mcgirl55 asked this question on 5/4/2000:

I am creating a portfolio for my Lit/Comp class. The topic I chose was MPD. {multiple personality disorder} I was wondering if you had any experiance in the field. If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you would answer a few of my questions. Otherwise... Thank you for your time. 1} How long and to what extent is you experience with MPD? 2} What kinds of things have you noticed about the disease? 3} What do you believe is the most common cause of MPD? 4} How does it affect the families of MPD sufferers? 5} Does the patient ALWAYS "black out" while being another personality? 6} What is the hardest part of MPD for the patient? 7} What is the hardest part for the psychologist? 8} Who is hit the hardest with MPD? 9} Are there any interesting aspects included with the disease? 10} What is your personal opinion on MPD?

Thank you very much for your time. Your help is greatly appreciated. Anything you would to add would also be wonderful. Thanks again, Becca

kinghappy gave this response on 5/4/2000:

alrighty, this is a favorite of mine. 1) the only experience i have had is in my studies as i am still a student. 2)as i have not witnessed it in person, all i have perceived comes from books, so i cant really say i have noticed anything. 3) i feel that sever trauma in childhood ( sexual, psychological, physical abuse or a traumatic event) is a definite front runner for most common cause. however, it is interesting to note that people with mpd often have parents who have another dissociative disorder of some kind, often mild but in some cases it has been known to be severe. (a dissociative disorder involves disturbances in memory such as blackouts, amnesia and fugue) 4) i would imagine it would be quite stressful on the family, especially if one of the personalities was hostile or dangerous. i would imagine it would be hard to feel close to someone who had several distinct personalities. 5) as far as i know the host personality (the persons "real" personality is always unaware of what is happening while another personality is operating. however the subpersonalities can be aware of each other and the host, which is known as mutually cognizant as opposed to mutually amnesic. there is also one way amnesic, in which some personalities are aware of others, but that awareness is not reciprocated, the ones that are aware are called co-concious subpersonalities. 6) i would imagine having to account for the actions of the other personalites would be very hard, as well as being frightened by the lost time aspect. 7) i am not sure, but it might be difficult to determine authenticity. it might also be difficult to deal with the more hostile personalities. 8)i honestly dont know this one, sorry 9) i find that the different peronalities are capable of having very elaborate individual histories, different vital statistics, different psychological responses as well as different physiological responses is very interesting. 10) if you mean which side of the controversey i am on, there are those who say it is either a fraud or a therapist reading something into nothing, then i am on the side that it is real, though you should look out for persons who might fake it, killers of course are famous for this.

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