Daydreaming? Getting lost for a moment when doing a certain task? Being absorbed in ones thoughts and forgetting the rest of the world for a moment? These are most common examples of what we call mild dissociation and it is just a normal experience for any person at some certain point. However dissociation that causes disruption in ones life, this would be a time the dissociation is considered to be a disorder. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a disorder that is defined as the existence of more than one personality in a certain person or formerly called as Multiple Personality Disorder. DID is also considered by the American Psychiatric Association as one of the 4 main kinds of dissociative disorders (Kaplan, 1998). Persons having this disorder may have more than one personality from 2 to be the least and can be up to a hundred personalities (Dissociative Identity Disorder, 2000). Persons may be unaware that they already have the disorder but some seek help because of the symptoms that this disorder presents. Patients commonly complain of amnesia episodes that these individuals may not recall some events
that took place. They may meet people who claim to know them but are unfamiliar to them, being in a place but could not remember how they reached that certain place or have things at home that they couldnt even remember purchasing. These are just some of the signs and symptoms of the disorder but there are other existing manifestations that differentiate this disorder from other psychological disorders. During 1970s there are only few cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder were reported but nowadays over 6,000 cases are reported every year (Madison, 2007). It was reported that among the general population there is an occurrence of.01% to 1% cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder. On the brighter side, this disorder, however complicated it may seem, has existing treatments. There are many ways that psychiatrists and psychologists deal with this disorder. As this disorder may be caused by a variety of reasons and every patient differs, the treatment and the approach may not be the same for each patient. Knowing more about Dissociative Identity Disorder may help in better understanding what the disorder really is.