Do people mistakenly assume that split personality and bipolar didorder are one in the same or similar?

Answer 1

yes for the lay person who thinks that the symptoms are the same.

Answer 2

"Split personality" is extremely rare. In fact it is so rare that doctors can't even say for sure that it truely exists. There have been cases of it, but many have been viewed as fabricated. Bipolar disorder is a different thing. It has to do with a patient having a hard time finding a nice middle road between normal ups and downs of mood. Instead the patient will display extremes. One extreme is mania, in which the individual finds themselves feeling euphoria, heightened confidence, little need for sleep or food. The individual may indulge in spontaneous, irrational behavior such as gambling binges and spending sprees. The person may have all of these symptoms or a mixture, and the episode can cycle for a few days, weeks, months or even years if not treated. Following this extreme the person may immediately lapse into a severe depressive mode or may return to normal for an indefinite period of time before becoming depressed. Obviously this part of the cycle is when the person feels sad, lonely, has a flat effect, withdraws, loses interest and what have you. In extreme cases the person may become suicidal, especially if left untreated. Both mania and depression can include psychotic symptoms. A certain number of criteria must be met and for both mania and depression and it must have happened over an extended period of time for it to be classified as the actual bipolar disorder, and depending on which combination of symptoms are present you get into bipolar one, bipolar 2, etc. the main thing is that the symptoms must severely interfere with day to day life.
Split personality suggests that someone suddenly lapses into a total different mindframe and set of behaviors with no regard, memory or knowledge of having done so. This just doesnt happen. However, if someone had an extreme case of bipolar disorder, with obvious positive symptoms and abrupt, erratic behavior, the person could appear to actually be suffering from a split personality. but as far as i know, the DSM says nothing about this imaginary disorder. Schizophrenia can also be mistaken for this, but is most definitely not this.

Answer 3

Nope I don't think that people associate both problems as the same. Perhaps the only reason that they may if they do is because the think someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder has 2 different personalities and the word "bi" in bipolar means two. Split personality is no longer medically called that. The proper term is Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Answer 4

I dont think so. Because being Bipolar means that you go from extreme mania (euphoria) to extreme depression very easily. Then, Multiple Personality is different. Being Bipolar doesnt mean that you have many personalities, but that you oscillate between very different emotions easily.

Answer 5

No.
I have seen people mistake split personality and Scizophenia the most often.

Also know the difference in Bipolar and manic-depressive--that is one I would like to know b/c they are used interchangeably.

Answer 6

They sometimes mistake one for the other...split personality disorder manifests itself in multiple separate personalities while bipolar disorder refers to the same primary personality that suffers from extremes in their emotional status.

Answer 7

i wouldn't think so, they are two totally different things. Bipolar is being extremely depressed one day, and then being really happy and feeling invincible the next. and split personalities is just that, acting and/or being totally different people

Answer 8

I never thought that, even before I was diagnosed as bipolar.

Answer 9

It's split personality and schizophrenia that people confuse.

Answer 10

I imagine that dyslexia and an disability to spell correctly go right along with it.