Anonymous asked this question on 4/26/2000:

i will like a brief explanation of what is disassociative personality disorder. My husband got that dx.

hnour gave this response on 4/26/2000:

dear anonymous dissociative personlity disorder means in short that he is having more than ego state that under circumstance he will dissoicate from one to the other,so he might have 2 or even more personalities in him (ego states)which he shifts from one to another under some circumstances.althouh this is rather rare diagnosis however i think the prognosis and outcome of it is rather good,but before his therapist or psychiatrist gave him this diagnosis he/she has to exclude some other relevant diagnosis like sizure by doing eeg,or other psychiatric disorders. its very much related to child abuse in the past and it is also very much related to substance abuse(which also has to be excluded from the differential). the treatment basically will be psychotherapy (insight orinted mostly)and usually antidepressant are needed in the context of the psychotherapy to help him to go throught the porcess of therapy. and interestingly enough that in some research they found that the retinal electrical activity could be different with the 2 different ego states. thank you for asking,and for the support that you are giving to your husband.i know it could be difficult on you sometimes to deal with that.goo luck and please dont hesitate to ask me if you needed any further elaboration. hnour

The average rating for this answer is 4.

Anonymous rated this answer a 4.