How to Recognize Multiple Personality Disorder

According to statistics from WebMD, one out of every three people feels like watching themselves in movies at times. While this is may be a symptom of multiple personality disorder, statistics from WebMD reveal that only 0.01 to 1 percent of the population suffers from dissociative identity disorder (DID), commonly referred to as multiple personality disorder. This mental disorder often remains undiagnosed in many cases. Recognizing the symptoms of this disease should be the first step towards the diagnosis as well as its successful treatment. In this article, we will take a look at the different symptoms of multiple personality disorder.

Symptoms of Multiple Personality Disorder

Psychological, physical or/and sexual trauma are some of the main causes of dissociative identity disorder (DID). Following are some of the most common symptoms of the disorder.

• Depressive mood – A patient with multiple personality disorder is likely to have a depressive mood. He or she may also have a tendency to commit suicide. Patients with DID are often quite confused about taking decisions in life.
• Loss of memory – Patients with a medical history of amnesia are often prone to suffer from dissociative identity disorder. In most cases, victims of DID find it difficult to remember simple things like when or where they met a person in the recent past and so on. In severe conditions, the patients may forget what they bought last week or what they had for dinner last night. Memory loss is considered as one of the major symptoms of multiple personality disorder.
• Hallucination – A person with multiple personality disorder may also experience visual or auditory illusions, know as hallucinations. The patient may often talk loudly to himself in case of auditory hallucinations or behave strangely while having a visual hallucination of different personalities.
• Problem in recognizing himself – Another very common symptom of DID patients is that they often can’t recognize themselves. This feeling usually comes when they look at themselves in the mirror. Different alters of the patient may also make him feel that he is not truly living in the present.
• Lying – The influence of multiple personalities might make the patient say or do contradictory things. Patients with this disorder, often forget what they said or did to a person even a few days ago. All these may make him seem like a liar. However, he is not lying in the true sense. It is because he is influenced by different alters that his actions and statements may seem contradictory.

A patient with multiple personality disorder may also experience rapid change of thoughts and moods. If you identify these symptoms in yourself or your close ones, you should seek medical help for proper diagnosis immediately.

Panic Attack Treatment Options

According to statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health, 2.7 percent of American adults suffer from 12-month prevalence of panic disorder. A person suffering from panic disorder gets panic attacks at frequent intervals. Some common symptoms of panic attack include racing heart, sweating, feelings of dying, chest pain and heavy breathing. These panic attacks may last for 10 minutes or more. A person suffering from panic disorder often gets a feeling that he is going to die, even when there is no actual physical danger. So how does one approach panic attack treatment? You have two major options when it comes to panic attack treatment - medication and psychotherapy. In this article, we will take a closer look at both these panic attack treatment options.

Panic Attack Treatment: Your Options

Depending upon the frequency and severity of panic attacks, your doctor may decide any one of the two major panic attack treatment options. In some cases, combination of both panic attack treatment options may be required. Following are the two major types of treatment options for panic attacks and panic disorders.

1. Psychotherapy – Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is perhaps the most effective form of psychotherapy for treating panic attacks. This involves weekly sessions where the psychotherapist discusses with the patient to discover the root cause of panic attacks. Behavioral therapy aims to change the way the sufferer thinks or reacts to a situation. This approach to panic attack treatment usually takes one or two hours per week. According to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), a person suffering from panic attacks needs up to 14 hours of cognitive behavioral therapy in total. In a CBT session, the patient learns how to think differently during a panic attack. This is generally done by telling the patient about the worst that can happen to him or her at the time of an attack. For example, if an attack strikes while you are driving and you park the car by the side of the road, there is no way you can die.

2. Medications – Doctors may also recommend FDA approved anti-anxiety medications or anti-depressants in severe cases. Although use of medications can give you quick relief, it may trigger some unhealthy side-effects. It is advisable that you consult your doctor before using medications for panic disorder treatment.

You should also avoid alcohol and smoking for better results. It is also important to grow healthy living habits such as exercising regularly and taking a balanced diet in order to reduce the ill effects of panic disorder.  

Bipolar Disorder Treatment: What You Need to Know

Dr. Wes Burgess in his book, The Bipolar Handbook: Real-Life Questions with Up-to-Date Answers, Penguin 2006 says - “It is estimated that 2 to 7% of people in the United States suffer from bipolar disorder. Almost 10 million people will develop the illness sometimes during their lives.” The book also says that about half of these people will never receive the correct diagnosis or proper bipolar disorder treatment. And
according to reports from the National Mental Health Association, about 30% to 70% of suicide attempts are results of depression. People suffering from bipolar disorder are more prone to suicide if they don’t get any proper treatment. This is why bipolar disorder treatment is of utmost importance.

Bipolar Disorder Treatment: Some Important Things You Should Know

Ignoring bipolar disorder treatment can have far reaching effects on the patient’s life, right from health to career to relationships. The early diagnosis of the disorder and proper bipolar disorder treatment can help prevent such complications. It improves the patient’s chances of getting back to a normal life and staying well. Effective bipolar disorder treatment helps patients by reducing the intensity of depressive and manic episodes and in restoring their ability to function normally.

Here are some important things that you need to know about treatment of bipolar disorder:

• Bipolar disorder requires long-term treatment

Bipolar disorder is a relapsing and chronic disease. This is why it is vital to seek long-term treatment, even when the patient feels better. Patients might need medication to stay symptom-free and avoid new episodes.

• Medication alone is not enough for bipolar disorder treatment

Medication alone is not enough for the treatment of this disorder as they can’t entirely control symptoms. People suffering from this disorder sometimes self-medicate with drugs or alcohol to get relief from their symptoms. However, self medication can lead to further complications and side effects. For effective treatment, bipolar disorder requires a combination of therapy, medication, social support, and lifestyle changes.

• Seek advice from an experienced psychiatrist

Diagnosis of bipolar disorder can be delicate even for qualified professionals and so it is preferable to seek assistance from an experienced psychiatrist rather than just any physician or family doctor. A skilled and experienced psychiatrist can help patients successfully handle the turns and twists of this disorder. Experienced psychiatrists will also know more about the latest bipolar disorder treatment techniques and researches.

It can be tricky to distinguish bipolar disorder from other problems such as borderline personality disorder, major depression, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, in some cases it takes years to identify and treat the disorder. So if you think that you or someone close to you is displaying symptoms of the disorder, you should immediately seek treatment, without wasting anytime.