Personal Identity and the Self - Essay Example

? 23rd April Personal Identity and the Self Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) refers to the mental illness that enables an individual to experience two or more personal states. The states, also referred to as alters, are portrayed differently and each respectively encompasses a particular way of relating with the rest of the world. It is important to note that some of the victims of multiple identity disorder portray different emotional reactions, different blood flow in their minds, blood pressure as well as pulse (Crane 57). One major aspect that has been associated with the MPD condition is that it appears nine times more in women than in men. In addition, the condition has been diagnosed to a significant number of patients found in psychiatric hospitals. MPD, also known as dissociative identity disorder, has many implications as to what it is to be a person at a particular time as well as over a period of time. This essay will seek to discuss these implications, with special reference to “Kim Noble: The Woman with 100 Personalities” by Amanda Mitchison. Causes dissociative identity disorder One of the key aspects of MPD is that medical professionals have not identified a specific cause of this condition. According to Psychological Theory, MPD can be traced to the trauma that was experienced during the childhood. For example, in the case of Kim Nobles, a woman with 100 personalities, the victim (Kim) experienced the unhappy marriage of her parents consequently being under the care of local acquaintances and friends. This indicates that she did not enjoy the parental love that is vital for the physical and psychological growth of every child. In addition, Kim experienced extreme and repeated abuse (Amanda 2). As a result of this experience, she was largely traumatized and her personality was fragmented into separate identities. Just like other mental disorder, the possibility of the occurrence of MPD is high if the family has the history of the disorder. However, if a family member experiences the condition it does not imply that all other generation will suffer from MPD. According to Roxanne 28, depersonalization is also a major cause of Mental Identity Disorder. This is a condition that makes a person to have no control over a situation. Key aspects that victims experience include the view of the world as less real and lack of importance for living. Individuals who undergo severe trauma or prolonged stress have high chance of experiencing a chronic depersonalization. Additionally, individuals suffering from MPD feel like more than one person. This is based on the large number of personalities that control them. For example, in the case of Kim, when there is a switch of personality and Patricia emerges, she does not remember what was happening in her absence. In the same way, when Patricia is asked about her sex life, she strongly declines of having any relationship but in the real sense Kim had a baby girl in 1997 (Amanda 3). Symptoms of dissociative identity disorder As mentioned earlier, a person suffering from MPD can experience large number of personalities that may range from two to hundreds. It is essential to note that half of the reported cases of MPD indicate that most of the victims possessed 10 or fewer personalities. The personalities that affect the self of a person can take their own postures. For example, they can be depicted through the change of gestures, change on the mode of talking and hairstyles as well as mode of dressing. The process through which an individual personality reveals itself and takes control of the person’s behavior is referred to as switching. Being triggered by the events surrounding the patients, switching can make the victim to change his or her behaviors in seconds. However, Leslie 36 argues that the changes can take hours or days. The section below discusses major symptoms that make us identify MPD among the people we are living with. One major symptom is the lapse of memory. For example, a victim may not remember significant occasions such as birthdays, birth of a child or the wedding day. This implies that when the patient does something, a new personality that blocks his or her memory takes over. This is evident in the case of Kim when her memory lapsed leading to her poor performance in school and relationship with peers. Buttressed by poor memory, whenever she denied having done or said something her colleagues merely concluded that she was being deceitful. Mood swings, attitudes and multiple mannerisms are key symptoms that can help us to identify MPD. Some individuals with MPD may depict mental stability that allows them engage in standard daily activities such driving, sport, signing or even farming. However, if a switch of the personality occurs, such individual may undertake dangerous actions without noting or being aware. For example, when Kim became relatively stable in her 20s, she procured a job as a taxi drive and for the five years she worked as a driver, she was not engaged in a major accident. However at one instance caused by her MPD condition, one of her several personalities known as Julie affected her concentration and mood leading to a car crash with parked cars. Mood alterations can thus be a dangerous factor in the disorder. As portrayed by Horgan 57, sudden anger without a justified cause is also a major symptom that is vital in identifying individuals suffering from MPD. Based on the many challenges facing the social lives of victims and individuals regardless of their ages, anger has become part and parcel of life. However, there are some instances that MPD patients in the work places or in learning institutions reveal sudden anger that is not necessary. In such cases, there is a high possibility that such persons are suffering from MPD. Another primary and significant symptom of MPD is depression. This entails the state of low mood that affects the physical well-being of a person as well as his or her feelings (Horgan 34). As a result of the depression, victims display the characteristics of restless, helpless, hopeless and overeating among others. Diagnosing and treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder One of the medical challenges facing individuals with MPD is that the condition does not have a specific test that can be used during the treatment. In their efforts to address MPD, health practitioners embark on undertaking interviews with individuals portraying the symptoms described in the section above. This involves gathering information about the childhood of the victims. In this way, the practitioners have adequate information on the health history of their patients (Roxanne 11). One of the major ways of treating the MPD is through Psychotherapy. This entails creating a positive relationship between the victims and other members of the society. Additionally, mental health professionals assist the patients to cope with memory lapses that occur during the switching process. This was a major treatment approach that Dr Valerie Sinason, the psychotherapist who initiated Kim’s treatment process. The major goal of the psychotherapy is reintegration of the multiple personalities a situation that most victims are against since they see as if the health professionals are focused at killing their personalities. One of the major ways that Multiple Personality Disorder teaches us to be a person at any one time and over time is that the term personality as applied in psychology does not have a significant meaning. This is based on the fact that a person is composed of images of “self”. The personality is fragmented into ego states but incase the fragmentation is extensive, a condition that characterizes MPD, it becomes difficult for the ego states to communicate with each other. In addition, MPD teaches us that no one is absolutely unified or single (Crane 24). Just as in the case of Kim, an individual can be self at one time and change into someone else overtime. This is due to the emergence of a particular ego that forces the person to behave in a certain way thus altering the self of a person. For example, if a religious person is involved in a crime, some people rushes to his or her defense arguing that he or she is a devoted religious person and there is no way he or she can commit such a crime. However, in such a case, it is the criminal ego state that manipulates the person to the extent of committing the crime. In this regard, MPD teaches us that behaviors of a person in a certain situation does not act as a prove of anything about the rest of his or her life. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, Multiple Personality Disorder can have adverse implications on one self as well as to other people if not appropriately diagnosed and treated. For example, the various personalities that were controlling Kim resulted to loss of her self esteem and accidents. In this regard, it is prudent for us as members of the community to ensure that any MPD symptoms that family member or any other person within the society portrays are reported to the relevant health authority. Works Cited Amanda, Mitchison. Kim Noble: The woman with 100 personalities. guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 September 2011 23.00 BST Crane, Tim. The Mechanical Mind: A philosophical introduction to minds, machines, and mental representation. New York: Routledge, 2003. Horgan, Woodward. Folk Psychology is Here to Stay. Mind and Cognition: An Anthology. New York: Blackwell Publishers, Inc, 1999. Leslie, Alan. The New Cognitive Neurosciences. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2000. Roxanne Dryden-Edwards. Dissociative Identity Disorder. Available from http://www.medicinenet.com/dissociative_identity_disorder/article.htm, 2012. Read More