People
with MPD/DID usually suffer with a wide variety of symptoms including most
types of symptoms found in a lot of other psychiatric disorders as well as neurological
and medical symptoms so they end up receiving a host of diagnoses – which may
hide the MPD/DID and may mean the person spends years in treatment for other
conditions before the MPD/DID is uncovered.
Also
the symptoms can fluctuate widely as well as the person’s level of functioning
if different personalities are taking control of the person’s body at different
times
The
symptoms can be sorted into groups:
DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS: THE
PERSON MAY HAVE
-
depression, mood swings, a history of suicide attempts and
gestures, suicidal ideation;
- low self-esteem;
- self-injury;
- generally a negative outlook on life;
- difficulty concentrating;
- fatigue;
- sexual difficulties;
- crying spells;
-
insomnia (possibly because of nightmares and/or alters who stay up
at night).
DISSOCIATIVE SYMPTOMS:
THE PERSON MAY HAVE
- amnesia or time loss, blacking out for a part of the time;
-
memory loss for most of childhood, gaps in memory for the past;
- distorted recall of experiences:
- depersonalization -- it didn’t happen to me, she feels distant or detached from her memories
- derealization – life has a dreamlike quality, feels unreal, leaving the person to question whether an experience actually happened or she simply dreamed or imagined it
ANXIETY & PHOBIC SYMPTOMS:
THE PERSON MAY HAVE
- panic attacks, a Panic Disorder;
- an Anxiety Disorder;
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: flashbacks, easily startled or triggered by events, objects or people;
- difficulty breathing, palpitations, sensation of choking or being smothered, faintness, or trembling;
-
phobias – claustrophobia (fear of enclosed, confined spaces),
agoraphobia (fear of leaving home, being out in public), other phobias relevant
to abuse (social anxiety, fear of certain places, certain objects, certain
events).
SUBSTANCE ABUSE SYMPTOMS:
THE PERSON MAY
-
abuse alcohol or drugs. Sedatives and hypnotics are the most common.
About 1/3 of people with multiple personality/DID abuse alcohol or stimulants
Hallucinogens
are not popular with this group of people. Possibly because the person already
has trouble with depersonalization and derealization.
PSYCHOTIC
SYMPTOMS
The
person with multiple personality/DID may experience some psychotic symptoms.
Psychosis is when a person loses touch with reality and has their own reality
happening. Two types of symptoms are hallucinations (seeing or hearing things
that aren’t really there) and/or delusions (having strange and unusual beliefs).
Hallucinations could include
- hearing voices in his head that berate and belittle him or command him to commit self-destructive or violent acts;
-
hearing voices that carry on lengthy discussions that seem coherent
and logical to him but may also be terrifying. The voices may be critical and
destructive of the host personality
(see GLOSSARY) or each other, or be arguing
with each other. Some voices may give solace, support and/or advice;
- seeing some of the other personalities outside of his body;
-
seeing blood or other violent scenes (flashbacks see GLOSSARY).
Delusions could include
- a personality thinking she can harm or kill the body (the others) and not be affected;
-
believing her thoughts are being controlled by something outside of
her (though she is most likely being controlled by the other personalities);
- believing other people can hear her thoughts;
- believing that her thoughts are being taken out of her mind.
OTHER SYMPTOMS INCLUDE:
- being told about his behaviour and not remembering it;
- other people noticing changes in him;
- finding things he owns but doesn’t remember buying them;
- the use of “we” instead of “I” a lot;
- severe headaches;
- severe nightmares;
- Eating Disorders (Bulimia, Anorexia);
- Sleep Disorders;
- mood swings. His mood may change several times during one day or even within one hour;
- difficulty concentrating either because of depression and/or switching between personalities;
-
the sensation of changing physically (because of switching). May
change between feeling shorter, taller, fatter or thinner, childlike, or of the
opposite gender;
- going into trance-like states. About 14% of multiples experience this. It happens when they become overwhelmed by outside stimuli and they simply shut down. They may end up simply staring into space and being fairly unresponsive;
-
noticeable differences in handwriting, speech, body language,
gestures, wardrobe, etc.
Sometimes I give Karen these feelings of pain so I
can rest. I made us go deaf in the hospital for two weeks to get some relief
from hearing bad things. They thought we were in a coma, but we just shut
down. (Switching Time. see BOOKS,
ARTICLES)
