D’Amore is an Orange County, CA mental health treatment center for adults, concentrating on the stabilization, intervention, and individual treatment of addiction and mental health disorders.
Our caring and experienced team are always on call and ready to serve you 24 hours a day to help you get started on a custom care plan. Our team will design a personalized treatment plan with the necessary therapies to ensure your mental health is adequately treated.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a mental health condition that affects behavior, memory, emotion, identity, and perception.
Dissociative Identity Disorder was once called Multiple Personality Disorder, and it is one of the three main types of dissociative disorders.
One of the main symptoms is the feeling that there are multiple identities or personalities in the patient’s head.
People with dissociative amnesia usually suffer from significant memory loss, often surrounding past and childhood abuse and neglect. It is rare for the patient to lose every memory. Most people with Dissociative Amnesia only have amnesia affecting a specific event or time.
With depersonalization disorder, some patients feel separated from the things happening around them, including their feelings, thoughts, and actions.
People tend to start experiencing symptoms before 16, but it’s possible to encounter the first episode later. However, it is rare for this dissociative disorder to show up after age 20. For those who do experience it, it is a pattern that can repeat throughout their life.
Previously called multiple personality disorder, DID is described as having two or more different identities. The different identities carry various personalities, behaviors, and memories. People with this diagnosis often have significant trauma in childhood.
Several different symptoms are related to DID. Here are some common symptoms of dissociative disorder:
With proper treatment, many people successfully address the main symptoms of dissociative identity disorder and enhance their capability to function and live a fulfilling, productive life.
Dissociative disorder treatment usually involves psychotherapy. Therapy can help people achieve control over their dissociative symptoms.
The purpose of treatment for dissociative disorders is to help the patient develop coping skills, safely recall and process unpleasant memories, and possibly combine different identities into one functional personality.
It is important to note that no medication deals directly with treating dissociation itself. Instead, medicine is used to treat symptoms that regularly happen with dissociative disorders.
Various psychotherapies can treat dissociative disorder to decrease the frequency of episodes and develop coping strategies for dissociation. Some of the most common dissociative disorder therapies include:
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is a type of psychotherapy that teaches group skills to help people utilize strategies they have learned to help create a life they can cope with. The therapy gives the patient new skills to help with managing painful emotions and decreasing relationship conflicts.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps break negative behavior and thinking linked to depression. The purpose of this treatment is to identify negative thought patterns and to teach coping strategies.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing was created to relieve the distress associated with painful and traumatic memories. CBT techniques of re-learning thought patterns are combined with visual stimulation exercises to access traumatic memories and substitute the related negative feelings with positive ones.
At D’Amore Mental Health in Orange County, we have helped countless clients overcome their past psychological trauma, find joy, and return to their homes and families confidently.
If you or a loved one needs mental health treatment in Orange County, California, please call one of our caring admissions advisers now for a free and confidential meeting concerning how D’Amore Mental Health in Orange County can help you.
Multiple personality disorder, or dissociative identity disorder, is usually a reaction to trauma to avoid disturbing memories. Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personalities. Each may have a unique name, personal history, and characteristics.
When trauma occurs, dissociative disorders tend to develop. Disorders tend to develop in children exposed to long-term physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or, less commonly, in homes that are frightening or highly unpredictable.
Dissociative personality disorder may result in a blurred sense of identity, significant stress, or problems with your relationships, work, or other important aspects of your life. An Inability to cope well with emotional or professional stress. Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
When there are two or more distinct personalities present in a person with this disorder.
Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a rare mental disorder that affects about 1.5% of the world’s population. This disorder is typically misdiagnosed and usually requires multiple assessments for an accurate diagnosis.
Dissociative disorders are treated primarily with psychotherapy. Psychosocial therapy involves talking with a mental health professional about your disorder and related issues. Talk therapy is also known as counseling or psychosocial therapy.
Valerie has worked in the medical field for over 8 years and the past 4 years has worked in mental health as a school counselor at an elementary school, therapist at a nonprofit for women and children and a therapist at nonprofit working with homeless adults who suffer from Schizophrenia and Bipolar. Valerie received her MSW at USC and is currently working towards her LCSW.
