Dissociative Identity Disorder Research Paper

According to Mosby’s Medical Dictionary, dissociation is defined as, “an unconscious defense mechanism by which an idea, thought, emotion, or other mental process is separated from the consciousness and thereby loses emotional significance” (12). A person with Dissociative Identity Disorder can have a variety of different personalities also known as alters. All the alters are created to help protect the original personality from harm. The alters take over the person’s body when they are in danger. Alters can have a different name, age, gender, allergies, accents, appearance, memories, and manners. All the alters together are known as the system, and one personality is always present in the body. When an alter wants to take over the body, the …show more content…
This personality is the one that began life before the other alters were created. The original personality is the most fragile and the most guarded because they are the one who experienced the trauma. They are the last ones to be found in the system because they are either asleep or they separate themselves from the rest of the system.

The host alter is the alter that has the most control of the body and present most of the time. This alter usually takes the legal name or a name close to their real name. Often times the host personality will have no memory about the other personalities for many years. They normally remember what caused Dissociative Identity Disorder because they don’t remember the trauma.

The protector alters but also known as the caretaking alters, acts like a guardian or a brother. Often takes control of the body when the original personality is in danger. They help take care of the system and tries to save the weaker alters. They help the weaker alter by taking away their pain and injuries for themselves. If another alter is being bullied in the system, the caretaking alter will come to their defense. They will help try to eliminate the threat by stopping or scaring them away. The protecting alter becomes easily tired and they lack of …show more content…
The suicidal alter is created when someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder becomes suicidal. They are present in most systems and usually does not have much to say. Some of the characteristics of the suicidal alter are sadness, depression, drug uses, alcohol abuse, and self-harm. This alter will not cause enough harm to themselves to die but is commonly more self-destructive in other ways. The suicidal alter likes to create problems with the original personality friends and family. This alter will try to kill the original alter to gain total control of the mind and body. The suicidal alter is unaware that once you kill the original personality, it also

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