You know how frustrating it can be when you simply forget the topic you were talking about just a few minutes ago. Now, imagine the level of frustration you’d feel if you ever woke up and realized that you don’t remember anything that happened yesterday or why people are calling you by a name that doesn’t feel like yours. This is what life can be like for a person living with dissociative identity disorder (DID). DID is a mental condition where a person’s mind creates different personalities (two or more), as a result of issues like childhood trauma.
A condition like this makes it hard to go to school, keep friends, and even hold jobs because these personalities take over their lives at different times. Living with DID though, doesn’t mean there’s no hope. There are treatment options available for this type of condition. But let’s look at how this condition is diagnosed.
How is DID Diagnosed
Most people don’t take DID as a serious mental health condition because of the nature of its symptoms. It might feel like something out of a movie, but it’s a real condition backed by research and recognized by doctors. But how this is usually diagnosed is by talking to a therapist. The therapist will ask the person about all the things they’re experiencing. The question is usually about memory loss, dissociation, and if there was possible trauma during the person’s childhood.
The therapist might notice signs of different identities maybe from the way the person talks, acts, or even remembers things. For example, one identity might be really confident and loud, while the other might be shy and quiet. In most cases, professionals use tools like questionnaires or interviews to figure out if a person is experiencing dissociation.
In addition, the symptoms of DID are similar to mental health conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Because of that the therapist would have to run other tests to rule out both of these conditions, before making a proper diagnosis.
Treatment of DID
When trying to treat dissociative identity disorder, health professionals will have to piece together a really complicated puzzle. It’s not a condition like malaria or typhoid that its symptoms can go away overnight. It actually takes time, effort, and of course a certain level of trust between the patient and their therapist. The main treatment for DID is long-term talk therapy also called psychotherapy.
Firstly, the patient had to feel comfortable and safe with their therapist. This step sets the tone for the rest of the treatment. How else is the patient supposed to share details about traumatic memories and their alter personality if they’re not comfortable with their therapist, right? However, once this stage has passed, the therapist begins to work on helping the patient understand their different identities. Each alter or identity has its own role, personality and even memories.
Since DID usually starts because of trauma, the therapist helps the person process these painful experiences. This is where therapies like trauma-focused therapy or EMDR (Eye Movement Sensitisation and Reprocessing) come in. The goal is to help the person face their trauma in a safe way without feeling added pressure.
The therapist teaches cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT and dialectical behavior therapy, DBT, to help the patient control their emotions and improve their relationships. Eventually, the goal is to help the alter personalities work together or even merge into one identity.
Dissociative identity disorder also comes with depression and anxiety. So health professionals often recommend some medicine to help manage the symptoms. But these medications don’t treat DID itself.
Conclusion
It’s like assembling a puzzle with missing pieces when you live with DID. It is a disorder where a person has several personalities that alternately take charge of their life; it is frequently connected to traumatic experiences in the past. In order to diagnose DID, a therapist will ask questions about past events, memory loss, and dissociation while ruling out other illnesses like bipolar disorder. Therapy is the mainstay of treatment, providing a secure environment for processing trauma, managing emotions, and exploring identities.
