What are Multiple Personalities?
Officially listed as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition, this condition is a fragmenting of one’s personality. At least two distinct personalities must be present for a diagnosis to be made. Prevalence statistics vary greatly, from .1 percent to as much as 10 percent of the general population, with women outnumbering men by a ratio of three to one, to as much as nine to one. The core personality has no awareness of the other personalities, called alters, because these alternate personas control her consciousness and memories when they are dominant. As a result, she has periods of time and pieces of personal history for which she cannot account. Some signs include: – Not remembering behavior or events, even when confronted by others who were present. – “Mistaken identity” incidents, when she encounters people with whom one of the alters associates. – Finding possessions that she does not recall buying. – Dis
