Billy Milligan Dissociative Identity Disorder Analysis

Billy Milligan, or popularly known as the “guy from that movie Split”, has recently become the known face for a disorder called dissociative identity disorder, or formally known as multiple personality disorder. Dissociative identity lies under the main category of dissociative disorders in the DSM-5. Dissociative disorders are disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separate or dissociated from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings. Now, what exactly is dissociative identity disorder? Well, DID, for short, is a rare dissociative disorder that a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. Billy Milligan was born on February 14, 1955 and later died on December 12, 2014. He is well known for being the first

The potential risk factors for dissociative identity disorder is any type of trauma or abuse experienced in the childhood stages. It would become twice as likely if the child’s mother experienced trauma within two years of the child’s birth. This disorder is also linked to child abuse. About 95% to 98% of the cases of this disorder has something to do with child abuse. In other cases, such as Billy Milligan’s case, some experienced having a close family member committing suicide. Another factor that can lead to the development of DID would be any type of abuse that is “disorganized or disoriented attachment style and a lack of social or familial support” (Slogar 2011). Before someone is diagnosed, some common symptoms are mood swings, alcohol and drug abuse, sleep disorders — such as insomnia, night terrors, and sleep walking — and depression. Some other symptoms that are stated in the DMS-V for this disorder include suicidal tendencies, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, things that trigger the stimuli such as flashbacks, visual hallucinations, feeling unreal, hearing other voices and eating disorders. Lastly, dissociative amnesia — which is another separate disorder — is linked to DID as a

The treatment used to treat DID is psychotherapy — a treatment that is recommended that focuses on “individual modality and emphasize the integration of the various personality states into one”. Another treatment that is medication. Medication is usually needed with patients that have a severe problem with depressions, anxiety, anger and impulse control. Medications that are commonly used are antidepressants — citalopram, venlafaxine, phenelzine, fluoxetine, and sertraline. Depressants, such as carisoprodol, atropine, benzodiazepines, and cyclobenzaprine. Antipsychotic medication, — chlorpromazine, aripiprazole, Risperdal®, Haldol®, and mellaril — anxiety medication, such as Xanax®, librium, valium, and ativan. Lastly, stimulants like midafinil, methylphenidate, caffeine, and dextroamphetamine. Hypnosis is another technique as well. Five statistics about DID are that dissociative identity disorder is diagnosed nine times more often in females than in males. The likelihood that a tendency to dissociate is inherited genetically is estimated to be 0. Ten is the average amount of different personalities that someone with DID will have. DID occurs in up to 1% of the general population. People living with DID are depressed or even suicidal and self-mutilation is common in this group. Some myths that come with this disorder are “switching between personality