What are the symptoms of dissociative disorders?

What are the symptoms of dissociative disorders?

Once known as multiple personality disorder, dissociative identity disorder usually stems from catastrophic experiences, abuse or trauma that occurred when the person was a child. Among people with this disorder, about 90% have been the victim of childhood abuse (physical or sexual) or neglect.

Symptoms of dissociative identity disorder include:

The existence of two or more distinct identities or “personality states.” Each identity has a particular set of behaviors, attitudes, preferences, memories, and ways of thinking that are observable by others and may even be reported by the affected person. Shifting from one identity to another is involuntary, sudden, and can reverse at a moment’s notice.

• Long-term gaps in memory concerning everyday events, personal information, or traumatic events of the past.
• Problems in social settings, the workplace, or other areas of functioning in daily life. The seriousness of such problems can range from minimal to significant.

Suicide attempts, self-mutilation, and other self-injuring behaviors are common among those with dissociative identity disorder. More than 70% of outpatients with this condition have attempted suicide.

Symptoms of depersonalization/derealization disorder

One or both of the following conditions exist in the same person in a recurring pattern over a long period of time:

• Depersonalization – Feelings of unreality or of being detached from one’s own mind, body or self. It is as if one is an observer of rather than a participant in their own life events.
• Derealization – Feelings of unreality or of being detached from one’s surroundings. People and things may not seem real.

During these episodes the person is aware of their surroundings, and knows that what they are experiencing is not normal. Even if the person shows little emotion during these episodes, they are usually interpreted as being quite upsetting.

Symptoms may start as early as childhood, with 16 years old being the average age of first experience. Fewer than 20% will have their first experience of the disorder after age 20.

Symptoms of dissociative amnesia

Dissociative amnesia means not being able to recall information about one’s past. This is not the same as simply being forgetful, as it is usually related to a traumatic or particularly stressful event or period of time. An episode of amnesia comes on suddenly and can last as little as minutes, or as long as months or years. There is no particular age of onset, and episodes can occur periodically throughout life.

There are three types of amnesia:

• Localized – Cannot remember an event or period of time (most common form of amnesia)
• Selective – Cannot remember certain details of events about a given period of time.
• Generalized – Complete loss of identity of life history (rarest form).

The person may not be aware of their memory loss or have only little awareness. Even when they do realize a loss of memory, the person often downplays the importance of not recalling a particular event or period of time.