What is MPD?

MPD is a survival tactic. It is the creative attempt of highly traumatized children to protect themselves from the trauma and abuse (e.g.: "It isn't happening to me.") When these children dissociate (block) trauma, their "compartments" of trauma become "separate personalities/parts within their one self". Only children have sufficient flexibility (and vulnerability) to adapt to trauma by means of creating alter personalities.

I thought MPD and Schizophrenia were the same thing.

MPD is NOT schizophrenia! Most people thing that schizophrenia means "split personality." Actually, this is totally incorrect. "Split Personality" is MPD, not schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a chronic form of psychosis due to a biochemical/genetic disorder of the brain. SCHIZOPHRENICS DO NOT HAVE OTHER PERSONALITIES. Schizophrenia is not caused by trauma, and does not involve amnesia and flashbacks.

When can a person get MPD?

MPD arises in childhood, mostly ages 3 to 9 years. There is juvenile diabetes and adult onset diabetes, but there is no adult onset MPD. Only children have sufficient flexibility (and vulnerability) to respond to trauma by breaking their "still-coalescing" self into different, dissociated parts. Adults do not have the capacity to adapt to trauma by forming alter personalities. (The exception is that adults who became "multiples" in childhood can continue to make more alters during adulthood.)

Isn't MPD really just a way for people to get attention?

It is often thought that MPD is a sham, a bizarre form of "play-acting" that is perpetrated by manipulative, attention-seeking individuals. It is not. MPD is a "disorder of hiddeness" wherein 80-90% of MPD patients do not have a clue that they are "multiple." Most know that there is something wrong with them; many fear that they are crazy-- but few know that they are multiple.

Isn't MPD just an exaggeration of the different parts of our personality; aren't we all really "multiple"?

This is an enticing question. "Yes," we all have different parts to our personalities. "No," MPD is not "just an exaggeration" of these parts.

Why?

At least 6 reasons:

1. Because we all don't have a dissociative disorder;
2. Because we all don't suffer from severe and chronic child abuse or trauma;
3. Because we all do not have amnesia for what we are doing when a different part of our personality comes to the fore;
4. Because the "raison d'être" of the different sides to our personality is not to hide from ourselves information or feelings about trauma;
5. Because we all do not posses the ability to be "highly" hypnotic; and,
6. Because we all do not develop POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER when we begin to pay attention to our parts.