Post by The Lunar Crew on Oct 13, 2019 19:05:28 GMT -7
Dissociative Identity Disorder was formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. However, as research has shown, DID is not a personality disorder, but a dissociative disorder.
So, what exactly is DID?
DID is a response to trauma that occurs during childhood. While PTSD and C-PTSD can develop due to trauma at any age in one's life, DID is only developed during childhood. Not everyone who experiences trauma during childhood develops DID, just like not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD or C-PTSD. Everyone and every brain responds to trauma differently.
DID is a survival and coping mechanism that the brain uses in order to cope with and survive the trauma experienced during childhood, and to continue surviving and coping with both the childhood trauma and any future trauma throughout the life.
Now, trauma during childhood is anything that could be traumatic to a child. What is traumatic to an adolescent or an adult is not going to be the same as what is traumatic to a child.
Childhood trauma can include, but not be limited to, physical/psychological/sexual/emotional abuse; neglect; witnessing a crime; witnessing a traumatic event like a car crash; witnessing abuse happening to someone else, like a guardian or a sibling; being bullied; experiencing a traumatic event such as serious medical procedures like surgeries (even though they are necessary), or parents going through a messy divorce; experiencing loss, like the loss of a family member, friend, or even a pet; or repetitive traumatic experiences.
Children are fairly resilient, but only if they have the proper care and support after a traumatic event happens. Without that, the trauma is not processed properly, it is not healed from properly, and thus, it festers and stays traumatic.
Now, how does DID develop?
Research has shown that the old idea of "splitting" from "an original/a core" is inaccurate, just as it was inaccurate to call it "Multiple Personality Disorder" when it is a dissociative disorder that deals with identities, not a personality disorder. No one "splits", and there is no "original/core". Everyone of a DID system is an alter/part.
Essentially, we are all born "split". We are all born with ego/emotional states that are separate. Throughout childhood, these ego states become structured together over time, eventually forming one, whole identity. During childhood, input from our environment and our experiences help to change and shape these states as they structure together.
When trauma during childhood happens, the structuring process is disrupted, and the ego states stay separated. From these ego states, alters form, and develop further as they are needed in order to help cope and survive the trauma.
For further information, or if you wish to check out information for yourself, here are some websites that are (mostly) up to date with research and knowledge of DID. Another good way to go about research is to read articles, books, or find websites that cover "The Theory of Structural Dissociation". Take care when checking dates and sources of information.
~ Kaleidoscope ~
So, what exactly is DID?
DID is a response to trauma that occurs during childhood. While PTSD and C-PTSD can develop due to trauma at any age in one's life, DID is only developed during childhood. Not everyone who experiences trauma during childhood develops DID, just like not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD or C-PTSD. Everyone and every brain responds to trauma differently.
DID is a survival and coping mechanism that the brain uses in order to cope with and survive the trauma experienced during childhood, and to continue surviving and coping with both the childhood trauma and any future trauma throughout the life.
Now, trauma during childhood is anything that could be traumatic to a child. What is traumatic to an adolescent or an adult is not going to be the same as what is traumatic to a child.
Childhood trauma can include, but not be limited to, physical/psychological/sexual/emotional abuse; neglect; witnessing a crime; witnessing a traumatic event like a car crash; witnessing abuse happening to someone else, like a guardian or a sibling; being bullied; experiencing a traumatic event such as serious medical procedures like surgeries (even though they are necessary), or parents going through a messy divorce; experiencing loss, like the loss of a family member, friend, or even a pet; or repetitive traumatic experiences.
Children are fairly resilient, but only if they have the proper care and support after a traumatic event happens. Without that, the trauma is not processed properly, it is not healed from properly, and thus, it festers and stays traumatic.
Now, how does DID develop?
Research has shown that the old idea of "splitting" from "an original/a core" is inaccurate, just as it was inaccurate to call it "Multiple Personality Disorder" when it is a dissociative disorder that deals with identities, not a personality disorder. No one "splits", and there is no "original/core". Everyone of a DID system is an alter/part.
Essentially, we are all born "split". We are all born with ego/emotional states that are separate. Throughout childhood, these ego states become structured together over time, eventually forming one, whole identity. During childhood, input from our environment and our experiences help to change and shape these states as they structure together.
When trauma during childhood happens, the structuring process is disrupted, and the ego states stay separated. From these ego states, alters form, and develop further as they are needed in order to help cope and survive the trauma.
For further information, or if you wish to check out information for yourself, here are some websites that are (mostly) up to date with research and knowledge of DID. Another good way to go about research is to read articles, books, or find websites that cover "The Theory of Structural Dissociation". Take care when checking dates and sources of information.
- traumadissociation.com/dissociativeidentitydisorder
- did-research.org/did/basics/dsm-5/index.html
- www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder#1
- www.healthyplace.com/abuse/dissociative-identity-disorder/dissociative-identity-disorder-did-dsm-5-criteria
- www.medicinenet.com/dissociative_identity_disorder/article.htm
- www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/dissociation-and-dissociative-disorders/dissociative-disorders/#DID
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_identity_disorder
~ Kaleidoscope ~
~Kaleidoscope~
-casey