Imaginary personalities. How to create your own doubles for good

Split personality is a relatively rare mental disorder that is classified as a class of dissociative pathologies. As a result of this pathology, the individual’s personality is divided, which creates the feeling that two personalities coexist in one human subject. According to other terminology, two personalities co-existing in an individual are called two ego states.

What is split personality called? The described illness is also called organic dissociative or dissociative personal identity disorder, split personality, multiple personality syndrome.

The disease, split personality, is characterized by “switching,” as a result of which in an individual one personality becomes a substitute for another. Ego states can have different genders, differ in nationality, type of temperament, intellectual abilities, beliefs, and be in different age periods. The reaction to the same everyday situations is also different for two coexisting personalities. Each ego with this pathology has individual patterns of perception and well-established interaction with society and the environment. A currently active personality, after the so-called “switching,” does not remember what happened when another ego state was active, which leads to the destruction of the life of an individual suffering from split personality and the emergence of serious mental disorders. Often individuals with this pathology are prone to suicide and commit various criminal acts.

General information

In psychiatry, a special place is occupied by dissociative disorders (Latin dissociare “to separate from the community”), which include dissociative amnesia , dissociative fugue , dissociative stupor , trance and obsession , as well as multiple personality disorder .
Signs that characterize dissociative and conversion disorders (hysterical): partial or complete loss of integration between memory, awareness of personality and control of body movements. Normally, there is conscious control over memory and sensations and at the same time over movements. In dissociative disorders, this control is significantly impaired. The main function of dissociative disorders is to isolate negative experiences. In psychiatry, the term “split personality” is outdated. What is the current name for split personality? The term used is “dissociative identity disorder” or, according to the classification, multiple personality disorder. This type of disorder is characterized by the presence in one person of more than two personalities (these are called alter personalities, or identities), which do not manifest themselves simultaneously. This condition is post-traumatic stress disorder and a way of protecting yourself from the difficulties of real life. Dissociative disorder is the loss of control of the “I” over subpersonalities that are under its control in a normal state.

The disease multiple personality disorder is defined on Wikipedia as a rare mental disorder in which the patient seems to experience a split, a disintegration of the personality as a whole and some part of the whole gets out of control. There is a main principle - separation and alienation. The entire structure is destroyed from the inside. One gets the impression that in one person there are several partial personalities (subpersonalities or alter personalities), which at certain moments replace one another. They are not personalities in the broad sense - they are artificial parts of the personality that help cope with distress.

Wikipedia notes that different identities are expressed to varying degrees, one of the personalities is dominant and both are unaware of each other's existence. Each personality is characterized by its own memory and behavior and does not have access to the memories of the other. The change from one personality to another occurs suddenly and is directly related to events that traumatize the psyche. The transition from one identity to another is possible for various periods - from several minutes to years. Subsequent shifts are also tied to stressful and dramatic events, and also occur during therapeutic sessions of relaxation or hypnosis. The personality that prevails in a given period completely subordinates a person’s behavior, and it is strikingly different from the personality of the owner.

Dissociative identity disorder can appear at any age, from childhood to old age, but is most common in adolescence and young adults. This disorder is more prevalent in women (ratio 1:10). There is evidence that the disorder may be hereditary: close relatives of the patient have a predisposition to this pathology. Perhaps this disorder is not rare, but cases of patients turning to specialists are rare. This disorder is subject to correction. Schizophrenia is also manifested by the presence of multiple personalities, and it is important for psychiatrists to understand and not impose the label of this disease on the patient for life.

Scientific works that provide the most complete information about multiple personality syndrome

Dissociative identity syndrome has occupied a leading place in the works of many scientists for decades. One of the first descriptions dates back to 1791, when the Stuttgart doctor E. Gmelin described a German woman who, under the influence of the bloody events of the French Revolution, began to suffer from multiple personality syndrome. Her other “I” is a French woman who spoke perfect French.

A special place is occupied by books by Chinese specialists not only on the study of the syndrome, but also on methods of treating it.

In documents, until the mid-20th century, specialists officially registered and described in detail about 76 cases of dissociative personality.

Writers also paid close attention to the topic of multiple personality syndrome and dedicated their works to it. The general public was told about what multiple personality syndrome is in the books: “The Three Faces of Eve” and “Sybil.” The first was created by psychiatrists K. Thigpen and H. Cleckley in 1957. The book tells the story of their patient Eva White's dissociative personality. The second famous book, Sybil, was published in 1973. Her character also suffered from this disorder.

The term “split personality disorder” appeared quite a long time ago, so the symptoms of this disorder have already been identified and studied. In the modern world, this phenomenon is becoming more and more common, and all because of the frantic pace of life, the huge number and emotional stress.

Split personality is a disease that is expressed by the appearance of a second personality in an individual. Simply put, one person can express himself completely differently in the same situation. Behavior depends precisely on which half is dominant at that moment. There are cases when the disease worsens so much that a person ceases to remember what he did some time ago. It feels like he lives in different, or rather parallel, worlds that never intersect.

Pathogenesis

How to get split personality? One of the mechanisms by which the psyche tries to cope with stress and uncontrollable memories is dissociation (separation). Trauma affects the child’s psyche, splitting it into several autonomous particles, which become the basis for subpersonalities in the future. Dissociation is activated under appropriate conditions and is of a purely unconscious nature. It plays a protective role and gradually acquires a complex character, and this entails the destruction of the integral structure of the personality.

Dissociation protects the individual from trauma by splitting experiences into parts. Subpersonalities are formed from five to twenty-five years and on average, from 6 to 16 subpersonalities can be formed. The earlier re-traumatization occurs, the greater the risk that dissociative disorder will develop and personalities will be formed. Alter personalities take on a traumatic past, which is why they are formed. The new Alter personality is freed from experiences, a new biography, a new personal history is formed.

Splitting occurs at the unconscious desire of a person as a desire to fence off and isolate from negative memories. But not every alarming event can provoke a “crack.” The trigger (trigger mechanism) must be very serious. The various ego states in an individual's body are changeable and there is one personality - the “master”. It is important to emphasize a feature: the host personality and alter ego suffer from dissociative amnesia if one of them “captures” the person’s consciousness. The remaining parts of consciousness are “inactive.” Sometimes there are cases when one of the parts comes to doctors for help.

According to the second mechanism for the development of dissociations, a child at birth lacks personality integrity, and it is formed under the influence of experience and external factors. Under favorable conditions, the personality is integrated into a single whole, and severe traumas delimit the formation of the personality - two independent personalities arise before and after psychological trauma. Also important for mental evolution is the process of differentiation - thanks to it, the individual “I” of a person is isolated, and multiple partial personalities move into the sphere of the unconscious and function in dreams, in borderline states, in neurotic and psychotic disorders.

A case worthy of attention

The most significant person in the history of psychiatry, who harbored the serious illness of split personality, is considered to be a person who combines the existence of more than two dozen subpersonalities. Most often in scientific and fiction literature, this case is found under the name “The 24 Personalities of Billy Milligan.”

William Stanley Milligan, born in 1955 in the seventies of the last century, was subject to prosecution. This process took place in the USA, Ohio. At that time, Bill was charged with several rapes and robberies. However, a psychiatric specialist proved the following fact - all crimes were committed by a person who was not responsible for his actions. The poor guy had twenty-four alter egos! Moreover, each of them acted independently. He was not aware of Milligan's split personality. Traveling from one image to another, he had no idea about the terrible acts committed by his “second selves.”

One can compare the American mind to a certain dormitory in which many different souls lived. Each of them had their own separate “room”, and, at the same time, they never met each other. Subpersonalities manifested themselves one by one. Tommy (a mechanic and an artist) could appear in front of people in a dialogue, and a couple of moments later the little boy David would already participate in the conversation. To investigate and treat Billy's split personality, he was subjected to forced treatment in one of the state hospitals.

Classification

Despite the fact that multiple personality disorder is included in the ICD (code F44.81), in a number of countries doctors deny the existence of this disease. There are blind spots, riddles, questions and secrets in this issue. All researchers argue about the reality or falsity of the disease. How does a person have multiple personalities? Perhaps this is just a fantasy, and not a disease? Indeed, there are individuals who react this way to unpleasant events in their lives. Perhaps this is the activation of personalities of previous incarnations, who have their own experience, characteristics of consciousness and their own history?

Since this problem is dealt with by psychoanalysts, psychologists, and psychotherapists who are not experts in psychopathology, it is difficult to draw statistical conclusions from their descriptions. There are only 350 case reports with a diagnosis according to ICD-10 F.44.81. It is impossible to deny the possibility of this phenomenon being suggested by psychologists and psychotherapists and of their cultivation of this phenomenon.

The topic often appears in feature films, but almost all cases of split personality described are related to crimes, forensic psychiatric examinations and escaping punishment. In forensic psychiatric practice, this is most often a simulation. Films about multiple personality disorder: “The Three Faces of Eve”, “Duplicate” (2018, USA), “Black Swan” (2010, USA), “Mrs. Hyde” (France 2017), “Me, Myself and Irene” (2000, USA), “Dark Mirror” (2018, USA), “Frankie and Alice” (2009, Canada), “Hide and Seek” (2005, USA), “Split” (2016, USA). Examples of split personality are shown to us in fiction and documentary works - books by Trudy Chase “When the Rabbit Howls”, Flora Schreiber “Sibyl”, Anastasia Novykh “AllatRa”, Crabtree “Multiple Man”, Daniel Keyes “The Multiple Minds of Billy Milligan” and “The Mysterious Case of Billy Milligan."

The last two are documentary: the real patient Billy Milligan tells the author about his subpersonalities in an interview, the author’s conversations with the doctors who examined and treated this patient are recorded. Disintegrated Billy's adaptive capabilities increased, despite the fact that there were internal conflicts and struggle between individual subpersonalities. Integrated Billy lost significantly in general adaptive abilities. The Billy Milligan case set a precedent for exoneration of criminal liability for those who committed a crime due to multiple personality disorder. This fact clearly demonstrates the attitude that it is more profitable to be a split personality than to be a holistic one.

In the West, this disorder is not considered a disease, but is considered as a variant of the norm. If the state of multiple personality is not uncomfortable for a person and does not cause social consequences, then it cannot be treated, and many patients refuse to integrate subpersonalities into a single whole and do not seek help.

Videos from psychologists and psychiatrists will be more useful: “Split Personality” by Veronika Stepanova, “Dissociative Identity Disorder” by Evgeniy Chibikov. At the same time, many psychiatrists admit that in all their practical activities they have never encountered such patients. Still, it is believed that with multiple personality there is a predisposition to this from birth and the ability to self-hypnosis. Most often, a child is emotionally abandoned, and he finds an imaginary friend and mentally turns into him (a horse, a spider-man) - a defense mechanism against loneliness is triggered (now there are two of us, and we are not bored or scared). Severe psychological trauma in childhood (usually of a sexual nature) contributes to the emergence of alternative personalities - saviors, guardian angels, or evil and aggressive ones.

People with a split personality are sometimes critical of themselves and describe their condition as follows: “I see another personality, but it takes over me, it sucks me in, and I cannot control this process.” These selves are different and have different qualities, inclinations and abilities. A person with a split personality often goes on social networks and these subpersonalities “write” under different names and describe pictures from their lives. They have different gender, age, nationality, writing style and presentation of thoughts.

Many psychiatrists are not inclined to identify this disorder as an independent nosology and consider it as a manifestation of a hysterical disorder. To raise a hysterical child, you need to create an idol out of him; he is allowed everything, he is surrounded by attention, but as an adult he does not receive such attention and does everything to attract him to himself. According to many authors, hysterical psychosis is a psychogenically caused, functional disorder, and not an organic one.

Hysterical (dissociative) psychoses are heterogeneous in clinical manifestations. Hysterical psychoses include: hysterical twilight stupefaction , puerilism , pseudodementia , personality regression syndrome , hysterical stupor . Depending on the severity, the picture of psychosis can combine various hysterical disorders, or some hysterical manifestations can be successively transformed into others. These psychogenic reactions are formed against the background of situations of loss (death of relatives, breakup of relationships) and are interpreted as a “repression reaction” of mental trauma.

Puerilism, considered as hysterical psychosis, is manifested by a hysterical narrowing of consciousness and childish behavior in adults. Childish speech, movements, behavior, and emotional reactions are typical. Patients lisp, speak in childish intonations, play with dolls, run in small steps, pout their lips in response to insult or stomp their feet, and promise to “behave well.” In general, there is a return of psychological functioning to the childhood level caused by mental disorders (stress, schizophrenia).

This disorder can be a temporary phenomenon (with stress) or persistent and irreversible (intellectual regression in schizophrenia in adults). Unlike foolishness in schizophrenia, symptoms in puerilism are more changeable, varied and have a strong emotional overtones. Symptoms of puerilism are combined with other hysterical manifestations.

Factors in the development of the disease

Determining an exact list of reasons that contribute to the formation of multiple personalities is not easy, since the situation varies. A larger percentage of people suffering from the disease had the same causes.

Childhood shocks provide the necessary impetus for the development of the disorder. Such shocks are characterized by severe emotional stress. In some cases, the cause is violence. In addition to the above, deviations arise due to abundant mental stress caused by the environment. The presence of physical impact is not decisive.

Family violence

Experts characterize split personality as a defense of the human psyche. The result of this defense is isolation from traumatic memories. This leads to the formation of an alternative personality.

Primary school children are most vulnerable to developing the disease . At this stage, the development of the sensory components of the growing organism occurs. The disorder occurs as a result of a mental disorder. Adults are less susceptible to such effects.

According to unofficial information, in psychiatry departments there are 3% of patients diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. Studies have shown that the predisposition of women is higher than that of men. However, the statistics are not accurate, since it is more difficult to identify mental problems in men.

Causes

Causes of multiple personality syndrome:

• mental trauma due to physical, sexual or emotional abuse suffered before the age of five;
• stress (for example, separation from mother);
• shocks;
• shock trauma.

Patients with dissociative disorder often experience prolonged and severe abuse and neglect during their childhood years. Some patients were not exposed to violence, but had strong experiences. Children who have experienced abuse or stress do not integrate their memories and life experiences and remain separated. And children develop an adaptive ability (withdrawal, separation from the harsh environment, “detachment”), which protects the psyche. Each negative experience experienced can provoke the development of a new personality, resulting in the formation of multiple personality.

But not every child reacts to violence this way. Only an easily suggestible person with hysterical tendencies is capable of dissociative response mechanisms. These are demonstrative people, prone to theatricality, wanting to be the center of attention and loving to impress others. People with this disorder are highly sensitive to hypnosis. Another predisposing factor is organic pathology of the nervous system (abnormalities in the encephalogram).

Use fake name generators

The owners of many sites like their users to fill out as many fields as possible in their profiles and provide as much information about themselves as possible. If we want to create a realistic personality but save time, it makes sense to use automatic fake personality generators.

One of the best services of this kind is Fake Name Generator, which allows you to create personalities with specified characteristics by nationality and place of residence. By the way, although there are Russian first and last names in the set of options, it is impossible to select the Russian Federation, Ukraine or Belarus as the country of residence: obviously, the authors simply do not have enough information on the standards for displaying various types of data for these countries.

The Fake Name Generator site is remarkable in that it creates a ready-made virtual identity with a lot of different data, including a realistic-looking address with a zip code, a phone number that passes automated tests for authenticity, occupation, blood type, that actually works after activation, an e-mail that meets the standards payment card and social security numbers, height, weight, geographic coordinates, car make and even favorite color. You can precisely specify the age and region of the countries supported by the service.

The Fake Name Generator service is perfectly suited to study and test any online services that require detailed information about the user, without entering any real personal data.

Split Personality: Symptoms and Signs

Only a highly qualified specialist can make an accurate diagnosis by analyzing the signs of split personality. Signs such as imbalance, poor sleep, memory loss, and mood swings are not noticeable to the patient himself, but the doctor takes them into account. If the patient “switches” from one ego state to another, and at this time the heart rate and breathing rhythm change and become characteristic of the “newly emerging” personality. This also does not escape the attention of the doctor.

Symptoms of dual personality appear in different forms:

• In the obsessive form, the personality is noticeable to others. Patients act in a way that is unusual for them - another person has moved into them.
• In the non-possessed form, subpersonalities are not obvious to other people, but patients experience a feeling of “remoteness” from themselves, the unreality of what is happening to them, detachment in relation to the physical and mental processes occurring with them. The patient feels like observers of their own life from the outside and have no power over it or the ability to change anything (there is a loss of self-organization). It may feel like the body does not belong to oneself or feel like a small child or person of the opposite sex. Patients suddenly develop thoughts and emotions that are not typical for them, and these manifestations are noticeable to relatives and friends. At the same time, preferences in food, clothing, or their interests may change. Moreover, preferences suddenly change and return to their previous state. Such patients are faced with intrusions of subpersonalities into everyday life: at work, an angry and unkind personality suddenly makes them shout at a co-worker or boss.

The second important symptom is amnesia, which manifests itself:

• gaps in memory regarding events of personal life and biography;
• failures in stable memory (a person loses well-mastered computer user skills);
• discovering that he does not remember what was done or said.

Some periods of time disappear completely from memory because amnesia occurs between individuals. The patient may find objects in a bag or note, but cannot determine their origin. Patients find themselves in places with no memory of how or why they got there. Patients forget both everyday and stressful events. The degree of awareness of their amnesia varies and some try to hide it. Their amnesia is noticeable to others because they cannot remember what they said, promised or did. Some people forget their name.

Subpersonalities coexist with each other: they may or may not conflict with each other and with the main personality. Non-conflict coexistence is mild, does not cause changes, and the patient does not consult a doctor.

With conflict coexistence, the patient experiences anxiety , depression , bulimia , anorexia , substance abuse , and suicidal behavior . Patients may hear voices and experience visual, olfactory, tactile, and taste hallucinations. But these hallucinogenic symptoms are not the same as those seen in schizophrenia. Patients perceive these voices as voices of an alternative personality.

Switching between them is manifested in a change in voice and facial expression. Periodically, the patient refers to himself in the third person or plural. Switching between personalities leads to a chaotic life for the patient. These symptoms cause significant discomfort or interfere with social and professional activities.

How to develop your personality

Personality is associated with freedom. Without freedom there is no personality.

Nikolay Berdyaev

It is generally accepted that every person is an individual, regardless of what qualities and character traits he or she possesses. It’s hard to disagree with this, but we can and should add to this that a person, in order to remain a person, must necessarily develop. After all, we call a person, first of all, a unique, special, interesting person, unlike other people, who has rare abilities and a rich inner world. But without development, without working on oneself, a person will not go far from other people, he will be the same as everyone else. And if a person does not differ from other people, if he does not have special qualities inherent only to him, then we can call him a person with a very big stretch. However, the question arises: why does each of us need to be different from other people, why become an individual, for what purpose, for what benefit? This is what I will tell you, dear readers, in this article. I will tell you about how to develop your personality and why it should be developed. Believe me, there are great benefits from such development.

Why develop your personality?

To understand why a person needs to develop a personality, it is enough to take a closer look at what is happening in our lives. What is highly valued in this world? It is obvious that it values ​​everything that, firstly, you and I need, and secondly, everything that is in short supply. What is in short supply is valuable. Do you agree? Moreover, what’s interesting is that sometimes we don’t really need what is in short supply, but we are still drawn to it. We love everything rare and exceptional because we ourselves want to be like that. But we don’t particularly value what we have in abundance, even if it is something very useful for us, and sometimes we don’t value it at all. An interesting trait of human personality, isn't it? Someday I will explain to you why we behave this way. For now, let's return to the essence of our question. So, how can you become a valuable, and at the same time, a sought-after person, so that other people need you, so that they pay attention to you and love you? To do this, you need to become special, not like everyone else. You need to become more interesting, more useful, of better quality, and even, let’s say, more unusual than other people. This can be achieved in different ways, you can work on your outer appearance, that is, on your appearance, or you can set yourself a more complex and serious task - to change, or rather, develop your inner content. This is not an easy job, to be honest. But it needs to be done so that you are valued, so that you are needed, so that you are difficult to replace, and so on. Don't forget - what is rare is valuable. And what is valuable is loved and protected.

People will begin to pay more attention to you, and you will enjoy greater respect if you can develop rare and useful qualities for people, if you become an interesting, bright and even a little mysterious person. Good prospect? That's the point, it's good. After all, we all want to be valued, loved, respected, to be given attention, to be admired, to be needed, and so on and so forth. It's nice and useful. But let's think about what we should be valued, loved, respected for? Why should other people give us their precious attention, for what benefits? What's so special about us? What personal qualities of ours can people around us admire? This, friends, is something each of us should think carefully about on our own. Many of us may have a very good opinion of ourselves and think that there are no others like them. And this is good - you need to have a high opinion of yourself, without any doubt. This increases our self-esteem. But believe me, other people may think differently. They may see us as a completely different person, not the same as we see. How important this is for us is another question. We live in a society that, whether we like it or not, must accept us, or rather, we must be able to become part of it, because we depend on this society. We all depend on each other. And the point here is what place each of us will take in society. So, for this place to be as good as possible, a person needs to become an individual not only for himself, but also for other people. Let's now find out what we need to do with ourselves in order to develop our personality.

How to develop your personality

So, if you agree with all of the above, then I believe you are interested in learning about how you can develop your personality. Friends, if I tell you that personal development is a simple matter, I will be lying. And I don't want to lie. And I will not. So, no, it’s not easy. And I think that, not unfortunately, but fortunately, this is not easy to do. After all, if the development of a person’s personality were a simple matter, such a thing as working on oneself would simply not exist. Work is not the most pleasant word, you will agree. We associate it with tension, with workload, with stress, sometimes with pain, and not with pleasure and joy, unless you love your job, like me, for example. Be that as it may, any job has its own pleasure, there is its own joy, and those of you who do what you love know this very well. Working on ourselves is a special pleasure that we experience when we understand how our efforts bring us benefit. Therefore, working on yourself to develop your personality is pleasant, interesting, and fun. You can get a thrill from this. Therefore, it’s not so scary that this is not an easy job, the main thing is to understand how interesting and useful it is.

What should be done? Study, gain new skills, play sports, as well as interesting and creative activities, make your life and the lives of other people better. Here's what you need to do to develop your personality. It is your work on your body and mind that makes you a more perfect person, and of course, different from others. The main question here is not what to do, but how to do it. And a huge number of books and articles have been written about how to do this - how to work on yourself, how to develop yourself. And each of these books and articles offers its own recipe for personal development, although many of them are similar to each other. The more accurate and effective this recipe is, the faster you will be able to develop in yourself a personality whose analogue will be impossible to find. And the quality of your personality can and certainly must be such that society as a whole or individual people value you very highly. To do this, you must be useful to people, society, interesting and unique. What is rare is valuable, remember, right?

I will give you my recipe for how you can develop your personality, so that you keep it in mind when deciding exactly how you should work on yourself. Who knows, maybe he is the best of all existing ones. Why not, I have been dealing with this issue, essentially, my entire adult life. I believe, friends, that you need to start with psychology. Yes, yes, I understand, this is not the first time I’ve talked about this, or rather, written about it. And you, in turn, can say that again this sandpiper praises his swamp, as if nothing else exists in the world except this psychology. Of course, there is, but, friends, I praise what I praise, namely, such a science as psychology, not because I study it, but because it really gives us a lot - it allows us to develop valuable values ​​in ourselves. qualities for ourselves and for other people, thanks to what points us to them. That’s why I started studying it myself, because I saw how valuable it is for a person, both from the point of view of knowing himself and from the point of view of knowing other people. You can't improve yourself without understanding exactly how you're made, right? How will you know about this? Well, okay, there is biology, anatomy, medicine, anthropology and a host of other human sciences that study his body and mind. There are many of them, these sciences. But if we narrow our view of this issue, we can reduce everything to those sciences that study the human body and those that study his soul and mind. And these are the things we need to develop in order to make ourselves better. Here, psychology mainly studies the human soul and mind. And this, as you can, is not even so much to know as to feel - very important elements of a human being. And since they are important, we need to work on them in order to develop our personality - that’s exactly what we need, right?

Therefore, when I say that you need to study in order to develop your personality, you must understand what exactly you need to learn first. If you want to improve, say, some technical device or come up with a new one, you can start studying physics, mathematics, engineering, and so on. If you have a goal - to come up with, say, a new medicine for humanity, you should start studying chemistry and biology, and other sciences related to medicine. Well, if you want to understand yourself and other people and want to develop the best, strongest, most valuable qualities in yourself, then what, if not psychology, can I offer you for study. The question here is: what kind of person do you want to become, what do you want to be valued and respected for, for what knowledge and skills? To understand this, take a closer look at our life and answer the question - which people in it are the most popular, who are loved, appreciated and respected most, and for what? And then think about how you can become one of these people - what do you need to study for this? Maybe you don't want to follow my path, okay, I don't insist. Then choose your path - find, invent, choose your calling, as it suits you. After all, you still need to study in order to become a valuable person, and for this you need to study well, very well. And to study well, you need to have a great desire to achieve something. What do you want to succeed in, what do you want to achieve? Don’t rush to answer this question, think about it – this is a difficult choice.

In general, the more you can do that you can’t do, or can do but other people do much worse than you, the better. After all, being a person does not mean, for example, having your own opinion, as many of us are told today, since it may well turn out to be incorrect and even absurd. Why then have it, if you can borrow someone else’s, more correct, more accurate and much more useful opinion for us? To be a person means to be a useful person, useful both for yourself and for others. Even if you are different from other people and have charisma, you will not necessarily be a person to other people. After all, not every personality is valuable, even if it is unique. A person can be quite unusual, unique, interesting, but at the same time harmful. We can accept such a person, and even partly admire him as a person, but at the same time, if he causes us harm rather than benefit, then we will inevitably wish that this person was not in our life. Therefore, I believe that you need to work on yourself in such a way that you ultimately become a very useful person for society and be in demand by it. This will significantly simplify and improve our lives. Therefore, we should approach our development from the perspective of our own interests and the interests of the society in which we live.

Let's now talk about our shortcomings - after all, we all have them. We need to eliminate our shortcomings, if possible, and, if necessary, skillfully hide them. You see, a person with a bunch of shortcomings does not seem unique. Whereas the image of an ideal person, whom you can admire, whom you can and should look up to, whom you can love and appreciate, lives in the head of each of us. We want to see someone as an ideal person, someone other than ourselves. Is the ideal unattainable? Maybe. But you need to strive for it in order to at least seem like an ideal person, and therefore rare, and therefore valuable, and therefore someone who needs to be loved, valued, respected, and protected. An ideal person is without a doubt a person, even if he is ideal in the heads of only a few people, or even in the head of one single person, but very valuable to him. Therefore, our shortcomings are, to some extent, our enemies, with whom we must constantly fight, raising our cultural and intellectual level. Let other people behave naturally, the way they want. And you behave as you should in order to make a positive impression on people, and at the same time on yourself. You will begin to respect yourself more, and people will respect you more, if your behavior meets the highest standards. Therefore, be sure to develop self-discipline, because for personal development this is necessary work. It is not circumstances, not other people, who must control your behavior so that it is acceptable - you have to do it. Personality is not an object, but a subject. Therefore, the individual himself determines the norms of his behavior, based on the characteristics of the society in which this individual lives.

And finally, the last thing you need to develop the right attitude towards in order to develop your personality is responsibility and independence. A lot has been said and written about this, so much that it’s somehow even inconvenient for me to repeat it. But, either it is said in the wrong way, or it is written in the wrong way, or people simply do not listen to what is said and written, but for some reason there are no more independent and responsible people in our society. Therefore, it would be a shame not to discuss this issue again. I am sure that my work will also make its contribution to the development of individual people and society as a whole. What else can be said about responsibility and independence? But we can say this: it is absolutely obvious, at least for me, that a person himself determines his life path, because he is a person, and not a statistical unit and not something that can be generalized. Therefore, a person who wants to become an individual must be free in his soul, in his head and in general within himself in order to do what a free person can do - choose. When you have a choice, and you always have it, you just can’t always see it and don’t always want to see it, you can consider yourself a free person, but on the condition that you make your choice yourself and take full responsibility for it . So true freedom is within us, and this is the only freedom that no one will ever take away from us without our consent. But in order to have it, or rather, to use it, you need to take responsibility for your life yourself. There is nothing complicated about this, just as there is nothing terrible, but you need to tune in to such an attitude towards life, having understood all the benefits that you can get from such a life. And believe me, there are a lot of benefits from being a responsible and independent person. And the most important of these advantages is the freedom of choice I have already mentioned. You will always have the opportunity to get out of any absolutely dead end in which you may, by the will of fate or because of your own decisions, find yourself, because you will have a choice - a choice of what to do. People who are not free in their souls do not have such a choice, because other people decide everything for them. And you will have it if you do not refuse to take responsibility for yourself and your life. In life you will have everything - successes, failures, joy, suffering, victories, defeats, and much more that will make you happy and upset. You need to accept all this as a result of your choices, your decisions, your activities. Even if this is not the case, even if we depend to a large extent on circumstances and other people - we, you, friends, do not need to refer to this. Do not convince yourself that someone else in your life plays a more important role than yourself, because this is weakness, this is dependence, this is lack of freedom that kills your personality.

Take responsibility for everything that happens in your life and for yourself first of all. Don’t do this for other people, for them you can put on any performances you want, but for yourself. Be responsible and independent for yourself in order to be free, because only a person who is free at heart can become a person capable of doing what most other people, who shift responsibility for their lives to everything and everyone, are not capable of. If you shift responsibility to others, you will give them power over you, which means you will lose freedom, and therefore you will not become an individual. And I think that you deserve to become one! You are already a person, since you have read this article to the end, since you have made the necessary efforts to start moving in the right direction. Therefore, I can only wish you one thing - do not stray from your chosen path, continue moving, develop your personality - this is work for life, but, believe me, it is very generously rewarded. Determine for yourself the purpose for which you should do this work and let it inspire you.

Tests and diagnostics

Diagnosis of this condition is difficult. It is based on anamnesis, questioning, and sometimes in combination with hypnosis.

The main diagnostic signs are taken into account:

• The existence of two or more personalities and only one can seize control over a person at a certain point in time.
• The presence of individual characteristics, preferences and memories in subpersonalities.
• A person forgets important information, but this is not associated with ordinary forgetfulness.
• The above symptoms are not a consequence of organic damage to the central nervous system and the use of psychoactive substances.

When making a diagnosis, the connection between the occurrence of symptoms and the use of drugs and alcohol is excluded. Children often display imagination and play with imaginary friends. Long and repeated interviews are recommended to be carried out under the influence of hypnosis or medications (amytal-caffeine disinhibition), and between doses, patients should keep a diary, which is then reviewed and analyzed by the doctor. Drug disinhibition has diagnostic significance: in a person, under the influence of medications, subcortical structures are disinhibited. While in a relaxed state, the patient reports information that was inaccessible due to psychogenic amnesia, repression, and conscious concealment.

In a state of hypnosis, the doctor gains access to other personalities and tries to establish direct contact with them. Over time, the clinician can map out the personalities as well as their relationships. This helps the patient better control dissociated states. The doctor also takes into account the possibility of simulation for personal gain (evading responsibility and punishment).

Patients are asked to take a test for dissociative identity disorder, which includes easy questions that anyone can answer. There are a lot of tests developed and you can pass them all. It is advisable for people whose relatives have had such disorders to take the online split personality test. Knowing the existing problem makes it possible to prevent it by working with a psychologist.

Qualities in action

It's very simple: come up with a character with the most attractive qualities. The main thing is to become like him. To do this, it is necessary to analyze what exactly is needed to acquire these character traits. Write a list of what you need to do in order to “reach” your hero, that is, make a list of tangible manifestations of this or that quality. Let's return to the example of the musician who has stage fright. In this case, you need to rehearse a confident gait, establish eye contact with the people in the hall, and also feel the strength and confidence that the performance will be one of the most successful.

Prevention

Because dissociative identity disorder is a mental illness, there are no preventive measures. But since the main cause is child abuse, it is important to avoid traumatic situations in childhood. International organizations and social services are working to identify and eliminate violence. If severe stress and psychological trauma have occurred in a child, it is important to contact a specialist in a timely manner, which will prevent the development of dissociative disorders in the future.

Treatment

There are no recommendations on how to treat DID. Doctors prescribe specific treatment in each specific case.

Treatment plans depend on the conditions that occur along with DID and may combine psychotherapy with necessary medications to help with symptoms.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is the main treatment for people with DID. Methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy can help a person work through and learn to accept the triggers that cause personality changes. In DID, psychotherapy aims to help integrate a person's personality and learn to cope with post-traumatic experiences.

Other types of therapy

Art therapy, movement therapy, and relaxation techniques may all have a place in the treatment of DID. These techniques can help people connect aspects of their consciousness in a low-stress environment.

Forecast

In terms of prognosis, it can be noted: the earlier the disorder begins, the worse the prognosis for a person in social terms. Recovery is most often not complete. Impairments in dissociative identity disorder vary widely, from mild to severe. Treatment can reduce social, occupational, and relationship problems. Some patients respond slowly to treatment and require long-term treatment.

In this regard, patients are divided into groups:

• Patients whose symptoms are dissociative and post-traumatic in nature. Such patients retain their legal capacity and fully recover during treatment.
• Patients who, in addition to dissociative symptoms, also have other disorders: eating behavior, affective disorders, personality disorders, substance abuse disorders. Treatment in such patients is less effective, and improvement occurs slowly.

In both groups there are symptoms of mental disorders (emotional attachment to offenders). In this connection, it is necessary to carry out a longer course aimed not only at achieving personal integrity, but also at eliminating the symptoms of mental disorders. Dissociative identity disorder, compared to other personality disorders, is the most severe and has a chronic course. This is due to the fact that each alter personality may have its own mental disorders.

Billy Milligan's Multiple Personalities

After 10 years of intensive treatment, Billy Milligan was released from a psychiatric clinic. The result of the treatment was the doctors’ conclusion, which stated that the patient fully identifies himself, which means that he got rid of all subpersonalities. After leaving the clinic, Milligan disappeared to communicate with the press and society; it is not known for certain whether the treatment had a real result, whether he got rid of all 24 personalities and whether they returned to him over time.

List of sources

• Brushlinsky A.V. Psychology of the subject. M., 2003. 272
• Korolenko T.P., Dmitrieva N.V., Zagoruiko E.N. Identity in normal and pathological conditions. Novosibirsk, 2000. 255 p.
• Turbina E.G. Multiple personality syndrome // Kemerov V.E., Kerimov T.Kh. (ed.) Social philosophy. Ekaterinburg, 2006. P. 205
• Nikiforova P. The phenomenon of multiple personality in science and culture. St. Petersburg, 2014. 20 p.
• Putnam Frank W. Diagnosis and treatment of multiple personality disorder. Per. from English - M.: Cogito-Center, 2004. - P. 10, 138-150.