Dissociative Identity Disorder Analysis

The Showtime comedy television series, United States of Tara, starring Tara Gregson (Toni Collete), a middle-aged mother of two, and her husband, Max (John Corbette), reveals a particular family coping with mental illness. Tara was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder as a child following a severe traumatic event. The National Alliance of Mental Illness defines Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) as a disorder characterized “by an involuntary escape from reality characterized by a disconnection between thoughts, identity, consciousness and memory (NAMI). United States of Tara is an accurate, honest depiction of DID and attempts to remove the stigma associated with it. Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as Multiple …show more content…
Dissociative Identity Disorder doesn’t just affect the patient, but also the family and friends. These patients may find it hard to keep jobs and have healthy relationships, because they may transition at any time. For example, Tara is an artist and accepts a job painting a mural in a women’s house. One night, one of Tara’s more aggressive alters, “Gimme” broke into the house and destroyed the mural by carving profanity throughout it. The next morning, Tara is fired. Another situation where one of Tara’s identities hurt somebody is when “T”, her 14 year old teenage girl alter, kisses her son Marshall’s boyfriend. It takes a long time for Marshall to forgive his mother. Tara suffers from many symptoms throughout the series, many of which also affect her …show more content…
Psychotherapy is used as the primary form of treatment with the goal of helping the patient learn to control and contain their symptoms. For patients who were victim to severe childhood trauma, control is a major issue. Allowing these patients to reconnect with their sense of power and be involved in their plan of care will encourage them to gain control of their disorder. Since there is no specific medication for Dissociative Identity Disorder, the use of medication is usually used to treat other mental illness that goes along with DID such as depression, severe anxiety, and anger. In multiple episodes of the show, the creator addressed treatment options for DID. Tara was in therapy for the majority of the series but not always with the same therapist. Many of the therapists she saw were unable to provide the care she needed and as a result terminated her as a patient, which was traumatizing for Tara. This situation is feasible in real life, which can be very frustrating and discouraging for patients. Tara went through different periods where she would take medication and times where she wouldn’t. When she did take the medication she would not transition but she would complain of feeling and acting like a zombie. Realistically, there are many patients are not interested in taking their medication, because the side effects are so unbearable and outweigh any benefits of the mediation. However, it

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