Bifurcation of the human personality, as a particularly dangerous mental disorder. Split personality: symptoms and signs, how to treat and what to do Cases of split personality in history

The ministers of the church, in general, hold a similar point of view and talk about possession. Doctors call it a split personality, or rather, “dissociative identity disorder” and believe that this ailment occurs under the influence of serious stress.

About two hundred such cases have been officially recorded, although it is believed that there are many more. It's just that patients manage to lead a double life so cleverly that no one from the environment assumes that they are dealing with a psycho. But those cases that are known to medicine formed the basis of many books and films. Because split personality is strangely scary and, in a sense, cool!

William Stanley Milligan

You will find his name in any psychiatry textbook. In Milligan, as in a St. Petersburg communal apartment, not two, not three, or even ten, but as many as 24 different people got along. These people had different names, different ages, genders and nationalities. They had different temperaments and pursued incompatible goals. The suicidal and psychopath Billy, the intellectual Arthur, the force majeure Reigen, the charming Allen, the three-year-old clever Christine, the reckless lesbian Adalana ...

When Milligan was charged with theft and rape, it turned out that Billy himself was not to blame. The thefts were committed by Reigen, and the rapes by Adalana.

Doris Fisher

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

When doctors talked about Doris Fisher, they were referring to five of her personalities. Real Doris, Sluggish Doris, Sickly Doris, Margarita and Sleeping Margarita. In general, a kind of kinder surprise or even a nesting doll. Margarita was considered the coolest “matryoshka”. She constantly did dirty tricks, but she put the blame on the Real Doris. It was Margarita who tore out the pages from the books, soiled her clothes in the mud and could cut herself with a knife on purpose. But only Real Doris felt guilty, offended and hurt at the same time.

Psychiatrists tried for a long time to cure the poor thing, but they did not succeed. Medicines, therapy, hypnosis - all in vain. Then the doctors decided on the last chance and invited ... a medium. After his visit, all the "extra people" disappeared, and only Doris the Real remained alive. So believe after that in official medicine

Shirley Mason

PHOTO: THETAKEAWAY.ORG

American Shirley Mason for a long time existed not on her own, but in as many as four guises. All Shirley's personalities were independent and completely different from each other. They differed in intelligence, age and character. The most aggressive and harmful was the person who called herself Sally. During the hypnosis sessions, Sally was capricious, refused to obey, and misbehaved. Only flattery and persuasion managed to convince Sally to leave the body of her mistress and leave the others alone. Left without Sally, the three personalities of Shirley Mason quickly calmed down and united into a single whole.

Chris Sizemore

PHOTO: CHRONICLE.AUGUSTA.COM

Her case is known thanks to the book “The Three Faces of Eve” and the film of the same name. It is believed that Chris Sizemore fell ill due to a mental trauma received in early childhood.

When Chris became a patient of psychiatrists at a mature age, it was discovered that three Evas live in her - Eva White, Eva Black and Jane. All three personalities were absolutely independent, but they were persuaded to merge into one named Evelyn. The therapy is over. The patient appeared to be cured. But much later, in her woman, she admitted that in fact, not three, but as many as 22 subpersonalities lived in her. So not only Evelyn left the doctors, but a whole team of people who did not know each other.

In the same autobiography, the patient wrote that in the end the whole harem calmed down and formed a kind of united Chris Sizemore. But who knows ... Maybe some Polikarp Evgenievich wormed his way there, who will emerge later.

Kim Noble

PHOTO: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
The first symptoms of the disease appeared in an Englishwoman at the age of 11. Now Kim is about sixty - and more than 20 personalities live in her. Dominates over all Patricia, who writes the book “All about me”. “About me” is about the Kim who practically does not exist anymore. as individuals. But there is the young and love-hungry Abby, the kind housewife Bonnie, the chaste Salome, the eight-year-old Diabalus, and the twenty-year-old Ken. Kim does not have the strength to suppress various characters within herself, both the doctors and the family have come to terms with this. And social media friends.

A split personality is a special state of the psyche in which a person feels like several entities.

The scientific name of the disease is dissociative identity disorder , which is part of the group of mental phenomena with the isolation of some functions of consciousness from an integrated (general) idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthemselves and the world.

These separate personalities exist autonomously from each other and may never intersect in the thoughts and actions of a person. That is, in the subconscious, all the “characters” coexist, and in the consciousness they “happen” one by one.


The mechanism of development of this process has not been studied enough, it is assumed that a split personality is formed under the influence of a number of factors:

  • hereditary predisposition;
  • mental trauma;
  • family upbringing style - hypo-custody;
  • emotional disorders;
  • fears and anxieties;
  • rigid system of punishments in childhood;
  • physical and (or) psychological violence;
  • excessive danger, kidnapping;
  • “collisions” with death in accidents, during surgical operations, with traumatic injuries, with the “care” of loved ones;
  • virtual addictions to books, films, computer games;
  • prolonged stay without sleep and rest;
  • chronic stress;
  • poisoning with toxic substances;
  • drug addiction, alcoholism;
  • severe infections and diseases of the body;
  • heightened sense of guilt, protracted internal conflicts, complexes, shyness.

In the 90s, American scientists, while studying dissociative disorders, discovered their connection with the facts of violence in the biographies of patients (in 98% of cases out of 100, of which 85% are officially confirmed).

ICD-10 code

Dissociative identity disorder, including a split personality, medicine refers to a group of disorders under the code F44.

Personal pathologies in this section are pronounced, very clearly manifested, but do not have an organic etiology. These disorders are due to psychogenic causes, can cover various areas of the personality and social life of patients.

The section on conversion pathologies combines personality disorders with loss of memory at certain intervals, “altered” perception of oneself (creation of several or multiple images of one’s “I”), temporary loss of control over body movements.

In this connection, dissociative disorders can take the form of:

  • amnesia, "turning off" from the memory of traumatic or unpleasant events;
  • fugues, a combination of memory loss with a certain ritual of movements (automatic performance of ordinary tasks and duties, a sudden change in one's location);
  • stupor, a short-term "escape" from reality, with a lack of response to verbal, auditory or kinesthetic external stimuli;
  • trance and possession, i.e. lack of perception of oneself and the surrounding world, “departure” into unreal (fictitious) sensations and feelings.

Closer to the concept of a split personality in the ICD-10 is the term - "multiple personality disorder" ( F44.81), one of the serious damage to the psyche, is manifested by a temporary or permanent replacement of the real “I” with a fictional one, in order to mitigate traumatic feelings and experiences.
With some other psychological disorders, there may be a short-term tendency to dissociate.

For such diseases F60) relate:

  • paranoid states (paranoia is excluded), with high sensitivity to criticism of others, suspiciousness and suspicion;
  • schizoid disorders (but not schizophrenia), with low social motivation, constant fantasizing, desire to retire from the world;
  • dissocial disorder with the development of total indifference to loved ones and the outside world;
  • emotional pathologies of the personality, characterized by impulsiveness, whims, unpredictable behavior;
  • hysterical disorders with a tendency to demonstrative behavior, theatricality, pronounced egoism.In this group of diseases, there are only slight manifestations of “withdrawal” into oneself or from the world, deep “splitting” and loss of one’s own “I” do not occur.

Symptoms and signs

The disease "Split Personality" manifests itself in the form of:

  • partial "erasing" of current events from memory (patients do not remember themselves during periods of dominance of "fictitious entities");
  • changes in behavior (patients do things that are not characteristic of them);
  • sudden mood swings, facial expressions, voice.

The syndrome of multiple personality disorder is expressed in the formation by the subconscious of several images of one's own "I", and they can be strikingly different from each other: have a different gender, any age, nationality.

With this disease, personalities can quickly replace one another, which is expressed outwardly in the transformation of patients - they surprisingly accurately “imitate” the manners and style of speech of each new personality. If you only listen to such people, without the ability to visually observe them, you may get the impression that there are two different people in the room. And in some cases, "personalities" also communicate with each other, sorting out relationships or discussing "common" matters, they may experience one-sided or mutual sympathy, or hatred for each other.

The progression of the disease is manifested in the "reproduction" of new personalities, the rapid separation from the real "I" and immersion in a fictional character.

The transition from one personality to another is regular, and periods of “staying in character” can vary greatly in time and take from several minutes to several weeks.

In men

A split personality in the stronger sex often occurs against the background of strong shocks and is revealed:

  • participants in hostilities, anti-terrorist operations;
  • in survivors of sexual violence;
  • in boys who were not loved or offended by their mother;
  • in those who have suffered severe injuries;
  • in those suffering from chronic (long-term) alcoholism, drug addiction.

A frequent manifestation of the disorder in men is aggressive, deviant and antisocial behavior. In an altered state of consciousness, they endow fictional personalities with attractive qualities for themselves: masculinity, strength, fearlessness, adventurism, militancy.

Episodes of “replacement” of personality can also carry a sexual background, clamped and inactive men become uninhibited brutal males and set off to conquer women.

Many patients do not even know about their illness, and even more so do not know the name of this disease, until loved ones tell them about the observed changes in their lives and behavior.

Among women

In modern conditions, the disease is often detected in young and mature women, this is due to the rhythm of life. A woman must combine intensive professional activity, motherhood and the role of a housewife, many do not withstand physical and psychological stress and “break down”

How the weaker sex to understand that a dissociative disorder has begun, and is it time to turn to a specialist?

1. If there is a feeling of loss of control over one's own behavior, a feeling of disorientation and emptiness;
2. If unusual “discoveries” are found in everyday life: clothes of the wrong style, culinary dishes (not favorite), rearrangement of furniture;
3. If the attitude of the surrounding people has changed (wary looks, avoidance of meetings or telephone conversations).

Diagnostics

Split personality is determined by the following criteria:

1. Identification of at least two entities in patients with their own character, outlook and behavior.
2. Establishment of a regular and stable type of dissociation.
3. Exclusion of organic pathology by methods: EEG, X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, CT.

If you suspect this disease, you can test for a split personality online, with the definition of:

  • changes in self-awareness, memory and actions;
  • disturbances in emotional life, rapid mood swings;
  • worsening relationships with loved ones;
  • facts of constant violence, traumatic situations (in the past and present), excessive professional and personal responsibility.

Video:

If suspicions of a split personality are confirmed by testing or questionnaires and the stories of others, it is necessary to contact a psychologist, psychotherapist or psychiatrist. Only after individual consultations and a complete examination can a specialist make such a diagnosis.

Treatment

The therapy includes two areas:

  • psychotherapeutic;
  • medication.

In the first case, a treatment program is developed using hypnotic and relaxation techniques, psychoanalysis methods or symbol-drama. These methods are based on identifying underlying problems and working on getting rid of fears of them.

In the second, according to the doctor's indications, patients are prescribed antidepressants, tranquilizers, sedatives.
Some patients are well helped by electroconvulsive therapy, artificial sleep.

The treatment of the disease is long and sometimes lifelong, but only by knowing what to do if you have a split personality, and by contacting a qualified specialist in a timely manner, it is possible to defeat this ailment.

Split personality- This is a relatively rare mental disorder, which is attributed to the class of dissociative pathologies. As a result of this pathology, the personality of the individual is divided, which creates the feeling that two personalities coexist in one human subject. According to another terminology, two personalities coexisting in an individual are called two ego states.

What is a split personality called? The described ailment is also called organic dissociative or personal identity, personality splitting, multiple personality syndrome.

The disease of a split personality is characterized by "switching", as a result of which in an individual one personality becomes a replacement for another. Ego-states can have different genders, differ in nationality, intellectual abilities, beliefs, be in different age periods. The reaction to the same everyday situations in two coexisting personalities is also different. Each ego in this pathology has individual patterns of perception and well-established interaction with society and the environment. The person active at the moment after the so-called “switching” does not remember what is happening when another ego state was active, which leads to the destruction of the life of a person suffering from a split personality, the occurrence of serious mental disorders. Often, individuals with this pathology are prone to and commit various actions of a criminal nature.

Causes of split personality

The split personality syndrome is a whole device, thanks to which the individual's brain gets the opportunity to dismember certain memories or thoughts that are significant to ordinary consciousness. The subconscious images divided in this way are not subject to erasure, as a result of which their repeated reproduction and spontaneous emergence in consciousness becomes possible. Their activity occurs due to the action of the corresponding trigger devices - triggers. Such triggers can be various events and objects surrounding the individual in the event of an incident that is traumatic for him. It is believed that the splitting of identity is provoked by a combination of the following circumstances: the strongest stressful impact, the ability to dissociate the state, as well as the manifestation of protective mechanisms in the course of the individual formation of the organism with an established set of factors inherent in this process. In addition, the manifestation of protective mechanisms can be observed in childhood. This is due to a lack of participation and lack of care for the baby at the time of his experience of a traumatic experience, or with a lack of protection necessary to avoid subsequent experiences that are undesirable for him. In children, a sense of a unified identity is not innate. It develops as a consequence of the influence of many different experiences and factors.

The syndrome of split personality is in itself a rather long and serious process. However, if a subject develops a dissociative disorder, it does not necessarily indicate the presence of a mental illness. Dissociation to a moderate degree often occurs due to stress, as well as in people deprived of a long time of sleep (sleep). In addition, dissociation may occur when receiving a dose of nitric oxide, for example, during dental surgery.

It can also be noted among the most common variations of the dissociative state and such a state in which the subject is completely immersed in the plot of the film or absorbed in the book, that the reality around him seems to fall out of the temporal space continuum, as a result of which time flies by and unnoticed. In addition, there is a form of dissociation that arises as a result of hypnotic influence. In this case, a temporary transformation of the state occurs, which is familiar to consciousness. Often, individuals have to experience a dissociative state when practicing some religions, which use the introduction of subjects into trance states.

In moderate forms of manifestation of a dissociative disorder, as well as complex ones, as factors provoking a splitting of consciousness, the traumatic experience experienced by people in childhood, due to abuse, is singled out. In addition, the appearance of such forms can often be found among participants in robbery assaults, military operations, torture of various directions and scales, the transfer of a car accident or some kind of natural disaster. The formation of dissociative clinical symptoms is relevant for subjects with pronounced reactions in post-traumatic post-stress disorder or in a disorder caused by somatization.

According to studies conducted earlier by North American scientists, more than 98% of patients (adults) who had a splitting of personal identity faced violent situations in childhood, of which 85% have documented facts of this statement. As a result, it became possible to assert that mental, intimate coercion experienced in childhood is the main reason that provokes the occurrence of a split personality. The next factor that can cause dissociative disorder is the loss of a close relative at an early age, the transfer of a serious illness, or another stressful event that carried large-scale experiences.

In addition to the above reasons, the factors provoking the splitting of consciousness include genetic predisposition, the lack of help in the case of ill-treatment by unauthorized persons.

Also in the modern world, another reason has appeared that causes a split in identity - an addiction to computer games, in which individuals often become related to the character they have chosen. Many experts believe that in recent years, gambling addiction, along with Internet addiction, are the underlying causes of an increase in the number of morbidity. In addition, individuals with a weak character, weak-willed people who seek protection for their own person at a subconscious level, constitute a risk group for the occurrence of a dissociative disorder.

Symptoms and signs of a split personality

Almost everyone has probably heard about the term describing such a psychological condition as a split personality, but only a few understand what this disease really means, what its manifestations are, and what the methods of treating such a condition are. Most ordinary people often mistakenly call a split personality schizophrenia. Therefore, the question: “what is the name of a split personality?” is often answered. In fact, schizophrenia has nothing to do with the syndrome of splitting personal identity.

Schizophrenia is characterized by the presence, loss of reality. Patients can hear voices, often cannot distinguish the imaginary from the real world. All symptoms are perceived by schizophrenics as a consequence of external influences, and not inherent in their own personality. In schizophrenia, some functions of the psyche are split off from the personality. When dissociated, individuals have at least two alternative personalities that coexist in the same body and are characterized by a different set of characteristics, may have different ages and genders. People with dissociation often react differently in similar situations. This is due to the presence of individual patterns of perception and response in each ego state.

In the first turn, the manifestations of dissociation are expressed in a strong imbalance, patients often lose touch with reality, as a result of which they cannot realize what is happening. In addition, memory impairment (lapses) is typical. Patients suffering from a bifurcation of personal identity have insomnia, they complain of pain in the head region, and profuse sweating may also be present. In addition, it has been established that the manifestations of the dissociative syndrome are expressed in the absence of logical thinking, quite rarely the subject understands that he is seriously ill. A person suffering from a splitting of consciousness can violently express his own joy, and after a couple of minutes he falls into a sad state for no apparent reason. Joy is replaced by a whiny mood. The feelings of subjects suffering from a split identity are rather contradictory to themselves, to the surroundings and to current events in the world. The symptomatology of a split identity does not depend on age.

Signs of a split personality.

It is sometimes difficult for the individual suffering from dissociation to realize the presence of the disease. However, the close environment can determine the presence of a mental illness by the changed behavior of the individual, which consists in unpredictable actions that are absolutely not inherent in his character and behavior. At the same time, it must be understood that such behavioral transformations are completely unrelated to the use of alcohol-containing liquids, narcotic drugs or psychotropic drugs. Often the behavior of individuals with dissociation can be assessed as completely inadequate. Also a sign of the splitting of personal identity are significant memory lapses.

The characteristic signs of a split identity can have varying degrees of severity, as they depend on the subjective qualities of the diseased organism. The degree of progression of the disease is due to the duration of the pathological process, the temperament of the patient, but in approximately ninety percent of clinical cases, immediate hospitalization and isolation are required. Although at the beginning the patient may not pose a danger to his own person and environment, but due to the inadequacy of his behavior, such a threat to society and himself may appear.

First of all, the danger is associated with memory lapses, since they leave part of the events from the life of patients beyond the boundaries of consciousness. Being under the influence of an alter ego, an individual is able to perceive information, but then, when another personality takes over, he loses it. This happens every time you change personalities. In a person suffering from this ailment, two completely unfamiliar personalities can coexist.

Secondly, an absolutely normal and habitual state for patients with a split consciousness is flight. In other words, such patients can suddenly leave home, work or study. Such attempts to leave are quite dangerous for health, since, being in an alter personality, the individual does not recognize the place and is not able to understand where he is, as a result of which he panics. Therefore, it is very important to control the movement of the patient, otherwise strangers may suffer.

Thirdly, the main personality of the patient becomes depressed, because a new alter character dominates his life. In the state of an individual with a split identity, depression, depression and depressive moods begin to prevail. It is also impossible to exclude the possibility of seizures, characterized by increased excitability and activity.

The signs of a split personality are progressing every year, as a result of which the personality of the individual practically disappears.

In some cases, the alter personality helps the individual to forget or block negative experiences, painful memories. There is a kind of self-hypnosis that there has never been a problem or a traumatic experience. In such a case, the personality created by the individual will dominate his life.

The immediate symptoms of a split personality are considered quite indicative, but at the same time they are quite difficult to identify, since they are often hidden. Among the well-known manifestations are: loss of time, loss of skills, facts of the individual's actions, which he himself does not remember, provided by other people.

Key symptoms of a split personality: auditory hallucinations, phenomena and, trance-like states, change in self-perception, awareness of other personalities, confusion in self-identification, memories of traumatic experiences experienced in the past.

Auditory hallucinations are a fairly common symptom of dissociative disorders. Often, the alter personality at the moment of feeling hallucinations really talks, it is her voice that hears the self, which is in relationship with the external environment. Voices can also be a manifestation of such a disease as schizophrenia, while a split personality is characterized by qualitatively different hallucinations.

Depersonalization is manifested in a feeling of detachment from one's own body, but at the same time the perception of the surrounding world is not disturbed.

Trance-like states are expressed in a temporary lack of response to external stimuli, the patient's gaze is directed "to nowhere".

Change in self-perception - a sudden state of inexplicable change (transformation) in personal self-perception. An individual may feel that his body or thoughts belong to another person, there is bodily insensitivity, a violation of cognitive processes, the ability to perform daily skills. A change in self-perception is considered one of the essential criteria for dissociation found on a diagnostic examination.

Awareness of other personalities can be manifested by its complete absence of such awareness, partial or full awareness of all existing personalities. The manifestation of this symptom is expressed as an opportunity to activate another personality or to speak on behalf of an alter personality, to hear another personality.

Confusion in self-definition or loss of orientation in self-definition is defined as a feeling of ambiguity, confusion or contradiction in the orientation of one's identity.

Psychotic symptoms can often be misdiagnosed as schizophrenia (split personality), although it cannot be diagnosed by psychotic symptoms, however, their significance for diagnosis should not be reduced.

People with a split personality have a basic personality that responds to the given name and surname given to individuals at birth, and an alter personality that alternately takes over their consciousness. Small personalities are also susceptible to the described ailment.

Circumstances associated with the use of physical acts, violence, abuse, bullying by adults, serious traffic accidents, natural disasters, long treatment and recovery periods or painful medical procedures contribute to the splitting of the personality of babies. At the same time, they lack support and protection during such difficult periods.

Bifurcation of personal identity in babies is characterized by:

- choosiness of tastes;

- different manner of speaking;

- sudden mood swings;

- aggressive behavior with a "glassy" look;

- conversations with oneself ("we");

- inability to interpret own actions;

However, it should be borne in mind that the passion for the game process or the presence of a fictional friend will not always be a symptom of a split identity. Such manifestations may be a variant of the norm. In addition, almost seventy percent of babies with also have dissociative disorders, due to susceptibility to stressful situations.

Treatment for split personality

The disease of split personality needs a complex effect with the use of drugs. Often, the treatment of a split personality takes quite a long time. Often, people with a split personality are under medical supervision for almost their entire lives.

Of the medicines most often prescribed:

- drugs used for the treatment of schizophrenia - antipsychotics, for example, Haloperidol, in some cases, atypical antipsychotics, namely Azaleptin, may be prescribed;

- antidepressants, such as Prozac;

tranquilizers such as clonazepam.

Drug treatment must be prescribed with extreme caution, since in patients with dissociative disorder the risk of addiction is much higher than in patients with other diseases.

In this case, the drugs are selected individually. Before prescribing any type of therapy, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive examination.

Diagnostics is carried out according to the following criteria:

- the individual has two different personalities, each of which is characterized by its own attitude to any situation and the environment as a whole;

- the individual is not able to remember personal important information;

- the state of bifurcation is not provoked by the intake of alcoholic beverages, narcotic substances or other toxic substances.

In addition, it is important to exclude:

- tumor processes of the brain;

- post-traumatic stress disorder;

- herpetic infection;

- schizophrenia;

- somatoform disorders;

- mental retardation;

- post-traumatic amnesia;

- amnestic syndrome;

Unfortunately, today there is no psychotherapeutic method of treatment that would cope with this pathology completely. Basically, all therapeutic methods can only weaken the clinical manifestations of this disease.

The main methods of preventing a split identity are:

- in a timely appeal to specialists in the event of the appearance of primary signs of the disease, even the most insignificant;

- systematic visits to a psychotherapist upon completion of the course of therapy;

- avoidance of stress;

- stop taking alcoholic beverages, drugs and medications without medical prescription.

Hello, I don't understand what is happening to me. I began to fear catastrophes allegedly predicted by Nostradamus or Vanga. Like some other person lives in me and constantly intimidates me. I freak out every day. And very strongly. I had a lot of stress when I read them on the Internet. She used to be a normal person. Now natural mentally unbalanced. I began to think about suicide. The second personality cries: remember, remember! My heart skips a beat, adrenaline is released. This continues for the second month. I often withdraw into myself, engage in self-intimidation. Phobia of the future. How is it treated?

I am a completely normal person, but I am also worried about this condition: I cannot stay at home alone, especially at night. It seems to me that there is someone in me. When I look in the mirror, it's like it's not me. I quickly run out of the house, I feel bad, I want to go to at least someone, just not to be alone. In my life I suffered a great grief: my husband died and I was left alone with three small children, my husband was very good. My mother also said that in childhood, when I was very small, at 2 or 3 years old, I fell and hit my head hard. I can't know the reason. I told this to the children, they are very worried about me, they try not to leave me alone, but this is not an option. Help, please advice. I am shy and afraid to go to a psychologist. Thank you.

  • Hello Mava. If fear controls you, you need to go to a psychotherapist. If you are more afraid than the situation requires, then you already need to work on this together with a specialist. You can independently learn to track the first signs of an approaching acute state of fear, they are individual for everyone: palms sweat, fever, someone feels sick.

Help! What to do, my personality was forcibly blocked with the help of hypnosis, now I have lost some abilities, and there is no mood at all. Feeling empty, perhaps the wrong person was blocked?

Whatever they say, I do not consider such a personality disorder to be something serious.
For example, I myself live with this, and it's okay. Yes, she (another person) exists and has a completely different character. Even more, she is a girl. I don’t see anything shameful when she lives in my head.
Jess has a bright character and, simply, chic emotions and feelings. She perfectly lets me understand how women feel. This is an experience that few men can have. I envy myself a little.
We get along great with her. Sometimes, I deliberately "let" Jess in the head in order to enjoy something. For example, watching a movie. True, I don’t put especially tearful ones. I'm not used to this kind of reaction. They say that the second (and third ...) personality is gradually crowding out the main one. I doubt it, because I control it completely. I can completely “give” myself, or look into her head.
By the way, she dresses unexpectedly, for me. It's impossible to predict. Likewise with the body. Well, I see her body. Beautiful and sexy, but does not cause any excitement. It's as if you saw your sister naked.
I suppose that I should have been born a girl, but it turned out how it happened. Or maybe it should have been. On the other hand, it's 2in1. Not so bad. To be treated? Yes, for nothing. I don't want to lose this.
In general, we live with Jessica peacefully and calmly. She even loves me. You can't fake emotions, especially since I can read them right out of Jess's head. I take it easy.
Additionally, there was a plus. I began to look at women in a completely different way. I see them, what is called "through". This is both good and bad. It's good that I know, it's bad that most of them are complete liars. It's depressing. Is it really so bad that it is necessary to lie?
I’m not going to “treat”, and from what? I consider it murder. The other person also has the right to life.

  • Well, the music played for a while. Less than a week later, the nice girl Jess melted into me. In any case, I don’t feel her anymore, except that the feeling of “her presence” remains.
    Instead, another appeared. Let's see how long this one lasts.

Good afternoon! Tell me, my husband has a split personality or some other problem. He can be kind, good, cheerful for a whole week. Then some insignificant moment happens, for example, my son and I left the house a couple of minutes later, or I didn’t cook a salad, in general, some trifle, and he turns into an angry, negative person. He stops talking, answers questions dryly, pretends not to notice me at all. And so it can last 3-4 days. Sometimes even longer. Then either the conflict escalates, tears, screams, once even broke my phone. Or we're having a tough conversation. Or he himself on the sly defends. This is constantly repeated - sometimes he is good, sometimes he is bad. There is no stability. And it's very exhausting. He said that as a child he had problems with his father. And my mother constantly worked, did not show tender feelings.

hello. Recently, I realized that I have a problem again. I sometimes talk to myself, argue, criticize and insult. I had this problem a few years ago and, as I understand it, appeared due to my marijuana use. It was constant, and in case of any unsuccessful situation or act, a flurry of criticism and insults fell upon oneself. But I managed to get rid of it precisely under the influence of grass. It was as if in one moment, my head suddenly became quiet and calm, and I immediately realized that everything had passed. For several years I lived without it and I must say that during this period life improved. But at one point it came back. When talking with her girlfriend, she asked me to tell something about herself that she did not know about me, and suddenly I remembered that I had such a condition. Gradually, I again began to talk to myself and get rid of this is no longer possible. The strangest thing is that I completely forgot about him for these years. Now it began to frighten me that there had already been several situations when, under the influence of alcohol, I created some nasty things and, of course, I don’t remember this. I'm not sure if it was not under the influence of alcohol, but I don't think it's normal

    • there is no longer a girl, and for a long time, it's just that this problem is not something that interferes with life, but periodically pops up in life. I don’t know if I have a split personality, maybe it’s just some kind of psychosis, because not everything agrees on the symptoms.

Hello, tell me please. I have a cousin who has been behaving very strangely since childhood. Previously, I did not pay much attention to this, but now it is beyond the scope of what is permitted. Does her behavior look like symptoms of a split personality or can anyone come across such a disease.
You communicate with her, an adequate person is absolutely. He can laugh and say something else, in general it is pleasant to communicate. He goes out the door, comes home and says things that were not there at all. For example, here is one of the cases. Calls says, I'll come to you? My mother asked me to pick up her things. (her mother is my aunt) I say yes, of course, come. Comes in, we all talk, okay, drinks tea, sits for 2 hours. Everything leaves in pleasant tones. Upon arrival home there, I find out that she says that I called her, said come pick up your things or I'll throw them away!
That is, a person spins fables. She already pushed everyone in the family in this way. At a confrontation when you ask why and why? Doesn't answer. Or says I don't know.
Another vivid example, she is 21. Her mother gave birth to her brother, at that time she was 19, her brother was just born. She told all the teachers with whom she talked from school and wrote to old acquaintances on the Internet that this was her child, she had just been born.
And there is a sea of ​​such incomprehensible lies and it is not clear why they are needed. We didn’t pay attention, all relatives are used to that this happens, but the last straw was that having recently come to visit me, we are doing repairs and there is dust on the floor and things are in boxes, well, a repair mess. Having visited me, having fun for an hour talking, saying goodbye, she left and my mother calls me and says you have cockroaches there? What the hell cockroaches! He says I was sitting there teeming with cockroaches, which was even disgusting and I left! I'm shocked that we don't have cockroaches, we don't even have dirt. And she sat contentedly and was in no hurry to go anywhere. The man's head is not exactly right. Why and why she does it I don't know. But it seems to be a disease, it’s just not possible to behave like that. Has anyone come across similar examples? Thanks

Good afternoon!
Faced such a problem, we have been living with a girl for a year now and began to notice her that she very often leaves herself and at first did not comment on the reasons for this condition. Not long ago, she trusted and said that for a long time she has had 3 personalities, one is naive, depressive, compares her with a child, the second is independent, courageous, persistent, decisive, and the third is a rebel, a slob and all these three personalities of the same sex , of the same age and have their own names.
Yes, she had childhood traumas, such as growing up without a father (who, as she says, was greatly lacking, he left them when she was little), a great lack of attention from her mother (for the most part, her grandmother raised her).
Describing her state at certain moments, she notices that sometimes some moments she cannot remember that each person has his own desires, his preferences, roughly speaking, one wants a family, the second wants a non-binding relationship, and the third wants to be alone, And so it is in clothes and in many other things. Very often, she cannot understand her thoughts, since each person has her own opinion and she does not understand what will be right, and she goes into herself from this.
After reading this article, the question arises, should I contact a specialist or can I do it on my own?
Thank you very much!

  • Good afternoon, Vitaly. The biological age of a person is not as important as his state of mind. The American psychologist E. Bern identified three I-states in which every person happens from time to time: Parent, Child or Adult. This is fine.
    We recommend to read:

Perhaps my conclusions are only the result of amateurism, but let's go from the opposite: what we know for sure, a person's personality, his self-awareness, his inner voice is nothing more than the interconnections at the tips of the synapses of our neurons. You are billions of established neural connections. Certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain responsibilities, so one part is responsible for protection and security, and the other for passion, attraction and pleasure. Now imagine that the interconnections of these particular areas are broken, that is, they do not communicate with other areas, as a result of which, when a dangerous situation occurs, the brain delegates authority to the zone responsible for security, it takes the reins, but does not communicate with other zones at the same time. If this happens repeatedly, then this zone will have its own empirical experience, which we will perceive as a separate person, because of the violation of relationships, this experience will not be available to the rest of the brain. In fact, in one head there is one personality, only in people suffering from this disease it is split into regions of the brain. Under the available scientific data, this hypothesis fits perfectly: as an example, this article describes that certain triggers cause the change of "personalities", and this also coincides with my conclusion.

Hello. I'm 40 years old. I discovered in myself the symptoms of a split personality, which you describe in your article, but I will never turn to psychiatrists, I am afraid of them. The fact is that I often (since childhood) have all sorts of thoughts in my mind, they are of a negative nature, chaotic and uncontrollable. They seem to emerge from the subconscious in phrases, it scares me. Recently, I have been depressed after prolonged stress (I am one of those people who do not know how to deal with stress), I was getting worse. Then came a period, a period of phobias and panic attacks, I thought I was going crazy. And
, one day, after a sleepless night, I had a symptom described in the article - a very negative phrase in my mind, as if from a different face, while I felt detached. I got scared, I'm afraid to go crazy and do something bad ... Recently, it happened again a couple of times, although panic attacks have passed for a month now. I will not go to a psychiatrist, please tell me what is happening to me, I already live in fear. I mean obsessive phrases that arise spontaneously and frighten me. Thanks in advance.

  • I am not an expert, but I think you should not worry about a split personality, all your symptoms come down to elementary dissatisfaction with your own life. I think you really need professional help. This is a stupid excuse - the fear of doctors! Surgeons are probably the most feared, but they do not suffer from this, because during an attack of appendicitis you go under the knife like a pretty little one, your depression is the same appendix, only in consciousness.

Hello! Please tell me if there is verified evidence that the physiology of these different personalities is different. I read that with a split personality (smokers - does not smoke, drinks alcohol - does not drink) different states of organs, blood, pressure). This is true? Please recommend literature on this subject.

  • Hello Sergey. The scientific community has not come to a consensus on what is considered a split personality (multiple personality), because in the history of medicine before the 1950s there were too few documented cases of this disorder. In recent years, the number of cases of dissociative identity disorder has increased dramatically. Critics of the dissociative identity disorder model argue that the diagnosis of a multiple personality condition is a phenomenon that is more common in English-speaking countries. Billy Milligan is one of the most famous people with a multiple personality diagnosis in the history of psychiatry. Milligan's personality split included 24 full-fledged personalities. The story of Billy Milligan is told in Daniel Keyes' documentary novels The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan and Milligan's Wars.

    • Hello Vedmesh N.A.! Thanks a lot for your answer! Can you recommend any specialized literature on this topic? I am very interested in the physiological state of the body during the "transition" of personalities. Thank you.

  • Sergey, the transfer and replacement of physical parameters is possible only in a narrow range due to the hormonal background, but all the main characteristics of the body will remain unchanged, because any restructuring will require enormous energy costs, which our bodies do not possess. In general, the body at the molecular level is a chain of billions of coordinated chemical reactions that support metabolism. Abrupt changes in any part of this chain lead to the death of the whole organism (most poisons act precisely on this basis) try to look at this disease more mundane, like our consciousness, it is contained in the brain and does not go beyond its physiological influence on the body.

Hello, I'm Svetlana, I'm almost 13 years old. I am a very sensitive person, I am very worried about other people and I try to help them in any way I can. But I am categorically against helping myself, because I immediately consider that my problems are empty lies from my mouth. So... A month ago, I asked my mother to go to a psychologist (I was very depressed and often cried), but my mother said that I had no problems and there was nothing to do there. Recently, I was talking to myself about my experiences, crying a lot. I had thoughts that it was not normal. Again she asked to go to a psychologist, but my mother said that there was nothing to do there, I was not surprised. An hour ago, I started to get hysterical, I again talked to myself (there is no one at home), I asked myself questions, gave advice, but I did not find answers to my questions. thought again
“I talk to myself, I say what I have to say to a psychologist.
I calmed down, lay down on the bed and thought flashed through my head
People have feelings, that's why they are so vulnerable.
I started to laugh not with my own laughter, I laughed and brought this thought in my head again and again, it caused even more laughter. I laughed for about 10 minutes. I went to the mirror and it was as if I didn’t exist, as if I was somewhere inside my body, but it’s not me, suddenly I spoke
“It’s been in you for a long time, you pitiful person. *grin* Y-yes, it's a pity that I got into your body, you are too kind, but I managed to spoil you a little and you are rude to people (alas, I often snap at my relatives, for which I hate myself). But very soon I will be able to suppress your kindness, and the guy you love so desperately (I like the guy who treated me very cruelly), he is not stupid, he also has a demon in him, like me in you, his demon is strong don't say anything *laughter*. I see demons in people, but you still can’t, stupid, use this quality of mine, you will see the essence of people. *laugh*. You now think that you have lost your mind, but I have been in you for a very long time, and you did not know. This is so funny and ridiculous. Well, I have to go. Sit in thought.
I left the mirror, heard her voice in my head ...
I'm going crazy? Do I need a psychiatrist? I want to be myself. Mom won't believe me, I don't know what to do.

  • Tell your mom: “You don’t live my life and you don’t know my problems that I want to talk about with a psychologist.” And what you think is very similar to hysteria, you are winding yourself up. The patient does not realize that he is sick, but you all understand this is normal, well, what kind of person has not talked to himself at least once.

Good afternoon!
I want to ask about a daughter who is almost 20 years old. I can't tell if she has schizophrenia or a split personality. She cannot be alone for more than 5 hours. In the mirror, he begins to see himself as another and loses his sense of reality. Can cut or scratch hands, feet, and speaks to return to reality, but does not feel pain. Sometimes he wants to end his life. it doesn't make sense. She is haunted by constant feelings: loneliness, uselessness, unfulfillment, low self-esteem. Sometimes at night he hears voices, it is difficult to fall asleep. She says that they do not like her and do not understand .... inconsistent, illogical. Mood changes quickly.
Hidden, sometimes lies, sometimes very smart ..
Frequent headaches. In childhood, she could tear her hair and rarely bang her head against the wall .. It didn’t last long. We went to a special kindergarten. Father and mother of different nationalities. She felt like a Russian for a long time, until she realized that she was more like an Indian. This is a fact from which there is no escape.
I, my mother, gave her as much time as I could, but I myself had an oncological disease with chemo, irradiation, surgery .. hormone therapy. I myself fell out of real life ... Probably this is already a lot and uninteresting. Sorry. I'm waiting for advice. What's up with your daughter? And how should I deal with her?
Thanks anyway.

  • Hello Vera. To figure out what is happening with her daughter, a face-to-face consultation with a practical psychologist is necessary, if deviations from the norm are revealed, the specialist will refer her for a consultation to a psychiatrist or neuropsychiatrist.

      • Vera, the problem of a daughter who is dragging herself from childhood via Skype cannot be solved. In order for you to understand how a consultation-appointment with a psychologist or psychotherapist takes place, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with:


        “Can cut or scratch hands, feet and says to return to reality” - This behavior indicates auto-aggression. What is it - we recommend to read:

        "And how should I deal with her?" - Love unconditionally, listen, understand, support, strengthen faith in one's own strength, talk about your love, show by your behavior that you accept your daughter with her problems.
        “Sometimes at night he hears voices, it is difficult to fall asleep.” - In this case, medical assistance is needed.

Hmm... Good evening.
I am quite a creative person (I draw, I write), but sometimes there is a strong self-doubt.
For example, it's as if I'm telling myself that, let's say, this character is plagiarism, and the plot is too "raw" for subsequent writing.
Tell me, is it just an inner voice (which, at least, every person has) or should I really go to a psychologist?

  • It happens to me too. I think we're all right. For creative people, the desire for excellence and low self-esteem always spoil everything. I think so. Let's wait for the expert's opinion.

My name is Lena, I'm 13 and my very beloved uncle died two years ago, after that my character and behavior changed a lot. As a child, I was a very kind girl, the soul of the company in general, an extrovert. And after my uncle, I began to talk to myself, referring to the interlocutor (myself) as you or you, when I talk to myself I can say stupid things for no reason to laugh, but only when other people don’t see it, sometimes I can come up with a story that was not with me in order to make an impression: sympathy, pity, make a person laugh, and very often I begin to believe in it myself, but I most often forget what was actually. Now I have become an introvert, but at the same time I talk a lot, it happens that I can tell my whole life to a complete stranger who just expressed even the slightest interest in me. My mood changes very often, literally in an hour or half an hour. It seems to me that I have a manic-depressive psychosis, but I don’t tell my mother, she will say that I’m just making it up. Tell me what's wrong with me?

  • Hello, Elena. The death of loved ones leaves a tangible imprint on the mental health of every person. Experiences of this nature can carry an explanation of one's own life, a rethinking of the value of being. Grief leaves its mark on relationships with others. Here there may be a loss of warmth, irritability, a desire to retire. The complexity of your situation is aggravated by the fact that you are entering adolescence, a transitional period between childhood and adulthood. Vigor inherent in this age, multi-colored plans, excitement are quickly replaced by a feeling of sadness, weakness and complete passivity. Emotionally uneven, unstable background is typical for this period. Puberty will be marked by powerful psychological transformations in your personality.
    The chronological boundaries of this age are not strictly defined; it is often placed between 11-12 and 16-17 years. Be patient. It will definitely end and everything will be fine for you.

My name is Alena and I would like to ask for help or advice)))) I am 24 years old, the last year of my life I had strong obsessive thoughts, I somehow coped with them, but the last 3 months have simply become a disaster for me, I have lost feelings and emotions in relation to my son, husband, and in general to all relatives and relatives, I don’t recognize myself in the mirror, I don’t feel like myself, inadequate, stupid thoughts and phrases are constantly spinning in my head, the feeling that another person is sitting in me. I can’t recover, I don’t have the strength to do anything, I look at everything and want to cry, I forgot my former self, I started talking to myself, I’m very scared of this state, but my son is only 5 months old, please give me advice on where to turn .

Hello. I read the article - very interesting, but needs stylistic adjustment. However, that’s not about it .. I am surprised at the comments after the article - how many people want to have a split personality, justifying all their whims and antisocial behavior by someone else .. “He”, “she”, they are to blame, but not “I” .

How I got into this state, I don't know. I don't even remember how and when She appeared in me. I only know that her name is Natasha, she is a police officer and she is 35. Despite the fact that she is a law enforcement officer, Natasha is angry and categorical, not like the real me. Sometimes I hear her talking to me, she has a beautiful sonorous voice. I do not have a replacement of consciousnesses, I just live with her in the same body, I talk, I consult. I don't want to accept the fact that I need to see a psychologist. But because of this, I have problems with self-determination: I can’t even say what my opinion is about certain situations, what my character is, because people see me differently, and when I say that I am kind and specific, they grin and joke: “Well, yes, but recently some other woman yelled at her friend?” And the most important thing is that I understand that it is I who offend people, but at such moments I cannot control my flow of thoughts and speech, I ask you to stop - they send me. Natasha sends! Here is laughter and sin! I do not know what to do. Maybe it's my fantasy, or something else?

  • You must have experienced some kind of shock or shock. At this moment, some part of I-departed from you and, apparently, it has the role of a critic. You can negotiate with this part, find it and return it. Otherwise, you will not have life. Or a hypnotist.

Hello. There is a strange situation in my life with my young man, who lived for five months under the guise of a person he invented. Under a different full name, under a different age, date of birth, hiding the stamp in the passport. He showed me another non-existent life of his. I wrote about my parents, about the size of the salary, and a lot more about that, which would not at all affect our relationship and it would not matter if I didn’t know this. And he behaved very plausibly, that during this time I never suspected him of anything, there were not even any small oversights, nothing. The person got used to the image of a non-existent personality so much that it seemed to me that he believed it himself. and it was the perfect image. And then he told me everything and I saw an absolutely notorious, insecure person who is embarrassed by his profession, because someone once instilled uncertainty in him. I thought that a university teacher, a candidate of science, is not serious for a man of his age. He was very much worried about the financial side of the issue, he is embarrassed by his salary. He told me about the ideal family, about the love of his father for his mother, but in fact it turned out that his father left the family when he was two years old. I do not believe that a mentally healthy person can compose all this and behave so naturally.

  • Hello Veronica. Probably, the guy really liked you and he wanted to make the perfect impression on you, to keep you near him, and therefore he began to impersonate who he really is.

Good afternoon, I started to communicate with myself in the 1st grade. Classmates (some) began to see that I communicate with an empty shell. And they started laughing and calling me crazy. I have only 2 personalities (except for the real me).
The 1st personality is the one from the first grade. She did not have a first and last name before 6th grade. Her first and last name is Abigail (Abby) Santry. Age unknown. But her story is very interesting and touching ... Fortunately, she doesn’t do me any harm. And Abby herself is very kind.
2nd person - but this one is very dangerous for me. To be honest, she appeared to me (She was still in the 4th grade, but did not harm me) only at the end of the 6th grade. Sali Walder is her name. She is vile, cunning, a liar, evil, capricious, selfish, arrogant and most importantly crazy.
The reason for the appearance of Sali, I think because of childhood. When they beat me hard, scolded me (only my mother raised me), laughed, called me names, blackmailed me (although they joked easily) and put pressure on my nerves (classmates, my older cousin and his sister), I felt loneliness and I wanted to either fail through the ground or escape somewhere far, far away. To be honest, I didn’t hear her in my head and didn’t pay attention to her. She wants to help me, crooked dear. When it hurts me, she appears when there is no one near me. That for the beginning says that everything is fine, do not be afraid, the time will come and you will answer them in person. But I don't understand what she's all about, but I'm afraid I can't control her. I tried my best. Even when it was very, very hard for me and I had to yell at someone, I waited for the time when I would be alone. And all the time it seems to me that no one (even my mother) understands me (Although it doesn’t seem to me, but for sure) and that feeling that I am alone with myself. And when I remember Sali, and then my past, I start crying for no reason.
When I'm alone at home, then I can talk, only alone with Abby.
I don’t even know whether to tell my mother about my problem or to keep silent and do it myself. If I tell her, I will start having mood swings. She may not understand me ... And she will start saying that this is some kind of nonsense.
And if the most, I'm not sure what to get, but I'll try. Tell me what to do with this situation?

Good day. I read the article and was horrified.
Since childhood, there was a habit of talking to someone. I could almost see her, she had a name, a look, an age, and even a history. But over time, she disappeared, the image grew from a tiny "nut" sitting on her shoulder to a real person. In the dark, I even think that I can see their outlines. I can often change my mind in one second, perform uncontrollable actions (like: I ran after someone and abruptly started to move away or just hit a person in the face). There are three personalities. One I do not know, it is somewhere deep inside. Apparently the subconscious. The second is me, able to support, become a support, seemingly kind, strong in character. And the third, main problem is the girl whose name I pronounce every day. She is evil and selfish. She often has the thought of killing someone, screaming, abandoning, betraying. Once I was offered a big job and I really wanted to do it, but she screamed, fought back and in the end just left. I cried along the way, but my legs carried me by themselves. Sometimes there is a struggle inside for the right to control the mind, but usually everything is quiet. I'm just talking about my skills to someone. I feel eyes on me, I even hear their whispers. Even now, they are right next to each other. And the worst thing is that I realize it all. This is not childish nonsense, I'm not even 16. It started a long time ago, everything progressed. There were powerful emotional upheavals. The worst of them are betrayal, slander and the outbreak of hostilities. It's not even that I'm talking to myself, but I'm telling it out loud to someone. I will no longer say that there are several images, incarnations of people that never existed. I would be grateful if you help me.

Good afternoon.
I have been talking to myself since childhood. For example, “Go wash the dishes”, etc. and then I begin to conduct a dialogue inside, moreover, one I send myself to do something, and the other I deny. It's hardly a disease, but it seems to me that normal people should not do this. It's a little scary. I'm trying to stop doing this, but it turns out by itself, on the machine.
Tell me how to get rid of this, please.

  • Hello Maria. The inner voice belongs to everyone without exception, but it manifests itself most actively in the bright heads of the female sex. It is useful to listen to your inner voice, but you must first learn to distinguish subpersonalities in yourself. A person considers three parts of the "I": 1) I-stereotypical, controlling, critical - Parental "I"; 2) I-rational, logical, real - Adult "I"; 3) I-irrational, fantastic, archetypal - Children's "I" (it is also creative, creative, intuitive).
    It is necessary to listen to the inner voice, both to the one coming from the Parental “I”, and, especially, to the Childish, creative and intuitive “I”, distinguishing obvious stereotypes and biases, whims and illusions in them.
    And the rational and intelligent Adult Self will help to discern the truthfulness and usefulness of these inner voices.
    The inner voice from the Parent lives according to the principle of "NECESSARY".
    The Inner Child lives according to the “I WANT” principle, so the Parental Self-state and the Child's are essentially antagonists - they often oppose each other.
    Favorite words of children's I-state - I want-I don't want, I will-I won't.
    Adult "I" - unemotional and insensitive - like a robot. Only dry logic, intellect and reason.
    It is the voice of the inner Adult "I" that must give you the last, decisive information, it is in the inner Adult that you need to process the voices of the Parent and the Child, including demands and intuition, and make a decision.

      • Denis, in a mentally healthy individual, the desire to jump, if you mean suicidal intentions, will not arise, the self-preservation instinct will work and no inner voice can make him do it.

- We can go there ... Why? Let's ask Hogle, shall we? But he's not ready yet. Let's do it. Hurry up. What for? So that we are not alone. But are there two of us? So we are no longer alone! No, that's not entirely true. There are three of us. But we have captured it so much that soon there will be nothing left of it. And if it does not become, can we exist? She saw those people, well, those broken by shock. She guesses everything. Why do we need her? We are protecting her. From whom? First of all, from myself. But we are ruining it. Yes it is. How to understand it? No way. I'm confused. I want to run. I'm weak and gullible, look, I'm already crying. You still can't escape... And neither can I. I am strong, very strong, but with me you will die faster. So we have to stick together!? Yes. For now, yes. Because she doesn't have anyone else. Let's make a Hogle, shall we? For her. Let's. In the meantime, you need to give her time to stay. And where are we going? Nowhere. We'll just pretend we don't exist. But she knows that we are always with her?! Yes, I guess….
— It's time to sleep… Who came up with all this?
— Hogl.
— That's what I guess.

Hello, my girlfriend has 2 personalities, one according to her is good, and 2 is bad, according to her, she dominates. Recently messed up a little, she showed a 2nd personality, bad, talked to a completely different person, talked rudely, laughed for no reason, confident conversation as if she were the queen of all things, and when asked who I was talking to, I received an answer with a demon, this is a bit it’s strange, of course, but I don’t understand something at all, what’s going on, how to live with it, I love this person, yesterday the 2nd person said that it’s not fate for us to go through life, but something I weakly believed in it What can you say as an expert?

  • For your information, there is no such diagnosis as a dissociative disorder, its existence is denied by 9/10 of all psychologists and psychiatrists in the world. You have a very resourceful girl, I tell you

Hello. Tell me, please, my mother is 54 years old, she does not work, she has no friends. Recently, her behavior makes me question her emotional stability. At first, let's say at the beginning of the month, she shows excessive concern, imposes her opinion in every possible way, buys something for our family (I'm married, we have a child and we live separately, but not far from our parents, we communicate with my mother every day several time, I constantly listen to her opinion), changes things in the house to her own, at her discretion, tries in every possible way to help, to be near. I try to respond in a kind way, say thank you, always, but she does not seem to hear. After a while, her concern changes to cries that I am ungrateful, she screams stubbornly, for a long time, cries, then closes in on herself, does not talk, then there comes a period of calm, for two weeks. Then everything is repeated from the beginning. Such cycles used to be rare, now they repeat every month. What is it and how should I behave?

Good afternoon, I recently found my wife's diary (the entries date back to 2000-2002 - she was 19-22 then, now she is 35 years old), it describes her love for various young people, often as far as I understand that unrequited, a feeling of loneliness, misunderstanding those around her, dissatisfaction with herself, but this is not the point, I was more excited that she associates all bad and inadequate actions with the name she invented for herself “Kira Lorenova”, there is such a writer (mostly various depressive poems and works). The diary acts as a third party (listener) of how she is trying to understand herself (who actually commits these immoral acts - indiscriminate sex, alcohol, inappropriate behavior, thoughts of suicide). We now have two children, everything seems to be fine, I wouldn’t even think about it if I hadn’t found her diary, now I’m starting to remember that before the wedding she sometimes had tantrums, aggressive behavior - she told me that at the age of 16- 18 years there were two attempts to rape (at school, at the institute). Not so recently, she remembered this - during sex with me (it hurt me very much - comparing me with a rapist, it’s just that we have sex quite rarely now - she says that I put pressure on her, and she just doesn’t want sex yet - a small child - the lactation period has not yet ended).
Maybe it all seems to me and I’m just winding myself up, maybe it was just a period of personality formation - the search for “Self”, youthful maximalism, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but now it’s just “life” crushed - and there is no reason to look into the past, and deal with our relationship now, look for compromises, or is it still the reason in the past? Thank you for your attention, I will wait for your answer.

  • Hello, Alexander. There shouldn't be any reason for concern. The diary for the wife at one time acted as a "vest", protection, psychotherapist. All painful wife described there and thus got rid of problems. Endure the lactation period, let your wife rest more, take on some of the household obligations, be affectionate and patient.
    A temporary lack of sexual desire in a woman can be caused by chronic fatigue, postpartum depression.

Good afternoon, I often talk to myself on YOU or WE. It started somewhere after elementary school. At the same time, I like to walk in circles (around the room up to several hours a day) or walk through the forest. I feel that I have 2 or 3 interlocutors (I). I myself quite easily “switch” from one I to another I, while I get very tired or feel a headache in the back of the head, on the sides of the back of the head or higher to the crown. The pain is expressed as if they pressed on the head, but did not hit and does not pulsate at the same time. The pain lasts a few minutes or more.
Convenient at work: helps to distract from extraneous problems. True, when someone begins to communicate with me, I behave inappropriately (or rather, I manage not to yell so as not to interfere when I switched (or rather, he became me, and I observe) to another I if I need to concentrate at the same time). I work for the spirit of different professions (though in one area: 2 jobs + hobbies at home). In recent years, I have been leading/feeling bad: drowsiness, irritability and sometimes aggressiveness (probably stress). These I cannot be in me at the same time: it is necessary to “switch” and one I does not understand the other I (if necessary, asks for advice, etc.). I talk to each other through me (just listening to what one says to me and the other I respond). I have several opinions on many events (my opinion, civic position and opinion as it should be right), while I feel that they (opinions) belong to me (but to another me or I). When switching, my opinions and some communication habits (for example, respectfulness) change slightly.
I thought about it a lot. Maybe I'm confusing all this with self-hypnosis or it's just my fantasy. But life is becoming more difficult for me, now I am 31 years old. I don't feel a midlife crisis. Satisfied with life (with the exception of difficulties with the "disorder" or is it all the same stress).
Right now it is very difficult to experience even non-stressful situations when communicating with friends or relatives, when it comes to my position (opinion) on some issue, and this infuriates me (I try to restrain myself). I also can not understand at what point "I returned back." In recent years, the field of “switching” back, I perceive the events that happened earlier as deja vu - this is not pleasant, this almost never happened before.
I rarely dream, but sometimes I'm not alone in a dream. And those other selves are nearby (or it is me).
I don't want to go to a psychiatrist. I think that everyone is talking to themselves and that this is normal (Question: is this true?). In truth, I think that what is written will be considered simply nonsense or nonsense. The opinion of the expert is very interesting.

  • Hello Sergey. Many people talk to themselves and this is not considered a pathology.
    Many, probably, will have acquaintances, for example, at work, who say, as if to themselves: "It's time to go home", "I'll go eat."
    For others, these phrases are of no value, but for commenting people they are meaningful. The human mind is constantly in a stream of thoughts. Information (mostly completely useless) is becoming more and more, our mind is overloaded. And each word spoken by a person has a special power - a vibration that pushes to certain actions.
    Speech addressed to oneself is called egocentric speech. Its function is to regulate and control practical activities.
    Very often, this form of speech is used in adulthood, when a person performs any actions for the first time, saying them out loud (as if to himself).
    The origin of inner speech itself is not well understood.

It's good when a person gets into the textbooks. It is bad when in textbooks on psychiatry, and even as a patient. Billy Milligan was destined for just such a fate. He ended up there not of his own free will, but thanks to a unique diagnosis made by doctors. It contained 24 persons.

Dissociative identity disorder (also known as multiple personality disorder, split or split personality) is a very rare mental disorder in which a person's consciousness is divided, and it seems that there are several different personalities in the body of one person.

At the same time, at certain moments, a “switch” occurs, and one personality replaces another. After switching, a person cannot always remember what happened while his other “I” was active. All of them can have a different gender, age, nationality, temperament, mental abilities, worldview, react differently to the same situations.


It is believed that the causes of this disorder are severe emotional trauma in early childhood; repeated extreme physical, sexual or emotional abuse. This disorder is an extreme manifestation of dissociation - a psychological defense mechanism in which a person begins to perceive what is happening to him as if it were happening to someone else. This mechanism is sometimes useful, as it allows a person to protect himself from excessive, unbearable emotions, but in cases of excessive activation of this mechanism, disorders appear. Often such people have bouts of confusion and loss, when a person cannot understand who he is.

Contrary to popular belief, dissociative disorder is not directly related to schizophrenia. But although the diseases have a different nature, sometimes individual symptoms of disorders can resemble each other. In these cases, to make a diagnosis, they first look for symptoms of schizophrenia that are not characteristic of a dissociative disorder.

In schizophrenia, personality disorder is most often perceived as the result of hostile influences from outside, and not from within the personality. For example, voices telling the patient what to do. With dissociative identity disorder, rather complex and relatively integrated multiple personalities are formed. In addition, the splitting of consciousness in schizophrenia is a splitting of only individual mental functions from the personality, while in dissociative disorder, personalities are formed in full.

Due to the great rarity of this disease, the very existence of dissociative identity disorder has long been questioned.

Symptoms

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Handbook of Mental Disorders, dissociative identity disorder is designated -DSM-IV. It also states that this disorder is diagnosed if the following 4 criteria are true:
1. The patient has two or more personal states, while each of them has a stable model of world perception, its own worldview and attitude to the surrounding reality.
2. At least two of these identities alternately take control of the patient's behavior.
3. The patient cannot remember important information about himself, and this goes far beyond ordinary forgetfulness.
4. This condition did not occur as a result of the use of alcohol, drugs, other psychotropic substances, or from diseases (for example, with a complex partial seizure). In children, it is also important not to confuse these symptoms with playing with an imaginary friend or with other fantasy games.
The number of new "I" inside a person can be great and grow over the years. This is mainly due to the fact that a person unconsciously develops new personalities in himself that could help him cope better with certain situations. So, if at the beginning of treatment the psychotherapist usually diagnoses 2-4 identities, then in the course of treatment another 10-12 are revealed.

All "alternatives" have different names, different ways of speaking and gesticulating, different facial expressions, gait, and even handwriting. Sometimes they don't even know each other exists.
In addition to the main symptoms, patients with dissociative disorder may also experience depression, suicide attempts, mood swings, anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, sleep and eating disorders, and in rare cases hallucinations. There is no consensus in psychiatry as to whether these symptoms are related to the identity disorder itself or to the psychological trauma experienced that caused the disorder.

According to current understanding, the strongest predictor of dissociation in young people was the lack of access to the mother at the age of 2 years. Many recent studies have shown an association between impaired attachment in early childhood and subsequent dissociative symptoms. There is also evidence that childhood abuse and child abandonment often contribute to the formation of broken attachments.

Treatment

Treatment can take place using various types of psychotherapy - cognitive psychotherapy, family therapy, clinical hypnosis, etc.

Psychodynamic therapy has been used with some success to help overcome trauma, uncover conflicts, identify needs in individuals, and correct appropriate defense mechanisms. A possible satisfactory result of treatment is the provision of a conflict-free cooperative relationship between individuals. The therapist is advised to treat all alternatives of a person's consciousness with equal respect, avoiding taking sides in an internal conflict.

Drug therapy does not allow to achieve noticeable success and is exclusively symptomatic; There is no pharmacological treatment for dissociative identity disorder itself, however, some antidepressants are used to alleviate comorbid depression and anxiety.

Divergence of opinion

In the history of medicine before the 1950s, there were very few documented cases of this disorder. A study of sources from the 19th and 20th centuries, conducted in 1944, showed only 76 facts of identifying split personalities. In recent years, the number of cases of identity disorder has increased dramatically (according to some reports, about 40,000 cases were registered between 1985 and 1995).

There is no unanimity among psychologists and psychiatrists. Some of them believe that dissociative identity disorder is far-fetched, or argue that the facts of a true multiple personality are very rare and most documented cases should be considered as iatrogenic, suggested to the patient by the psychiatrist himself.

At the same time, critics of the dissociative personality disorder model argue that this diagnosis is a phenomenon that is more characteristic of English-speaking countries. In 1957, the publication of the book "The Three Faces of Eve" and later the release of the film of the same name contributed to the growth of public interest in the phenomenon. On this wave of public interest, in 1973, the subsequently filmed book "Sybil" was published, describing the life of a woman with a multiple personality disorder, which also contributed to the "popularization" of the disease.

Anthropologists L. K. Suryani and Gordon Jensen are convinced that the phenomenon of pronounced trance states in the Bali community has the same phenomenological nature as the phenomenon of multiple personality in the West. It is argued that people in shamanistic cultures who experience the experience of plurality identify these personalities not as parts of themselves, but as independent souls or spirits. In traditional cultures, it is not considered a disorder or disease.

Thus, since psychiatry is not an exact science, the diagnosis depends on the professionalism of the doctor himself. If the doctor, by all means, wants to find a disorder, he will find it, even if there are no sufficient grounds for this. After all, a doctor is also a person who lives in society, watches films and reads books, which means that, along with his patients, he is also subject to the influence of society, which can affect the diagnosis.

The most famous "split"

In the late 1970s, William Stanley Milligan was on trial in Ohio, USA. He was accused of several robberies and three rapes, but after the trial was sent under psychiatric supervision. This is the only case when a person was released from criminal responsibility, because the court decided that the crimes were committed by his other person.

Milligan's story is told to the general public in the documentary novels The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan and Milligan's Wars by professor and best-selling author of Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes.

early years

Milligan's mother, Dorothy, grew up in rural Ohio and lived in the town of Circleville with her husband Dick Jonas. When they divorced, Dorothy moved to Miami where she worked as a singer. There she began living with comedian Johnny Morrison.

Dorothy and Johnny had a son, Jimbo, in October 1953. On February 14, 1955, their second son, William Stanley, later known as Billy Milligan, was born. Dorothy and Johnny had another child together, Cathy, born in December 1956.

According to biographer Daniel Keyes, Billy's father was hospitalized for alcoholism and depression in 1958. There was also an unsuccessful suicide attempt—according to Keyes, "Dorothy found him collapsed and there was a bottle of whiskey on the table and an empty bottle of sleeping pills on the floor." A few months after this attempt, on January 17, 1959, Johnny made another suicide attempt. This time successful - poisoned by carbon monoxide.

After his death, Dorothy took the children and returned to Circleville, where she remarried her ex-husband, Dick Jonas. This marriage lasted about a year. In 1962, she met Chalmer Milligan. Dorothy and Chalmer got married.

It should be noted that Chalmer's first wife, Bernice, divorced him due to "gross neglect". Much later, Chalmer was accused of raping and beating Billy. In such an environment, he grew up.

Arrest

In 1972, Milligan and a friend met two women. A few days later, the women accused them of rape. Although Milligan and his friend argued that the women were prostitutes and that they simply had not been paid, the judge nevertheless ruled - six months in prison.

After his release, Milligan began working as a security guard for a local drug dealer, which did not contribute to a pious life. In late 1974, Milligan beat and robbed two men. He also helped plan the robbery of the Lancaster Pharmacy in early 1975. A little later, the police arrested him, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced by an Ohio state court to two years in prison.

In early 1977, Milligan was released on parole. However, in October 1977 he was again arrested. This time, for the rape of three women on the Ohio State University campus.

The first rape occurred on October 14, 1977. Then Milligan, at gunpoint, took the victim from the parking lot of the local university, and also forced her to write out and cash a check for him. The second case was on October 22. Third in four days.

In preparation for the trial, Dr. Willis K. Driscoll conducted a psychological examination, as a result of which Milligan's condition was assessed as acute schizophrenia. Another examination, conducted by Southwestern Community Mental Health Center psychologist Dorothy Turner, concluded that Milligan suffered from multiple personality disorder.

Milligan's public defenders, Gary Schweickart and Judy Stevenson, based on the diagnosis, obtained the recognition of the client as insane, after which he was transferred to a psychiatric clinic "until his mental health returns to him."

Hospital director George Harding and other doctors spent months with Milligan. In their opinion, it was not Billy who committed the crimes, but a 23-year-old Yugoslav named Reigen, who took over consciousness and decided to rob some people. But before Ragen could rob, a 19-year-old lesbian named Adalana got the better of Milligan's mind and raped the women. Other personalities, including Billy himself, did not remember anything about this.

Question - Isn't Milligan a simulator? - arose at different times in different people. But no one has been able to prove it.

Alter personalities

Billy Milligan's alter personalities appeared at the age of 3-4 years (an unnamed boy with whom he played, and Christine, who took care of her younger sister). The number of personalities increased at the age of 8-9 years, when little Billy was repeatedly raped and beaten by his stepfather. Daniel Keyes' book The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan gives descriptions of them.

10 personalities were considered basic (the description is given as of 1977-1978, during treatment).
Billy - the original William Stanley Milligan, is a suicidal core personality.
Arthur is a sophisticated, educated Englishman. Expert in science and medicine, with a focus on hematology. With the help of logic and deduction, he found out that he was not alone in the body of Milligan, and identified the remaining Differences. Along with Reigen, he took responsibility for the common body - with the exception of dangerous situations in which Reigen exercises control. Established rules of conduct for the rest of the "family members" - Milligan's personalities.

Reigen Vadaskovinich is a Yugoslavian who speaks with a Slavic accent and writes and speaks Serbo-Croatian. It is the "guardian of hatred". A communist, expert in weapons and ammunition, in charge of fitness. Possesses extreme strength, due to the fact that Arthur taught him how to control himself. Ragen's weak point is women and children, he does not hesitate to help them if they are in trouble, even to the point of stealing food and things for them. He controls the basic actions in dangerous situations and, along with Arthur, can classify other personalities as "undesirable").

Allen - 18 years old, swindler, manipulator, has excellent eloquence. Most often communicates with the outside world. Draws portraits, plays the drums. The only right-hander and the only one who smokes cigarettes.

Tommy is the "guardian of salvation". In his own words, he is often confused with Allen. Independently figured out electricity, the principles of operation of electrical and mechanical devices, locks. I learned to control muscles and joints, to get rid of handcuffs. Plays the saxophone, paints landscapes.
Danny is a frightened 14 year old boy who is afraid of people, especially men. He paints only still lifes, because he is afraid of the earth in any form - Chalmer once forced him to dig a grave and buried him in it, leaving only a hole for breathing.

David - 8 years old, "keeper of pain". He occupies consciousness to take the pain of others.
Christine is a 3-year-old English girl, one of Billy's first personalities and the first to know of the existence of someone else. She stood in the corner at school and at home if "Billy" messed up, because, unlike other personalities, she did it calmly. She has dyslexia (impaired ability to read), but Arthur teaches her to read and write. Reigen has a special affection for her. Family favorite.
Christopher - Christine's brother, age 13, plays the harmonica.

Adalana is a 19 year old active lesbian. Has the ability to occupy the body at will. He cooks, puts things in order in the "family", writes poetry. Takes the body in situations when it comes to being a "gentleman", gentle with women. She was the one who did the rape.
13 other personalities were declared undesirable by Arthur and Ragen for certain offenses (antisocial behavior, breaking the rules, etc.).

unwanted

Phil is a Brooklynian with a pronounced accent. A criminal element engaged in drug trafficking, participated in armed robberies of homosexual couples, waiting for victims in parking lots near the highway.

Kevin, a friend of Phil, developed a plan to rob a pharmacy, and then stole the loot from his comrades in the case. Later, during his stay in a maximum security clinic in Lima, in gratitude for the uprising against the orderlies who beat the patients of the clinic, Arthur struck Kevin off the list of undesirables.

Walter is an Australian who loves to hunt. He was allowed to the body when his ability to find the right direction was required. Arthur classified it as undesirable for "barbarism" - killing a crow in the forest.
April is a black-haired, dark-eyed, slender girl with a Boston accent. She was obsessed with the idea of ​​killing Billy's stepfather. Declared unwanted after convincing Ragen to kill Chalmer. Arthur, having called Christine, was able to persuade Ragen not to commit murder.
Samuel is a religious Jew. Was deemed undesirable by Arthur for having sold an Aplein painting. The only religious person.

Mark is the workhorse. He is often referred to as a zombie because he doesn't do anything unless told to and stares at the wall when everyone gets bored.
Lee is a joker and a wit. He first began to control the body in a Lebanese prison and at the same time was declared undesirable for the fact that his pranks went too far and threatened the "family". After that, he completely disappeared from consciousness.

Steve is a parodist, called in prison after Lee's expulsion, because he knew how to make people laugh. Infuriated Ragen by parodying his accent. Was caught mimicking the warden, resulting in Milligan being placed in isolation.
Jason is the "pressure valve". Used as a child to release tension, but it constantly led to difficult situations.

Bobby is an idle dreamer. Dreamed of adventure, saw myself as an actor
a traveler, a hero, but did not want to do anything specific for this. He went on a hunger strike, for which he was classified as "undesirable" - in prison conditions, a good physical condition was necessary.
Sean is a developmentally delayed deaf boy. Occupied consciousness in childhood when Billy was punished and shouted at him. Because of his deafness, he often buzzed, listening to the sounds echo in his head. It was classified as undesirable, since in adulthood it was not necessary.
Martin is a snob and braggart from New York. Arthur classified it as undesirable due to the lack of desire for self-improvement.

Timothy - worked in a shop as a florist until he ran into a homosexual who flirted with him. After that, he entered his own world.

The main, unifying personality was the Master, who first clearly manifested itself during Billy's course of treatment at a mental health center. It was he who helped Keyes tell the story of Billy Milligan, as he was able to recall those episodes that were not available to the rest of the "family".

Shortly after the Master showed himself, Billy got better and even began to receive leave from the hospital, but another court, taking into account the complaints and the risk to the safety of others, transferred him to a specialized hospital for the criminally insane. After that, he changed several more institutions and, in the end, returned to Ohio. In 1986 he managed to escape but was caught a few months later. In 1988, after 10 years of intensive treatment in various medical institutions, Billy Milligan was declared "whole" and released. Full surveillance of him was removed three years later. He soon disappeared from the public eye.

According to various scattered rumors, Billy Milligan moved to California to work on a film about his life. Keyes, who has written books about him, says he hasn't spoken to his charge in years. Harding, a psychiatrist who worked with several of Milligan's personalities, also did not speak to Milligan for many years. He said that, looking back, he wished he had been more aggressive in his treatment, and that if he had paid more attention to the matter in his time, there would not have been so much controversy around him now. Richard Kipperman, a trustee who handled Milligan's real estate, also said he lost contact with him and was unable to find him even to pay the amount owed to him for the sale of the property.

Milligan's relatives did not help in his search either. Where he lives and what he does is unknown.

Victor Sergienko

My name is Nastya, I am 15 years old. I live with my mom, dad and younger brother, who recently barely began to pronounce the word "give." Our mother is a housewife, she quit her job when she was still pregnant with me. And dad works as a truck driver. We rarely see him, so we miss him very much, especially my mother.

After dinner, my mother asked me to help her with the dishes. I stood at the sink and lathered my sponge. She quickly foamed, soap bubbles seeped through the sponge in white flocks and immediately burst. Sometimes I could stand for a long time watching the foam or the water flowing from the tap, for which I often received bream - wasting water and the like ... So this time I stared at the stream of water as if spellbound. I was thinking about my dad, he, by the way, should return home soon. Two or three months and I will hear a tired, but joyful voice, “Nastya, hug me, daughter.”

I took a large saucepan and began to carefully rub it with a sponge. Sometimes I was distracted, the fault was my thoughts or my brother Yegor, who was sobbing in the hall. Sometimes my thoughts were so "sweet" that I closed my eyes in pleasure.

I closed my eyes and felt tired, I felt an unbearable desire to sleep, my hands became like cotton wool, and my head felt very heavy, as if it would fall off, fall off my neck and roll under the table like a bun. I felt weightlessness in my body, and then, as if I was gone, disappeared.

Woke up. The kitchen, the dishes, the sponge and the pot that I wash.

- Nastya-Nastya, my faster, dad is already leaving!

I dropped the pot from my hands. I turned around, and Yegorka was standing in front of me, who was tugging at the edge of my T-shirt. Egorka.

“Dad is leaving!” He chuckled and ran out of the kitchen.

I was gone for six years. I mean, it was, but not me. My mother told me that I fainted that day and woke up three days later in a hospital room. The doctors did not diagnose anything, they kept me for another day and sent me home. At home, I behaved normally. First. And then, I began to sleep in the morning, stay awake at night, and when I was forcibly sent to school, I tried to hurt myself on purpose. Everything was used: from an ordinary, harmless spoon, to knives, corkscrews, forks and screwdrivers. And then, I liked it, I began to cripple myself with or without a reason. One day, my mother came into my room, and I was sitting and picking my hand with pliers. When all piercing and sharp objects were hidden from me, I sat in the room for hours and tried to scratch my veins.

Do you know how many scars I have? A lot of them. Some still hurt...

Everyone was called to us. Priests, exorcists, demonologists, healers. They didn't find anything.

They honor their prayers, take payment and leave our house satisfied.

I was finally taken to the right person - a psychotherapist.

I was treated for a long time, stuffed with vitamins, had conversations with me, sometimes they put on a straitjacket, because I behaved badly. I called myself Artem, told me that I was 34 years old, that I lived in a odnushka, that I have an adult son and that I belong to a sect where it is customary to mutilate oneself, they say, this way we are closer to Lucifer.
The doctor told my mother that sooner or later I would come to my senses. I was prescribed pills that suppressed Artyom in me, and when I felt better, they sent me home.

In fact, there are many people with my disease.

My name is Nastya, I have a split personality.

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