Is there really such a thing as multiple personalities?
By celticeagle
@celticeagle (189957)
Boise, Idaho
April 10, 2016 5:28am CST
I wonder if any of you believe in multiple personalities. I was reading some research material about who was the star who made the most this last year. It wasn't Leonardo but in reading about what may be his next project I found the book it may be adapted from very interesting. I have always been interested in multiple personalities. I read Sybil and saw Three Faces of Eve and I am hooked. I even interviewed a young man and a woman who said they had multiple personalities and were in our community mental hospital. It is fascinating. Both the personalities, and the backgrounds of the patients. The book is entitled The Minds of Billy Milligan and is by Daniel Keyes who also wrote Flowers for Algeron.
The Minds of Billy Millgan is the story of the first man to use DID as a defense. He alleges to have 24 personalities(Sybil Dorsett had 16) who did several rapes and robberies. I just ordered the book today and it looks to be an interesting read.
I guess Milligan was arrested for three rapes on the campus at the University of Ohio. As his lawyers prepared his defense he was seen by a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with multiple personality disorder. His lawyers filed an insanity plea. They claimed that two of his alternate personalities actually did the rapes and armed robberies. He is the first person charged with such crimes to raise such a defense. He was also the first to be acquitted of such a crime. He spent a decade in a mental hospital.
Do you believe in DID(Dissociative Identity Disorder) also known as multiple personalities or do you think it is a hoax to get attention or make excuses for deeds done?
17 people like this
16 responses
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
10 Apr 16
I believe it exists, but I also assume it is sometimes used as an excuse.
4 people like this
@GardenGerty (169568)
• United States
11 Apr 16
Exactly and I do not believe it should be a "get out of jail free" pass.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr 16
Yes, and it is something that the courts usually don't believe in.
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
10 Apr 16
oh it's real, not always when people claim, but it's a thing.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (169568)
• United States
11 Apr 16
I believe it exists. I am not positive what causes it for each person. As far as using it as a defence for a horrid crime, if it is proven that the perpetrator has it, I believe they need to be observed and restricted for the rest of their life as I do not think it is something you get "healed" from.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
15 Apr 16
I think they can be healed but it takes a lot of work and therapy. It is caused by something horrible happening to them when young. So awful that they couldn't handle it and so they split into two people. For them to live sometimes they split into other personalities as well. What I think is weird is that all these personalities live in this person's head and the person doesn't even know it.
@Marcyaz (35316)
• United States
10 Apr 16
I don't know what to make of Multiple Personalities if it is real or not. I had seen the movie Sybil and also the Three Faces of Eve. They were interesting to see so I suppose there is some truth to the multiple personalties but how manypersonalties can a person have is the question that needs to be answered.
3 people like this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr 16
I think it depends on the depth of the psychosis.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (153529)
• India
10 Apr 16
I am Gemini and we are supposed to have two sides to our personality
2 people like this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Apr 16
@allknowing ...No, not at all ever. I've known her for fifty years!
2 people like this
@allknowing (153529)
• India
11 Apr 16
@celticeagle You have noticed it in your friend?
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr 16
Interesting. I beleive in the 24 or even more perhaps. Offshoots of one domineering personality would make for a lot of personalities. I tend to beleive there could be many. Depending on the depth of the psychosis.
1 person likes this
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
11 Apr 16
@celticeagle oh I don't know about that. I think it's possible that someone could get away with it in an extraordinary circumstance but that might just be the stuff of fiction. Have you seen Primal Fear starring Richard Gere and Edward Norton?
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Apr 16
@MsTickle ...Yes. I thought of this movie when I read the summary of the book. One of the intense scenes runs through my head. Stampler's character was so intense!
2 people like this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Apr 16
I don't think anyone is that good an actor.
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50970)
• Holiday, Florida
11 Apr 16
i do believe in it but i also think it is possible to fake it as a defense. who knows if it was true. i think i have actually known a couple of those type of people myself.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Apr 16
Yes, me too. I think a good therapist, given time, could see if it is real or not. It would take a very good actor to keep up such a act over a period of time.
@Drosophila (16568)
• Ireland
10 Apr 16
It exist for sure..
genuine cases are often in hospital under medication though
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr 16
Think of all the medications a person with 24 personalities could take. Yikes!
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Apr 16
@Drosophila ....I think that the main psyche is sometimes shattered and more dominant personalities take over. Also, some that are not dominant but have some reason for being depending on the back history of the patient.
2 people like this
@Drosophila (16568)
• Ireland
11 Apr 16
@celticeagle one pill per personality ouch!
I think psyche as a whole can shatter and express different aspect of itself, sometimes to the knowledge of the patient, and sometimes they are totally unaware of it.
There's much to the human mind we do not understand.
1 person likes this
@akalinus (44366)
• United States
10 Apr 16
I think at least some cases are real. I knew a woman who I am sure had multiple personalities. You could see her change from one person to another in the middle of a conversation. Her voice became different, her posture changed, and she made eye contact when she didn't just a few minutes ago. It was eerie.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr 16
We used to have a guy call in when I worked at the telephone company. He did the same thing. Weird to see in person isn't it.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Apr 16
@akalinus ...That would be scary to be around. Not sure what to expect next and all. But, from their standpoint it must be awful. In the movie/book about Sybil, she had black outs where she didn't remember long stretches of time.
1 person likes this
@akalinus (44366)
• United States
11 Apr 16
@celticeagle Weird is a good way to describe it. She was wacked out. Once she called me early in the morning to come to her house. Got there, she thought the ocean was swallowing her house. Another time, she called and said a couple kidnapped her.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
10 Apr 16
I have always wondered about that too. I recall reading that it is controversial among psychotherapists as to whether it is real or not. Someone like this guy should be confined for life, no matter what.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr 16
I tend to disagree. If one of his evil personalities did the foul deeds why should he be penalized for it?
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Apr 16
@JamesHxstatic ....This one in the story spent over ten years in a mental hospital.
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Apr 16
@celticeagle If he can't be treated to the point that evil one is controlled, he certainly can't be out running around. That is one thing mental institutions are for. The evil personality can't be confined without all of them it seems.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
10 Apr 16
I believe it does exist, but also see where someone might choose to fake it to avoid consequences.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr 16
Yes, but to fake 24 personalities is beyond event the best actors abilitiy.
1 person likes this
@Daljinder (23193)
• Bangalore, India
11 Apr 16
They do exist. Although I have not seen those movies you mentioned, I have seen our own country movies relating this.
Like "Aparichit" (Unknown) The guy had three personalities. They showed that certain traumatic experiences in his life splitted his personalities.
When he was a child, he saw his little sister die in front of him. It was an accident caused by the carelessness of the corrupt people. That is when this first personality of his developed. He went punishing and murdering people who even dared to lie.
When he grew up, he fell in love with a girl. But she rejected him because she considered him too straight laced. Heartbroken he tried to end his life by drowning himself. That is when second new personality was born. This one was of a cool, sauve, romantic and daring guy.
And the guy himself was unaware of his two other personalities while those two knew about him.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
14 Apr 16
Yes they certainly are. Some are worse than others too.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr 16
I do agree. I think that this one takes a long time to really believe in patient by patient.
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
10 Apr 16
I personally think it is very real.I have to switch personalities depending on who I talk to. Probably not the point of your post, but to me makes sense as why people develop them.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr 16
I wouldn't develop a different personaltiy to be around different people but can see acting a bit differently depending on who you are around.
1 person likes this
