How do people with multiple personalities switch alters? How is it done?

Question

I'm doing a project on Multiple Personality Disorder. I'm basing my project on how people change from one personality to the other. My question is, how it is done. I know what it's like for the person to switch and i know it's done unexpectedly. But what does the person go through when switched? Do they faint and then they're a completely different person? Do they stare off into the distance and end up with another alter? How is it done physically?

Answer 1

Most people with this disorder demonstrate different handedness from the host. The physical changes that occur in a switch between alters is one of the most difficult aspects for psychiatrists to understand. People assume whole new physical postures, voices, and vocabularies. It isn't exactly a certain thing that someone with this disorder will do.

The host is often initially unaware of the other identities and typically loses time when they appear. The host is the identity that most often initiates treatment, usually after developing symptoms, such as depression. The personality that seeks treatment--whether the host or not--is referred to as the "presenting personality."

Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

The physical signs of switching vary widely from person to person. One common sign a switch is impending is rapid blinking. Not all multiples do this however. Many multiples can switch without any sign at all, and what signs do exist are very subtle. After all, the goal was survival, so switching as quickly and quietly as possible was ideal. Some multiples describe a falling sensation before a switch ("falling away from the eyes"), others, yes, might stare off into space.

Its also important to remember that the person is not aware of the switch- this is why they lose time. They simply "go away", and come back to consciousness at some future time. Its like a black out, except that some other person has been living your life, moving your body, making friends, going to dinners etc all while you are unaware of it.

If this is a project, you should also know that is the US they no longer call it multiple personality disorder. Now it is known as "Dissociative Identity disorder"

There are some good web resources on dissociation. Try these for more info-

http://sidran.org/

http://www.isst-d.org/

http://www.nesttd.org/

http://www.dmoz.org//Health/Mental_Healt...