In a situation of strong, intolerable stress , the human mind begins to look for a way out of the current state. Most often we use one or more defense mechanisms, which were first described by all known Sigmund Freud, and then several of the mechanisms of protection were deduced by his followers. The human subconscious is able to contrive, inventing ways to protect our psyche from the destructive effect of stress factors, and if one of these mechanisms for a long time continues to operate, it completely absorbs the work of human consciousness and leads to serious disorders of the psyche. Everyone remembers the American films when, in response to the sad news, the actress wails, repeating the words: "Oh, no, no. It can not be. It is not true".
This is a vivid example of one of the most widespread mechanisms of protecting the psyche - negation. In a stress situation of a huge scale, a person gets stuck in a state of denial of reality and comes up with his reality, far from reality. Owing to the protracted process of protecting the body of one's own psyche, a split personality occurs, or dissociation - its division into several independently existing parts, completely different from each other (there may be three, four, five or even ten).
The essence of the split personality
This mental illness consists in triggering a complex mechanism in which the subconscious seeks to divide into several parts of specific painfully experienced memories or thoughts corresponding to ordinary consciousness and taken from its once realistic perception of the world around them. Getting into the subconscious area, these thoughts can not be removed from it, so they pop up in consciousness again and quite unexpectedly, due to incentives - people, objects or events that surrounded a person in a traumatic situation for him.
Symptoms of a split personality
- Dissociative fugue. It is an affective reaction of the patient, in which he suddenly leaves the workplace or runs away from home. Such a flight response is psychogenic and completely independent of objective reasons. Due to certain affects, the patient's consciousness is distorted, partial or complete amnesia is noted. Often a person with a split personality is not aware of this loss of memory. It can also be noted that a patient suffering from this type of disorder is absolutely convinced that he is a different person, names fictitious names, has knowledge and skills, and also engages in completely different activities that differ from his real occupations. A person who has undergone such a reaction of running can not accurately identify himself, or creates in his subconscious a completely different personality.
- Identification breakdown. This state is the main sign of a split personality, in which the patient identifies himself simultaneously with several persons existing in his subconscious (that is, one person becomes plural). Periodically, each of these individuals manifests, and there is a sharp transition from the predominance of one person to another. Accordingly, each of them changes the views of the patient, his behavior and attitude towards himself. All individuals in this case can be of different sex and age, in addition, they can have any nationality and name or the corresponding description. At the moment of domination of one of the personalities existing in him, a person does not remember and does not realize the existence of his main personality, while not remembering the rest of his personalities. This phenomenon is often called obsession, giving it a mystical character.
- Depersonalization. The manifestation of depersonalization consists in the periodic or permanent alienation
own body, feelings or experiences as if a person, a given state of the experiencer, is watching from the outside, not identifying himself with his own feelings, thoughts, etc. Often in this case there is distortion of sensations, feelings of time, distortion of perception of movements of own extremities is felt, and also feeling of unreality of an event around. In some cases, anxiety and depressive conditions accompanying this disorder are noted.
If you notice one or more of these symptoms in yourself or your loved ones, do not rush to make hasty conclusions. To make an accurate diagnosis, psychiatrists use a number of tested tests and techniques, and also collect a complete history for the final determination of the diagnosis.