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Dissociative Disorders - Medical Negligence

Dissociative Disorders, also sometimes called dissociative identity disorder, is a disease in which the patient has become lost inside a reality of their own in a condition that is completely involuntary. Sufferers can have amnesia or can have multiple personalities that are a result of psychic trauma that has occurred in the person's past.

There are four major types of dissociative disorder. These include dissociative identity disorder, depersonalization disorder, dissociative amnesia and dissociative fugue. The signs and symptoms that are seen in all dissociative disorders include loss of memory of certain events in one's life, mental health disorders like anxiety and depression, a distorted sense of self or others, being detached from yourself and having a blurred sense of one's identity.

In dissociative amnesia the patient has extreme forgetfulness of parts of one's life that can either be current events or traumatic events from one's life. In dissociative identity disorder, the patient has multiple personalities that switch back and forth so the patient has only one personality present at the time. The personalities can be child personalities, often have a different name from the host person and can have different traits and even different physical attributes from the others. They often have dissociative amnesia at the same time.

In dissociative fugue, people may leave their loved ones and their job and may run away, starting a new identity in another location. They can blend in wherever they turn up and have no memory of their past life. It can last for a few hours or several months. It usually stops as quickly as it starts and is a coping mechanism from the past hurts and present stressors. It is a rare type of dissociative disorder. On the other hand, depersonalization disorder is fairly common. It is the sense of being outside the body and observing one's actions from a distance. It can be associated with a distorted perception of other people or of the body. The world seems like a movie, as though it is unreal.

The dissociative disorders occur as a result of an attempt to cope with psychic trauma. This can be chronic physical abuse, emotional abuse or sexual abuse. It can also occur when a child lives in an unpredictable home life. It is more likely to occur in very young children, under the age of three but can happen anytime the child is still developing his or her personality. The disorder is long lasting and can occur for the rest of their life, if still untreated. Adults can develop this disorder if they are exposed to a very severe psychic trauma.

The doctors diagnose dissociative disorders by looking at the variety of signs and symptoms you may have. The doctor can notice the presence of a shifting in personalities or you may tell the doctor that you are having depersonalization symptoms. Other physical problems like head injuries, sleep deprivation, intoxication or certain brain diseases, must be ruled out. Doctors use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual or DSM for mental disorders to identify the disease from other diseases. Doctors look for repressed memories or remembered memories that are triggers for the disease.

For example, there are multiple criteria for DID or dissociative identity disorder. These include:

• The presence of at least two separate personalities that are stable in nature in terms of how they see the world and how they act.
• The personalities take hold of your behavior.
• You can't recall important aspects of your life due to previous trauma and repression of memories.
• The symptoms are not due to the effects of drinking, drugs or other substances or to a seizure disorder.

The main treatment for dissociative disorders include psychotherapy that involves discussing the disorder, dealing with other personalities and understanding the relationship between trauma and the condition. The therapist can help you understand why you have the disease and how to cope with it. Hypnosis is sometimes used to dig up past traumas so that the traumatic events can be dealt with. Other therapies that have been known to help include creative art therapy to help you access different parts of your mind, cognitive therapy or "talk therapy" or medications that can control the anxiety and depressive symptoms.