Split Personality, what is it:

Split Personality, what is it:

“Split personality” is a term that’s often used in everyday language, but in psychology, the actual clinical term is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

Here’s a quick breakdown:

1. What it is: DID is a severe dissociative disorder where a person experiences two or more distinct identities or personality states — each with its own patterns of perceiving and interacting with the world. These identities may have their own names, voices, ages, genders, even memories and preferences.

2. Causes: It’s usually linked to severe trauma in early childhood, such as extreme abuse or neglect. The mind creates alternate identities as a defense mechanism to “compartmentalize” or escape overwhelming experiences.

3. Key features:

Amnesia or memory gaps — the person may not recall important personal information, especially related to the other identities.

Switching between identities — this can be sudden and triggered by stress or reminders of trauma.

Each identity (or “alter”) may have its own behaviors, accents, postures, etc.

4. Common myths:

DID is not the same as schizophrenia. Schizophrenia involves hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking, but not multiple personalities.

It’s not about being “moody” or just having different sides to your personality.

5. Treatment:

Psychotherapy is the main treatment — often long-term and focused on integrating the identities, or at least helping them coexist in a way that’s less disruptive.

Trauma work is a huge part of the healing process.

Shervan K Shahhian