Analysis of Biopsychosocial - Case Study Example

? BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL CASE STUDY Institute Biopsychosocial Case Study Multiple personality disorder (MPD) is now more commonly referred to as dissociative identity disorder (DID). According to the manual of the American Psychiatric Association (1994), it has been explained as “the disconnection or lack of integration between the normally integrated functions of memory, identity or consciousness.” The case of Bertha Pappenheim who was also call Anna presents with the findings of this particular condition. Her case presents an insight into the effects that this condition can have on an individual’s life. Bertha started experiencing problems in her health near about the time when her father fell ill. Her initial complain was cough which was then followed by other problems which included visual and auditory problems as well as headaches. She then stopped talking for 14 days which was then followed by episodes of transition between two different personalities. After her father died, her condition worsened. Breuer was the person who was treating her. He used hypnosis on her to treat her condition. HE applied the principle of Catharsis to treat her and he used it for her different symptoms to overcome them. Though the frequency of her personality switch decreased, she was still experiencing the problem. Breuer discontinued his treatment and left her after she told him that she was pregnant and was carrying his child. This was a form of transference and this concept was not well understood at that time. Breuer declared her health to be well and left her. Following this she was sent to an institution and it was found from her reports that she had become a morphine addict and had stopped speaking in her mother tongue which was German. She also lost track of certain happenings in her life and could not remember them. Also there were periods of unconsciousness as well. Even after she left the institution, it was seen that she had two personalities for about another half decade. But she did eventually recover after about ten years and she became actively involved in social work. She worked for the rights of women as well as children. It was believed that in the case of Anna she was a target of emotional as well as sexual exploitation and it was this trauma that led her into the condition of multiple personality disorder. It is also thought that since she was an intelligent lady and women in those times were suppressed, she could have been emotionally disturbed because of this as well. Also her family was strict and she had many limitations and thus her lack of freedom can also be associated with this condition. Multiple personality disorder is a condition which is believed to have many reasons that lead to its causation. Biological factors have an important role to play. It has been seen that this condition is associated with trauma and such strain and disturbances can lead to effects on the life of a person. It is believed that the orbitofrontal complex is an important system of the human brain that helps in keeping memories and it is considered to be affected in this condition which can be counted as a reason for the absence of a person’s thoughts and happenings and short term memory loss. It is also involved in maintaining the emotional stability of a person. The development of the nerves and the myelination of the nervous system are at its peak in the last 3 to 4 years of a person’s life. It gets completed by the age of 12 years. Strained relationships with the parents in early ages are seen to be related with affecting this complex of the brain. In the case of Anna, as it is believed that she must have been traumatized at an early age due to emotional as well as sexual abuse, a possible correlation with the loss of efficient functioning of the orbitofrontal complex can be related to her condition. It is also notable that since she came from a conservative family and she was an intelligent woman, this could have also affected the early years of her life. The affect on this complex can also be related to the periods of her amnesia. The changes in her mood can also be attributed to this. Anna presented with many physical symptoms like headaches and periods of paralysis which were all due to this condition (Forest 2001). Every human being possesses the ability to actually dissociate in his everyday life that is for example when a person is busy in some activity; he usually becomes unaware of his surroundings and the people who refer to him. Such dissociations are believed to be very much physiological but this can become pathological when an individual does not possess the capability of carrying out his activities normally and his actions go beyond his control. An individual who has a history of being severely dissociative has a very high chance of suffering from MPD and in particular if he has suffered from trauma at an early age. Thus this condition can be believed to have a genetic predisposition as well. A direct relationship has been considered to exist between trauma at an early age and the development of MPD. A person develops an alternate ego in response to this trauma. This ego remains in his senses and he utilizes it for escaping from trauma in his life. A person can also develop this alternate ego if he is under great pressure for example due to an increase in the demands of his work (Krakauer 2001). The person tends to develop another personality which takes over him and controls his acts. This change of personality is referred to as switch. The patient also tends to forget important things relating to his life. MPD is not associated with drugs or addictive substances but is associated with stress of the environment. Anna’s case does represent this psychological trauma. Her family pressure as well as the pressure from the society can be counted as a reason for her psychological stress. The loss of her father aggravated her condition (Haddock 2001; Krakauer 2001). After her recovery, she devoted her life to changing the way the society dealt with issues relating to women and children. This clearly depicts the fact that the social stress and factors were related to her condition. Adaptation holds a very important position in psychology. It is the way in which a human being adapts to his surrounding and learns from it. It is a state of stability between the environment and the inner self. For example the way in which a person learns to use both his lower limbs for walking. In a similar way, psychological adaptation teaches a person to respond to different situations but these adaptations change if a person experiences trauma in his life and this change of adaptations from normal can result in conditions like multiple personality disorder. The trauma that occurred in Anna’s life changed her method of adaptation and after her father’s illness, she did not respond to it normally. She rather stopped talking and started developing symptoms of MPD (Haddock 2001). Thus the development of normal adaptation to the happenings is essential in psychology to maintain equilibrium of the state of mind with the happenings in the environment. References American Psychiatric Association., & American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. Top of Form Forrest, K. (January 01, 2001). Toward an Etiology of Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Neurodevelopmental Approach. Consciousness and Cognition, 10, 3, 259-293. Top of Form Haddock, D. B. (2001). The dissociative identity disorder sourcebook. Chicago: Contemporary Books. Bottom of Form Krakauer, S. Y. (2001). Treating dissociative identity disorder: The power of the collective heart. Philadelphia: Brunner-Routledge. Bottom of Form Read More