Symptoms Of Multiple Personality Disorder

Multiple personality disorder (MPD), is a condition in which a patient displays numerous distinct identities or personalities. Each of the personalities, also known as alters, has its own way of perceiving, interacting and reacting with the environment. Patients diagnosed with MPD exhibit a wide array of symptoms that fluctuate with time. The severity of the condition also varies from patient to patient. Apart from the symptoms mentioned below, patients also experience other symptoms, such as those seen in epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders and eating disorders. Listed below are the signs and symptoms of multiple personality disorder.

Amnesia is one of the most common symptoms of multiple personality disorder. In this, a patient forgets everything that happened in their lives over an extended period of time, such as he/she might completely forget his/her childhood. On other occasions, the patient forgets what had happened with him/her in a particular period of time.

It is a multiple personality disorder in which a patient feels that his/her body is unreal and is constantly changing or dissolving. In this case, the patient feels that he/she is out of the body and is a watching a movie of himself. Known as the trances or fugue states, the patient faces 'out of body experiences'.

Falsification or derealization is also one of the most common symptoms of MPD. A patient in this case believes that thewalls, buildings, or other stable objects are changing in shape, size or color. They may also fail to recognize closerelatives or friends. The external environment is unreal or illusory for a MPD patient.

Since the patient having MPD has many alters, he/she may or may not face identity crisis. In such a case, the continuous change from the host personality to alters, makes the patient face identity disturbances.