Introduction
Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by a series of personality behavior spectrums that affect individual’s perceptions and ability to recall personal information. The patients tend to suffer mental problems in the long run or experience conflicting reasoning in their daily activities. Studies in the early 1970’s viewed the disorder as a multiple personality disorder where individuals develop different identities, consciously or unconsciously. From the psychological perspective, the disorder occurs due to long term effects of stress and traumatic experiences at early stages of development that distract individual’s normal perception of phenomena (Coon & Mitterer, 2010).
Understanding individual’s environment while growing up, the association of the disorder with reality and exploring its symptoms helps with the evaluation of the condition. To be able to properly diagnose and analyze the disorder the specialists need to collect a lot of data about the case they are working with. This complex and flexible disorder is hard to evaluate and treat, this is why the contemporary specialists rely on multiple approaches towards the evaluation of the development, symptoms and prevention strategies in the patients with dissociative identity disorder.
Main Body
Clinically, the majority of dissociative disorders revolve around “out of body experiences” whereby complaints of trances; time loss, amnesia and mild headaches prevail (Coon & Mitterer, 2010). The patients’ state worsens with the inclusion of ritual compulsions and psychotic-like symptoms that involve auditory and visual hallucinations. The disorder is clinically addressed by means of the promotion of therapies that prevent the patients from self-inflicted violence, self-sabotage, self-persecution and aggression which are the main symptoms of the disorder. Dissociative identity disorder patients are known for developing two or more personalities in one body, these personalities may have different race, gender and age, each of the identities also has its own set of habits, postures and gestures (Dissociative Identity Disorder, 2014). The clinical analysis indicates that dissociative identity disorder demonstrates high levels of complication giving it aspects of severity of address as a separate disorder (Coon & Mitterer, 2010). The disorder is also associated with serious cases of depression; prolonged alcohol and substance use, mood swings, sleep disorders and suicidal tendencies (Dissociative Identity Disorder, 2014).
Psychiatric diagnosis of the disorder at early stages helps in the analysis of the immediate causes and in developing prevention strategies. Common neurological disorders affect personality and its state, making it difficult for a patient to realize that they have a problem. Different epidemiological and biological changes in the early stages influence the survival situations such as flight and fight responses and leads to failure of control of the normal pedagogical processes. These changes influence the clinical diagnosis and evaluation procedures that affect the overall therapy in cases of errors in diagnosis or inconclusive results due to the presence of two or more of the distinctive identities in a single case (Howell, 2011).
The comorbidity technicalities associated with the majority of mental disorders make it difficult to evaluate the physical and emotional states especially on later stages of development. For example, in general, people expect a direct connection of individual’s thoughts and memories with his/her feelings and the overall sense of identity. Dissociative disorder patients lack these connections; dissociation is their coping mechanism that develops as the result of past experiences and encounters that affected normal development and conscious self.
Evaluation of individual’s environment while growing up and the comparison of the findings with the reality is the way to analyze the disorder. For instance, the understanding dissociative disorder as a condition that can affect anyone makes psychiatrist’s analysis easy and straight forward. In addition, it helps individuals understand the basic and initial symptoms for drastic measures during the application of effective therapies. Associating the symptoms with the environment and reality helps in addressing the switching aspect of individuals’ behavior and thoughts that keep changing with time. For instance, in the psychoanalysis of disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders switching spans of features such as flashbacks and reaction to stimuli takes different response times among individuals. Addressing such symptoms independently assists in the analysis of dissociative but collective disorders among individuals who have had a rough past and circumstances that influence self-image and identity (Howell, 2011).
Conclusion
Evaluation of dissociative identity disorder relies on the integration of various approaches that promote personal and clinical remedies for comprehensive and tactical management. Though there are lacks in specific scientific or longitudinal studies that highlight the causes and treatment of the disorder, this is why future studies need to breakdown these features and work with them independently. Pathological failures of memory and attention indicate a wide range of causes that do not associate directly with the disorder but are necessary for the analysis. The modern surgical and imaging equipment creates the vivid picture of the disorder by demonstrating the fragmentation of these identities. Furthermore, exploring the symptoms of dissociative identity disorder evaluates the aspects of self-control and personality state that are the major mitigation strategies for primary identity in cases of multiple identities.
Reference List
Coon, D. & Mitterer, J. O. (2010). Introduction to psychology: Gateways to mind and behavior, [13th ed.]. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Dissociative Identity Disorder. (2014). Web.
Howell, E. F. (2011). Understanding and treating dissociative identity disorder: A relational approach. New York: Routledge.