Beauty and the beast: Dissociative identity disorder
The 19th and the 20th centuries were marked with an ongoing public interest in everything unknown and unexplored; mediums, spiritualists, parapsychologists, and hypnotists started to emerge on a professional scene which had earlier belonged to medical specialists only. During their sessions, a lot of patients were labelled with a multiple personality disorder or a split personality, as they obviously demonstrated a strong presence of a second personality or a co-existing mind. The reason behind this long-term mental disorder (DID, dissociative identity disorder, as in psychiatry), apart from a possible connection with an emotionally disturbing experiences from the past, is still to be ascertained.
The term “split personality” is commonly used in everyday language to indicate a contradictory and dramatically alternating “Jekyll and Hyde” type of behaviour. But there are still people who doubt the very existence of this illness, thinking that the person under question is merely fooling around or performing. DID is sometimes mistakenly confused with schizophrenia which is a psychiatric mental disorder that normally manifests in hallucinations, paranoid delusions, and severe social and occupational dysfunction. It doesn’t happen with multiple personality disorder patients, they have another problem to worry about, i.e. at least two alter egos or alters who coexist on one territory and have no idea about each other. Their alternating awakening is associated with a complete memory loss.
The clinical research has shown that multiple personality patients who had reintegrated the alters, have a better chance at recovery than patients who had been resisting to do so. Judging from the fact that it is almost impossible to distinguish beauty from the beast in this image, this pretty lady is definitely on the mend.
(Title Rus) Красавица и Чудовище; Расстройство Разделения Личности
Software media: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Autodesk 3ds Max, Smith Micro Poser, Daz Studio,
George Grie, March 2009
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Beauty and the beast: Dissociative identity disorder