Dissociative Identity Disorder



Dissociative Identity Disorder

Introduction

Individuals with dissociative identity disorder (DID) have used dissociation in order to cope with horrific childhood trauma. Through consideration of the numerous paradigms that explain the formation of DID, it can be seen that DID is a complex bio psychosocial disorder with numerous determinants. Early childhood trauma is the prevailing etiology of DID and can be observed in individuals' dreams. The purpose of this study is to examine and understand lived experiences of dreams of trauma and the essence of the transcendent function, as conscious and unconscious are united in individuals with dissociative identity disorder. It is a belief that through the disclosure and understanding of the experience of the traumatic dream and a union of the opposites, an awareness of a deeper meaning can have a transpersonal knowingness which can be obtained in a proper way. Trauma can, therefore, be an initiatory gate to wholeness. Therefore, all the issues related to Dissociative Identity Disorder will be discussed in detail.

Background of the concept of Dissociation

The literature on dissociation varies on its definition. The author known as Janet in 1977 gave a definition of dissociation as a deficiency of binding energy that results in the division of personality clusters from the core personality. Janet provided a view that consciousness changes the dissociation which usually makes it position very clear against trauma. Jung, in contrast, viewed dissociation as an essential psychic process. He contended that unbearable affects cause the psyche to split vertically and form dissociated feeling-toned complexes, a process that extends along a continuum from normal to pathological states. There was other group of researchers that defined dissociation as a psycho physiological process whereby incoming, stored, or outgoing information is deflected from integration with its usual or expected associations. The author known as Putnam in 1985 suggested that, because disconnection of affective content from conscious awareness at the time of trauma aids the individual to tolerate trauma and to mobilize for action without emotional flooding, it may be that dissociation can be understood from the standpoint of normative development and emotion regulation. Like Jung, the researcher known as Braun in 1984 proposed a continuum of dissociation ranging from normal dissociative processes, through dissociative episodes and disorders, to dissociative identity disorder, which is the most severe. Although all of the definitions of dissociation have merit and are similar, for the purpose of this study, Jung's definition of dissociation was accepted in its entirety (Baer, 2003).

Overview of Dissociative Identity Disorder

The researcher known as Ross in 1994 described dissociative identity disorder as an autoimmune disorder in which a person who suffers from psychological problem gets confused regarding the difference between self and non-self and also learns to experience unhelpful mechanisms on the self, which leads to them to conceive it as a foreign intruder. Ross stated that people must find at least two of these identities or personality states recurrently take control of the person's behavior. Individuals who have this disorder regularly report experiencing large gaps of ...