Dissociative Disorders

This condition is one that has been the cause of intrigue, confusion, disbelief, fear and a lot of pain for those who really experience it. Professionals have ignored and at times misdiagnosed these combination of symptomatologies for years. Many victims have been isolated, sedated and even killed while others medicate its horrible symptoms through drinking and use of mood altering substances.

Dissociative Disorders are groups of mental conditions that significantly interferes with a person's ability to conduct normal living. It interupts normal functioning in the areas of relationships, work and education.

Dissociation is believed to have occured at some point in childhood before the individual's personality was completely formed. There was a splitting or fragmentation of the personality or memories and may occur to varying degrees of normal to problematic. Many people experience states of dissociation considered to be normal. Losing time while being engrossed in a good book or movie, lost awareness of certain landmarks while driving home, a mild head injury or living with considerable stress are examples of normal dissociation.

Dissociative Disorders are generally formed out of Childhood Abuse, Trauma (PTSD) and other severe stress, abuse or neglectful situations.This is a system developed subconsciously to keep bad memories and experiences secluded in various compartments of the mind. When these memories of experiences re-emerge the emotions from the first experience is reinforced and develop not into a character trait, but in a separate personality.

There are four main categories listed within the Dissociative Disorders Spectrum of illnesss as well as one theat is deemed "non specific".

1. Depersonalization Disorder
2. Dissociative Identity Disorder
3. Dissociative Amnesia
4. Dissociative Fuge

• Depersonalization Disorder is identified by the individual feeling or referred to his physical form as separate from himself. They may speak of or relate to their bodies as if viewing it froma  or as onclient told me "an out of body " experience. They will therefore fail to wash or groom themselves or be unaware of their own size , shape or smell! Females may be aloof to dealing appropriately with their monthly cycles , may urinate or deficate themselves during periods of severe depersonalization. This may be so severe that individuals experiencing this disorder are so deluded that they believe that the real world is unreal.

These persons are treated with psychopharacology for the delusional or psychotic symptoms as well as antianxiety and other medications. These are blended with psychotherapy as aid the individual in reconnecting the painful life events and reorganizing the persons thoughts and emotions.

• Dissociative Identity Disorder is most commonly known as Multiple Personalities of Split Personalities. Within this disorder, there are distinct identifiable personalities that manifest with clearly distinguishable traits, attitudes, emotions and names. These personalities at times may speak and write in languages not studied by the host. They dress with a different type of flair than the other personalities.They may be calm, placid or very aggressive and tend to cooperate within the distorted personality system.

Treatment is as above, with the goal of having the main personality of the host to be the most dominant.The utilization of psychotropic and anxiolytic agents to silence the voices of the distorted personalities expecially the distructive ones calling for self harm and lawlessness.Management of the impulsive personalities and the use of therapy to provide tools to strengthen and mature the client's primary personality.

Spirituality may have a vital role in the healing and reorganization of these personalities. In some arenas, these multiple personalitis are thought to be demons that reside within the individual's physical body and must be exorcised inorder for the person to be truly restored.

One thing that I have observed from the clients that I have worked with , some of these voiced are not accepting of any religious materials. The Bible, scripture verses and religious books are torn up or scribbled over as if in rage.

• Dissociative Amnesia

Loss of recollection or awareness of blocks of or individual events, dates, months and at times years usually of a traumatic nature.Some persons with dissociative Amnesia may have selective, localized, systematic or generalized amnesia. This amnesia cannot be accounted for by physical causes like a car accident or a blow to the head.

• Dissociative Fugue is not very common, but when ever people just simply disappear I have often wondered if they may have taken off due to a traumatic fugue. This dissociation occurs when an individual litterally takes leave of themselves, go off and recreate a new life at times.They absolutely want to vacate certain painful memories and numds out any memory of their past.

A fugue state is like a trance or a lapse from conscious awaremness , also like hypnotism and may last for moments to days. While engaging clients with most of the Dissociative Disorders setrum of symptoms, they can ge observed to switch between personalities, argue or as I put it " have a board meeting" among themselves before answering a question. There is at times lengthy periods of lapses in consciousness when the host personality has to be called to attention and be reoriented to time, place and person during a session.

The person with Dissociative Disorders is often labelled and misunderstood by many Mental Health professionals. There are at times, other psychiatric illnesses intertwined within the disorder. I am not surprised that they are also often clinically depressed, Suicidal, aggressive, frustrated and some of the most intelligent and difficult people to treat. They very often succeed in committing suicide because they become HOPELESS and TIRED of fighting for their lives alone. They are people with an awesome amount of strengthto deal with multiple voices speaking mostly simultaneously with instructions, accusations, ideas about destruction of self and others that must be like hell itself.

I wonder how most survive this in addition to the original trauma, abuse and injury.