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What is dissociative disorder?
A dissociative disorder is when a person has problems connecting with their own self. There are several different symptoms - some people may experience a few severe symp…toms lasting a lifetime while others may only have a brief experience with one or two symptoms caused by a stressful situation which will eventually pass. Having a dissociative disorder basically means that you feel like you aren't yourself, whether it be constant or only on occasion. One symptom could be a type of amnesia, where you may forget certain people, places or things, but it can not be explained physically (such as having been in a car accident). It just, sort of, happened. Another symptom is what used to be called "Multiple Personality Disorder". It is when you have more than one personality, but truly believe that they are all different (not just you). These personalities can be interchangable depending on where the person isThis might also involve hearing voices in your head (these are most likely the "other personalities" talking). Finally, there is a disorder (within the disorder) called Depersonalization Disorder, or DPD. This is the one that I have been living with for nearly 10 years. Not many people know about it, it is rarely diagnosed and there is no cure or proven treatment. At times it can be very severe, at other times it is just become something that I have become used to living with. DPD is basically the feeling that you are not yourself, or that you are not living within your own body - as though you are on the outside watching yourself. You hear yourself talking, but you don't think it is you. You see yourself doing things, but you don't think it's you doing them. There may even be times when you look into a mirror and barely even recognize yourself. Things almost constantly do not seem real. In my own personal experience, the way I found to best describe it is that DPD is that it feels like a "permanant panic attack". Having an odd view of the world, your senses always seem a bit off, etc etc.. but most people can, after a while, still function and go about their daily routines. It may take a while for someone to get adjusted to this new, and possibly permanant, condition, but eventually most people sort of "make peace" with it and just try to adjust. I have also noticed that there seems to be a common thing that everyone has to remind themselves - "I am real. This is me.", a reminder that we are NOT outside of our own bodies. Many people who see us day-to-day may not even know that something is wrong unless we choose to tell them. (MORE)
