Mental Disorders

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) or Multiple Personality Disorder is a mental disorder characterized by two or more distinct personalities states that control a person’s behavior, and is one of the most controversial disorders.

We saw a video about a woman called Tracy, she suffers DID and she has 5 personalities:

·         Susie, a 10 years old girl

·         Miss Anne, the caretaker

·         Emily, a 5 years old girl, that always need his mom

·         Samantha, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer)

·         Becky, the aggressive

Tracy said that Becky is the dominant and more frequently personality, and this alter hurts Tracy’s body, because she (Becky) said that Tracy deserves the punishment, because she´s ignoring the other alters. In Dr. Phil’s Show, he interviewed Tracy and she explained everything. The Dr. Phil asked Tracy if he could take with Becky, she closed her eyes, and suddenly, Dr. Phil was talking with Becky (This seems fake for me). The Doctor talked with Becky about why she hurts Tracy, etc. But then, suddenly Becky (or Tracy) started to cry and Dr. Phil asked her name and she answered “Susie”, that means that he was talking with the 10 years old girl. Then Dr. Phil was talking again with Tracy. I think that Tracy‘s sudden change of personalities are false, but I know that DID exist and there are a lot of cases like this.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by thoughts that produce uneasiness, fear or worry. One of the most common symptoms of OCD is fear of contamination, which is why they wash their hands constantly. Also, they open and close the doors before entering or leaving a room and repeat things over and over again. This disorder is characterized by Obsessions, that are recurring ideas or impulses that are experienced as thoughts that invade consciousness are experienced as exaggerated or meaningless; and Compulsions, that are repetitive behaviors whose main function is to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsession.

We saw a video about a woman called Stephanie, she has OCD. She washed his hands over and over again with hot water. When she was drying her hands with a paper tower, she must be careful of not to touch the trash can, because if she does, she had to wash her hands again with hot water. She didn´t carry her baby in her arms, she dragged him around the house with a blanket, for not having dirty hands.

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder is a severe mental disorder. People who suffer, shows dramatic changes in their mood. They can be very aggressive, euphoric or irritable and then, they can be sad, hopeless, and then they started the cycle again. Some symptoms are: talking much more than what is necessary, getting distracted very easily, increased activity (in work or studies) and feelings of hopeless and pessimism.

The video we saw about Bipolar Disorder was about a guy called Percy, he is a great mathematician, but suddenly suffers some drastic changes of mind.

By: Ana Karenϟ