Dissociative Identity Disorder In Hyde Jekyll Me

This Holiday break I watched a Korean drama called Hyde, Jekyll, Me. The drama is about a man who is suffering from multiple personality disorder. Mr. A, the host personality is a CEO of Korea’s version of disneyland. During the night his alternate personality Mr.B, is a famous web cartoonist. The alternate and the host personality are very different from one another. Mr. A, is cold and antisocial yet Mr. B, is outgoing. At an early age Mr. A, the host personality, was kidnapped alongside his best friend and tortured. The 11 year old Mr. A, manages to escape leaving his best friend behind whom he thinks is dead. A few months later he finds out that his father refused to pay the ransom for both of their release and as a result his best friend
dies and this brings him guilt. After a failed suicide, the alter personality is then created as a defense. The above example is a form of dissociative identity disorder (DID) which is mostly known as multiple personality disorder; a dissociative disorder involving identity disturbances in which two separate and distinct personality states or identities control the individual’s behavior.
This condition of multiple selves is a result of temporary disruption in one’s memory, consciousness and identity. Most of us have experienced mild dissociation which is like dreaming or getting lost in a moment while being focused on a task. However DID is a severe form of dissociation, a mental process which produces lack of connections. A person who is under control of another identity is usually unable to remember some of the things that occurred while the alternate personality is in control. In the mentioned movie above, Mr. A’s dissociation is a coping mechanism where he is trying to separate himself from the incidence of being kidnapped and the supposed death of his friend. In other words personality B or Mr. B, is created as a defense mechanism to the traumatic and painful experience that can not be accepted into the host’s conscious. DID is sometimes seen as a product of poor coping abilities to stressors and difficulties in emotional relationships with
others. The ego according to Freud, is to minimize threats from the outside world. When faced with a dangerous situation the ego experiences anxiety and reacts to the situation by avoiding it. The ego then is said to engage in defense mechanisms to minimize anxiety and thus lacking these defence mechanisms is not seen as a healthy thing. For a person with DID ,the defence mechanism is rather pathological, instead of reacting to a situation, then the person creates another personality to deal with emotions, threatening memories or impulses.Treatment is usually to integrate the personalities into a single personality or to achieve a harmonious interaction among the personalities that allows more normal functioning. Treatment for this disorder usually include psychotherapy with hypnosis and other treatment. The concept of dissociations still remains controversial. In chapter 7, of the textbook Susan says that, critics argue that the disease was created by the treatment or the therapist. This is to say that patients accused therapist of implanting false memories. Today some religion like catholicism would view this disorder as a satanic phenomenon and linked with demonic possession. The concept of multiple selves varies from culture to culture. In the western countries multiple personality disorder is manifestation of different personality of individual due to traumatic events. In most African and Asian societies however the same condition would be seen as curse, mental illness, or punishment for wrong doing of either the family or even demon possession. So why is all this important? To me this is important because our self concept is our mental representation of ourselves that includes a great deal of information about how we see and understand ourselves and others. Multiple personalities are interesting because they tell us about the relationship between self, memory and consciouness.