Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative identity disorder, a complicated and mysterious psychological problem is treatable to possible extent if proper treatment methods are applied by professional psychiatrists. Various treatment options for split personality problem include psychotherapy, hypnosis, medication and electroconvulsive therapy etc.      

1- Psychotherapy

The main tool for treating dissociative identity disorder is psychotherapy during which patient is trained to deal and overcome the dominating symptoms of split personalities successfully. This thing prevents severe emotional state during dominating periods various identities at specific moments which can trigger the appearance of another personality any time. Psychotherapy also teaches them how to coexist with various identities peacefully and how to control their negative aspects completely. The actual goal of psychotherapy in dealing with multiple personality’s disorder is to develop integration between various parts of one’s personality or various identities of same person without harming them in any case.                

2- Applying Hypnosis

Hypnosis is another treatment method often used along with applying various therapeutic techniques. In some cases of dissociative identity disorder patient seems to be facing extreme difficulty in expressing his inner feelings and emotions which must be identified to get the actual factor behind the problem. In such cases when psychotherapy and questioning techniques are not yielding desired results then psychiatrist often used to hypnotize the patient to get his inner truth which is impossible to find out in his normal active state of mind. In this way hypnosis facilitates communication with inner self of a patient suffering from dissociative identity disorder.           

3- Using Medication

Proper medication has also been used to treat the problem of multiple personalities but their usage remains confined to treat related mental problems like depression, anger or anxiety etc. When using medication for dissociative identity disorder it is imperative to check the effect of given dosage to prevent any side effect at all. Split personality disorder is already one of the most complicated forms of mental disorders and if by mistake wrong medication is used for its treatment, it can worsen the condition and can enhance the complications of disorder than ever before.              

4- Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

When medication and psychotherapy fail to prove viable methods to treat dissociative identity disorder then Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is applied to solve this complicate psychological issue. This therapy is also called electroshock and used to treat depressed psychological patients when all other treatment options have been exhausted. In this therapy electric shocks are used to induce seizures inside the patient’s mind to make him responsive and to end its silent state of mind.

The treatment options mentioned above are proving helpful in dealing with dissociative identity disorder but the complete treatment and sure recovery to single original identity is still a question for psychological researchers and professional psychiatrists, which needs to be answered.