first post bears an uncanny resemblance to the content of something i posted...

which has subsequently gone awol...

though...

maybe i'm just going crazy..

oopsie. seems i forgot where i put my post... sorry kimmy

Dissociation is a continuum with everyone dissociating sometimes; when reading a book and getting "into" it so you're unaware of what's going on around you or driving somewhere and arriving without remembering the trip, etc. Those are at the mild end of the line with what use to be called MPD (but is not Dissociative Identity Disorder) pretty much at the other end.

For my purposes I think of a dissociative disorder as a person not having control over one's attention and it becomes a "disorder" when it interferes with one's life. If one has additional identities, has one's attention/life "split" in that way, that would pretty much make one's life difficult I'd think!

Exactly GKD

I am just curious about DD and its link(s) to PTSD and/or depression.

Thank you

((((((((Perna)))))))) Very helpful information!

not sure how much information you want zen888...

there are a lot of good articles on trauma (incl PTSD) and its links to other symptoms (especially dissociation) available from the following link:

http://www.trauma-pages.com/articles.php

Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative disorders are so-called because they are marked by a dissociation from or interruption of a person's fundamental aspects of waking consciousness (such as one's personal identity, one's personal history, etc.). Dissociative disorders come in many forms, the most famous of which is dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder). All of the dissociative disorders are thought to stem from trauma experienced by the individual with this disorder. The dissociative aspect is thought to be a coping mechanism -- the person literally dissociates himself from a situation or experience too traumatic to integrate with his conscious self. Symptoms of these disorders, or even one or more of the disorders themselves, are also seen in a number of other mental illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Dissociative amnesia: This disorder is characterized by a blocking out of critical personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. Dissociative amnesia, unlike other types of amnesia, does not result from other medical trauma (e.g. a blow to the head). Dissociative amnesia has several subtypes:

Localized amnesia is present in an individual who has no memory of specific events that took place, usually traumatic. The loss of memory is localized with a specific window of time. For example, a survivor of a car wreck who has no memory of the experience until two days later is experiencing localized amnesia.
Selective amnesia happens when a person can recall only small parts of events that took place in a defined period of time. For example, an abuse victim may recall only some parts of the series of events around the abuse.
Generalized amnesia is diagnosed when a person's amnesia encompasses his or her entire life.
Systematized amnesia is characterized by a loss of memory for a specific category of information. A person with this disorder might, for example, be missing all memories about one specific family member.
Dissociative fugue is a rare disorder. An individual with dissociative fugue suddenly and unexpectedly takes physical leave of his or her surroundings and sets off on a journey of some kind. These journeys can last hours, or even several days or months. Individuals experiencing a dissociative fugue have traveled over thousands of miles. An individual in a fugue state is unaware of or confused about his identity, and in some cases will assume a new identity (although this is the exception).

Dissociative identity disorder (DID), which has been known as multiple personality disorder, is the most famous of the dissociative disorders. An individual suffering from DID has more than one distinct identity or personality state that surfaces in the individual on a recurring basis. This disorder is also marked by differences in memory which vary with the individual's "alters," or other personalities. For more information on this, see the NAMI factsheet on dissociative identity disorder.

Depersonalization disorder is marked by a feeling of detachment or distance from one's own experience, body, or self. These feelings of depersonalization are recurrent. Of the dissociative disorders, depersonalization is the one most easily identified with by the general public; one can easily relate to feeling as they in a dream, or being "spaced out." Feeling out of control of one's actions and movements is something that people describe when intoxicated. An individual with depersonalization disorder has this experience so frequently and so severely that it interrupts his or her functioning and experience. A person's experience with depersonalization can be so severe that he or she believes the external world is unreal or distorted.

Treatment
Since dissociative disorders seem to be triggered as a response to trauma or abuse, treatment for individuals with such a disorder may stress psychotherapy, although a combination of psychopharmacological and psychosocial treatments is often used. Many of the symptoms of dissociative disorders occur with other disorders, such as anxiety and depression, and can be controlled by the same drugs used to treat those disorders. A person in treatment for a dissociative disorder might benefit from antidepressants or antianxiety medication.

Reviewed by Jack D. Maser, Ph.D. of the National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, MD

Permission is granted for this fact sheet to be reproduced in its entirety, including the NAMI name, service mark, and contact information. (June 2000)