Multiple Personalities: Do They Really Exist :: essays research papers

Multiple Personalities: Do They Really Exist Multiple personalities- the existence of two or more distinct personalities or personality states within one person. In actuality, up to ten or even more personalities can coexist within one person, some documented cases have revealed over one hundred. But, the question remains, what exactly is the multiple personality disorder (MPD)? First I will look at what exactly the disorder is. It is, in simple terms, many complex personalities all inhabiting the same body. At any given time, one of those personalities is in control of the body. Each one has different tastes, style, thought process, and many other things that define a person. However, research has proven even more than that. In clinical studies it has been found that of the different personalities of one person, the eye prescription, allergies, athletic ability, and even diabetes can exist in one of the personalities and not the others. The person can switch at any given time from one personality to another, often not realizing it. This can account for memory loss and time loss in the primary personality, who often does not have access to the memories of the other personalities. A common misconception among the general public is the confusion of MPD with the disease of schizophrenia. Schizophrenics do NOT have distinct personalities, rather, they have hallucinations of voices outside their heads. Schizophrenia is caused by brain malfunctions and can be treated with drugs, whereas suffers of MPD cannot because MPD is an almost purely psychological disorder. MPD seems to be caused mainly by incredibly violent and terrible childhood abuse. In fact, about 98% of MPD sufferers were abused as children. The disorder also occurs between three to nine times more in women than men, the person being abused creates other personalities to handle the pain. In the case of a man named Milligan, his father beat him and sexually abused him. Then he forced the boy to dig his own grave, burying him alive with only a stove pipe to breath through. Then the father urinated into the pipe onto the boy's face. With that kind of abuse, you either go crazy, die, or develop other personalities. That is why, in many people with MPD, there are agitated and distracted child personalities. These personalities were created in order to suffer the pain of abuse. When the abuse was over, their call was no longer needed and the primary personality could resume control, dropping with that second personality all memory of the event and continuing as if nothing happened. This type of personality exists in almost all MPD sufferers. Another common personality is the