The Multiple Personality Disorder- A med-fiction or reality?

....students often ask me whether multiple personality disorder (MPD) really exists. I usually reply that the symptoms attributed to it are as genuine as hysterical paralysis and seizures....--Dr. Paul McHugh.
MPD(multiple personality disorder) or DID(dissociative identity disorder)is a psychological term used to describe the state of mind where a person shows "altered" behaviour and presents themselves as a different person. A person with MPD plays host to two or more personalities (called alters). The "alters" are said to occur spontaneously and involuntarily, and function more or less independently of each other. Each alter has its own unique style of viewing and understanding the world and may have its own name. These distinct personalities periodically control that person's behavior as if several people were alternately sharing the same body. The unity of consciousness, by which we identify our selves, is said to be absent in MPD. Another symptom of MPD is significant amnesia which can't be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.
MPD occurs about eight times more frequently in women than in men. Furthermore, Female MPD patients often have more identities than men, averaging fifteen as opposed to eight for males.
Causes:-
Most people diagnosed with MPD were either physically or sexually abused as children. Many times when a young child is severely abused, he or she becomes so detached from reality that what is happening may seem more like a movie or television show than real life. This self-hypnotic state, called disassociation, is a defense mechanism that protects the child from feeling overwhelmingly intense emotions. Disassociation blocks off these thoughts and emotions so that the child is unaware of them. These thoughts and actions are mainly controlled by the subconsious part of human brain whic retains information facts that the consious mids fails to observe and remember. In effect, they become secrets, even from the child. According to the American Psychiatric Association, many MPD patients cannot remember much of their childhoods.


















Not all Children who are severely and repeatedly abused develop multiple personality disorder. However, if the abuse is repeatedly extreme and the child does not have enough time to recover emotionally, the disassociated thoughts and feelings may begin to take on lives of their own. Each cluster of thoughts tends to have a common emotional theme such as anger, sadness, or fear. Eventually, these clusters develop into full-blown personalities, each with its own memory and characteristics.

Symptoms:-
A person diagnosed with MPD can have as many as a hundred or as few as two separate personalities. (About half of the recently reported cases have ten or fewer.) These different identities can resemble the normal personality of the person or they may take on that of a different age, sex, or race. Each alter can have its own posture, set of gestures, and hair-style, as well as a distinct way of dressing and talking. Some may speak in foreign languages or with an accent. Sometimes alters are not human, but are animals or imaginary creatures.
The process by which one of these personalities reveals itself and controls behavior is called switching. Most of the time the change is sudden and takes only seconds. Sometimes it can take hours or days. Switching is often triggered by something that happens in the patient's environment, but personalities can also come out under hypnosis (a trancelike state in which a person becomes very responsive to suggestions of others).
Despite of all, it has been found that through regular medication and therapy a link can be created between the alters though it can't be compleately irradicated. With aging the frequency of switching slows down. During the therapy the therapist tries to isolate each personality and address their emotional issues regarding the original trauma. Sometimes mood alteration medicines such as tranquilizers and antidepressants are prescribed. This medication can last upto an average of 4 years.


For further reading:


http://www.hypnosis-nlp-therapy.com/subconscious.html


http://www.mental-disorder.net/wb/pages/personality-disorders/multiple-personality-disorder/causes-of-multiple-personality-disorder.php

Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi reporter who was arrested for throwing his shoes at former US President George W. Bush, has been released.

If you guys remember the Iraqi reporter Muntadhar al-Zaidi who shocked the world last December by hurling not one but both of his shoes in disgust at the visiting former US president, who had come to the war-torn country to say farewell has been released. Sitting in the third row at a press conference attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the reporter 'jumped up' and shouted "It is the farewell kiss, you dog." He then threw his shoes one after the other toward Bush's head, who was not hurt. Bush ducked and the first shoe sailed past hitting the American and Iraqi flags behind the two leaders. While throwing the second shoe, al-Zaidi shouted, "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!" Maliki tried to block the second shoe as it hurtled toward a seemingly dumb-founded Bush.
Attorney Karim al-Shujairi said Tuesday that all the necessary papers have been signed, clearing the way for his release after nine months imprisonment. Al-Zaidi was initially sentenced to three years for assault on a foreign head of state, but had his jail time reduced to one year on appeal. The 30-year-old television reporter has been freed early because of good behavior. In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. Iraqis bashed the statue of Saddam with their shoes after US marines toppled it to the ground following the devastating 2003 invasion. Baghdad citizens voiced approval over the stunning act and raked the police over the coals for the arrest sending a most obvious message to the American invaders who think of themselves as liberators. The incident captured many Iraqis' feelings of resentment after more than six years of bloodshed triggered by the US-led invasion in 2003.
Now the question is 'was the act justified or barbaric'...I believe the act was barbaric. Eventhough George W. Bush was the mastermind behind the occupation of iraq and is responsible for the present situation of the country, throwing shoes at a political figure moreover the US president who is considered the most powerful person in the world is not the mean for expression of anger and protest. It was absolutely shocking that a well informed person like a reporter could commit such an act when he had all the means in hand to criticize and protest through mass media.. However we can not deny the fact that Bush deserved an action as such for illegitimate occupation of a country in the name of stopping it and its dictator Saddam Hussein from development of weapons of mass distruction while the real motive was to gain control over the state and its oil reserve...In my opinion the imprisonment was the right punishment the reporter deserved for such an uncivilized act.
For indepth analysis visit: aljazeera.com

The BEGINNING of the END

Huh..atlast even I couldn't stay away from blogging. I was the person who always opposed the idea of blogging ..to me it was "waste of precious time and a thing for jobless ppl". Any way the reason I started blogging is not because i wanted to note down all the lame incidences of my day to day life...coz why the hell wud anyone be interested in reading what i did or happened to me. Who am I? not a celeb, not a political figure, not james bond.....um just a normal guy like millions of others in the world....This blog will be dedicated to reviewing ideas from different topics of general concern and spread of opinions and thoughts to my friends and the people who visit the page.. This blog will also consist of information on different streams like science, medicine, politics, finance and global issues. Readers who wish to know more may inquire for and relative information will be delivered with reference to reliable source. It will be highly appreciated if the readers leave comments, whatever it maybe after they read the information and suggestions of furthur upgrade will be most welcome. Thank u all for visiting the blog and hope that u'll visit soon to check out whats hot in the news stream media.