Dissociative Identity Disorder Paper

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anon Abnormal Psychology 4/28/14 Final Paper Dissociative Identity Disorder Psychopathy has advanced greatly over time; many disorders were not acknowledged or accepted 20 years ago that are now widely diagnosed and putative in this society. We learn more and more day in and day out about the brain as we study it and with the technology we have the findings are endless. The more we learn what controls us as humans, the more we learn about what causes mental disorders. A single disorder that has caused a lot of controversy over the years was multiple personality disorder, now known as dissociative identity disorder. Previously it was considered absurd and impossible to say someone had multiple identities inside of them; people who…show more content…
Some believe in hypnosis to treat dissociative identity disorder or pills that supposedly make the patient’s life more tolerable. However, I believe the best way to treat dissociative identity disorder is through frequent psychotherapy and setting up coping techniques with the patient. According to Muhammed Waseem (2012) the first step to treating dissociative identity disorder is working with a therapist to learn healthy coping behaviors; the patient needs to reconnect with their sense of power and decide what to do when feelings of helplessness arise. Next, one way the patient can begin to work with their fear of unpredictable outbursts is to have them keep a log of their emotions. The patients must first identify emotions so they can monitor the intensity of each feeling (Waseem, 2012). It is good for the patient to be able to identify their emotions so they can work through whatever triggered the personality states to develop to protect the patient from their previous traumas. If the patient can identify their emotions and can predict what they will feel when dissociation happens, they will be able to better control their life. Lastly, the best way to help a patient with dissociative identity disorder is to help them create a crisis plan for when their everyday functioning is affected. The patient will have more control and anxiety will be lessened because they are prepared to handle their mental disorder (Waseem, 2012). The crisis plan will be different for each patient because the disorder does not affect every patient the same and it is best to personalize the plan to the specific patient. Having the patient set specific exercises or methods to decrease anxiety and take control of the situation is important. Although there is not medicine yet created specifically for
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