Month: September 2019

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When your spouse, child, or other loved one seems to be having multiple personalities, it is only natural to feel anxious and scared. Is split personality disorder really true? Years of research and studies suggest that it is real, and currently, it has been reclassified as dissociative identity disorder. Family members and significant others can learn about it through reading books and searching the web for answers to their queries. They will come to learn that yes, multiple personality disorder can be treated.

“A mental illness cannot be willed away or brushed aside with a change in attitude. Ignoring the problem doesn’t give it the slip either.” Deborah Serani, PsyD said. When you are diagnosed with a mental illness, it can be both devastation and relief. An official diagnosis means that what you’ve suspected is confirmed – there is something wrong. However, when you know what you have, this can provide more possibilities for treatment and recovery. The diagnosis can be a foundation that will help one understand his loved one’s illness and find ways to provide proper care, including therapy, medications, and home strategies that would help the person with mental illness live as normal a life he could live.

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On the contrary, not every diagnosis has positive consequences. If your loved one is diagnosed with anxiety, for instance, there is not much complication. Even if not everybody believed that he has anxiety, only very few would refute the existence of anxiety itself. But with dissociative identity disorder, it can be a lot more argumentative. Because of the influence of culture and society, clinicians, patients, and even families doubt the legitimacy of the diagnosis, which may lead to patients not getting the care that they need to recover. Is split personality disorder real? Let us further discuss it here.

 

The Potential For Recovering From Dissociative Identity Disorder

“A personality disorder is a deeply ingrained and maladaptive pattern of behavior of a specified kind causing long-term difficulties in personal relationships or in functioning in society” That is according to Nicole Martinez, Psy.D. “Split personality’ can undoubtedly challenge one’s understanding of the human being and his mind in general. Despite a lot of confusion, one should know that it is something that can be remedied, and people who have the illness can help push this fact forward by joining evidence-based clinical trials and treatment modalities.

However, one should keep in mind that recovering from the disorder does not and will never happen overnight. It takes time, and it involves a psychotherapy-based approach where your loved one will go through various stages to achieve integration and unification of his personalities. It can take months and will entail having to recall traumatic experiences that may affect your loved one’s current state in life. But your vital role as a significant other or family to him would be as strong support of comfort and love.

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Treatment for dissociative identity disorder not only targets the acute symptoms but is also focused on building the necessary skills for the person to live healthily amidst his illness. As Marc Browning, RN, Psy.D used to say, “If an individual is willing to accept treatment, long-term talk therapy or psychotherapy, can help. Sometimes these approaches are combined with medication if the person is dealing with debilitating symptoms or related conditions, such as depression or anxiety.” This process includes learning how to create healthy relationships, setting realistic goals, and finding meaning and purpose in his life. Throughout the treatment process, you and the rest of the family as his support system will be among the strongest resources for your mentally ill loved one. With you working hand in hand with his healthcare team, your loved one will potentially move forward to a more wonderful future with the possibility of healing fully within his reach.

 

 

 

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Charles and I have been together for ten years now, and I would say that our life hasn’t been all highs – but whose life is perfect, right? My husband has obsessive-compulsive disorder, although I didn’t know this until we got married. We have a son who luckily doesn’t have one, but both of us are tremendously affected in terms of our time, work and school, and the family as a whole. But don’t get me wrong – I have no regrets. I’ve had my share of frustrations for the past years, but I’ve come to accept it, which is the first step in appropriately dealing with OCD in your loved one. We’ve successfully made certain adjustments, and yes, we do feel stressed and anxious from time to time but overall, it has been a happy life.

As a wife of someone with OCD, I would just like to share my experiences firsthand in the hope of being able to help a fellow wife, a husband of an OCD wife, or anyone who is living with a loved with the disorder. “OCD can be very overwhelming to families and can really interfere with how families can normally function,” says Dr. Jerry Bubrick, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute. And he’s right with that.

 

My OC Husband

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Charles used to have a lot of issues when we were newly married. He would tell me that he thinks I didn’t care about him or that I wasn’t sensitive enough. The first year for me was the hardest, as I didn’t have any idea at all what he had and how to help him. He would be drinking water from a glass and then he repeatedly puts it down and raises it again and again. Another time he closed our door and put the key inside the knob to lock it, but he couldn’t – he just kept turning it over and over again!

I was concerned and a little scared at the same time. I called my dad and told him about it, and that’s when I first heard about the disorder. He said that Charles might be obsessive-compulsive. I confronted Charles about it, and initially, he got mad. Or perhaps it was a way of covering up for his embarrassment. He couldn’t accept that he had a mental health illness, as it is a psychiatric condition described as excessive repetition of doing things. For a whole year, we both were exhausted, frustrated, and very stressed.

Then in our second year, my husband came to me, crying. He said he couldn’t afford to lose me and destroy our marriage just because of his illness. And I said I didn’t want that too. So we talked. He shared everything that he was going through – that he couldn’t control his urge to do something even though he wanted to stop. He felt isolated and he said it was the reason why he didn’t want to go to the parties of our friends. I looked at him and I felt pity and love. I assured him that he was not alone because we had each other – for better or worse.

 

The Journey To Therapy

We decided to visit a therapist who specialized in helping individuals with personality disorders like OCD. He discussed with us everything we needed to know about my husband’s condition and told us that we had to be committed to get Charles regular treatment. We should work together to fight the OCD, not fight against each other. As a wife, I needed to have sufficient knowledge of obsessive-compulsive disorder so that I will learn how to deal with my husband’s characteristics and activities. It’s true that “Therapy gives you permission to allow you to feel the pain and know that it’s valid.” Carmen Gehrke, LMHC stated.

When I gave birth to our son, Charles was doing very well with his treatment and we made great adjustments in our marriage. When our son turned 5, we gradually introduced him to his dad’s illness so that he would understand the things that he saw in his dad. He has learned fast and I can say that he is the best son to his dad, showing him his love and affection and support.

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I know it sounds really easy, but it’s not. OCD is confusing and disorganized, and progress is not consistent, although it is there. However, I am positively sharing you this to reassure you that OCD can be managed. We just need to have patience and openness to each other. When things go topsy-turvy and you feel like nothing going to turn out right, first remember that you have each other. There’s always the possibility of repair, healing, and recovery.

“Left untreated, OCD can dramatically straight-jacket people’s lives by encumbering them with relentless, irrational, horrific, intrusive thoughts and images (obsessions) and very time consuming, repetitive or elaborate, maladaptive behaviors (compulsions).” –Clifford N. Lazarus Ph.D.

 

Most often, we already know the usual reactions of our children when they are excited about something, or when they are reprimanded for what they did, or when they don’t get what they want. We know their faces when they’re sad or irritated or hurt. However, despite how much you know your child, you must pay attention to how long she has been nurturing that sadness, that anger, that frustration. Because when these emotions stay for a long time and have been hindering your child from functioning normally, then she might just be depressed. Continue reading When Kids Are More Than Just Sad