Psych:I know that severe child abuse can cause multiple personalities, but can a person be born with it?

Question

And I was wondering what else might cause it? Has it always been around, but we just said they were mentally ill ?Thanks

Answer 1

no a person cannot be born with dissociative identity disorder.
it often occures with severe trauma as a child in attempt to hide from the situation and as a means of protection. i'm sure it has always been around but either these people were thought to be witches or locked up from the rest of the world. it is just today that we are understanding more about mental illness. i hope this helps!

Answer 2

Children are not born with a sense of a unified identity — it develops from many sources and experiences. In overwhelmed children, its development is obstructed, and many parts of what should have blended into a relatively unified identity remain separate. North American studies show that 97 to 98% of adults with dissociative identity disorder report abuse during childhood and that abuse can be documented for 85% of adults and for 95% of children and adolescents with dissociative identity disorder and other closely related forms of dissociative disorder. Although these data establish childhood abuse as a major cause among North American patients (in some cultures, the consequences of war and disaster play a larger role), they do not mean that all such patients were abused or that all the abuses reported by patients with dissociative identity disorder really happened. Some aspects of some reported abuse experiences may prove to be inaccurate. Also, some patients have not been abused but have experienced an important early loss (such as death of a parent), serious medical illness, or other very stressful events. For example, a patient who required many hospitalizations and operations during childhood may have been severely overwhelmed but not abused.

Answer 3

Multiple personality disorder (now known as dissociative identity disorder) is thought to stem from a traumatic childhood experience, not necessarily abuse. Most of the research supports this theory. However, it is still a controversial disorder that probably will not be completely understood for quite some time. I have never read any literature saying it is genetic or that people are born with it.

Answer 4

No, a person cannot be born with multiple personalities. It is an extremely rare disorder that occurs when a child is so severely abused for so long that her/his personality literally shatters into bits.
Again, this illness is only caused by child abuse. You cannot be born with it.

Answer 5

I'm a nurse. There is a possibility that a person can be born mentally challenged. This can of course as the years progress it develops and becomes worse. Medication is the best thing for a person like that. However there are many people not on anything, yet they are suffering. The medication helps them live a kind of normal life. Without medication they are confused.

Answer 6

I would think not. Since most multiple personalities seem to stem from some traumatic experience. However, that being said, maybe birth itself is traumatic enough to develop a personality. I guess the world might never know.

Answer 7

I don't think so. I think it's caused by traumatic things, such as abuse, that usually occur in childhood.

Answer 8

yes, the person can be born with it. The underlying cause is unknown, like most mental diseases. anything can cause it.

Answer 9

Be born with child abuse? Huh?