Can someone really have a split personality?

Question

Was watching American Justice the other day about a serial killer that supposedly had a split personality. Of course they first tried to let him off with reason of insanity. They ended up giving him the lethal injection because of the murders he committed. But it is really possible for someone to have a split personality. And if so, how is that? Kinda like "Me, Myself and Irene" sort of thing.

Answer 1

Yes, it is called Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID, formerly Multiple Personality Disorder. The term personality is misleading. Almost everyone has more than one personality they use, for instance environment conditioned personalities for work, home, school etc… DID is much more than that. DID the creation of additional egos, or ego like structures in your mind. For all practical intents and purposes they are separate people, each ego has its own goals and methodology, and sometimes may not be aware of the other egos in its same mind space. Meaning they don’t remember things when they are not in control of the body and mind. In other cases they are all mutually aware of their situation and talk to each other. This should not be confused with schizophrenia, where someone may have hallucinations that they are talking to someone inside or outside them.

Answer 2

I've never seen Me, Myself and Irene, but yes it is possible to have a split personality. That does not mean (in my opinion) that they are not responsible for their actions. Someone with this condition has a responsibility to seek treatment. That said, I believe (in most cases) that the person should be hospitalized rather than penalized. I don't know about the person in question, so I don't know if the person really has a split personality or if they are just using that as an excuse.

By the way, it is a type of dissociative disorder and not schizophrenia.

Answer 3

There is certainly enough annecdotal evidence "out there" to support the fact that this condition DOES exist. Given the validity of its existance, then the question becomes WHAT is it?
Being a person of stronly spiritual persuasion, I have always been quite fascinated by anomalies such as this. The first thoughts I had when I initially heard about it, ran along the lines of two or more "souls" or "entities" struggling for control of the same body.
Yet, the more I thought about it, the more unlikely that seemed to be. If I were a discarnate entity looking to posess a human body - and actually HAD such a capability - I would certainly choose a body that was living in better circumstances than the usual victims of this problem are generally found in.
Since it begins with a young person who has been severely traumatized, and so does the so-called "Poultergeist" phenomenon, I next began to wonder if they could be related. If a really fragile child suffers a severe enough trauma, CAN that really fragment his/her personality? If so, then perhaps this was a problem born from within rather than imposed from without. In the case of a really horrible ordeal suffered by one whose psyche cannot endure it, perhaps a fragment of that psyche splits off. Separated from its life-giving source, it then runs blindly rampant - like the proverbial "chicken with its head cut off" - untill it weakens and dies off. If this explained the "poultergeist", then perhaps a fragemnt that "came loose" but didn't make a complete separation - like a partially severed tree-branch still hanging on by some of its bark and woody fiber - was the true essence of the "Split personality". A sort of incomplete poultergeist, as it were.
I was really proud of this theory. I thought I had really come up with something profound - but it still didn't quite fit. What still didn't fit into the equation was the fact that these "alternate" personalities claimed, not just separate consciousness, but separate personalities with specific NAMES and IDENTITIES. That ONE facet stuck out like an extra projection on a puzzle piece that kept it from fitting into the vacant niche where it otherwise appeared to belong.
Then I came across some remarkable books. Written by clinical hypnotherapists, they were accounts of problems they found in their patients and how they cured these problems by looking beyond traditional therapies and "thinking outside the box".
According to the experiences they have described, discarnate spirits of varying types (no, not JUST ghosts) DO attach themselves to living energy fields. Back to my original idea at "square one".
They cannot be as choosy as I would have thought, because a person's own energy field must be drastically weakened - as by a severe trauma - for them to be able to make such an attachment.
I also discovered in the course of this research that the "soul" or "entity" actually CAN be fragmented by really horrible experiences, but these fragments are small and weak enough that they do not manifest in any detectable or noticeable way and do not develop separate identities.

Answer 4

I have not met any1 before, but i do believe that there are people with split personality. They suddenly change 2 a different self without themselves knowing! If u ask them what had just happened, they would not know and continue what they were initially doing.It might be a cause of a tragic incident and the pressure that they could'nt take it.Emotions play a great role here.

Answer 5

Some people say it does not exist, but there are a lot of instances of the disorder - I think it is now call dis-associative personality disorder. Sir Golf mentioned schizophrenia, the two are different - DPD seems to occur as a result of trauma such as an abusive childhood, schizophrenia is organic

Answer 6

Yes, its very possible, but its called Multiple Personality Disorder, not split. I think it's been documented for one person to have over a dozen personalities. I think most of the time an additional personality comes out to represent a facet of the primary personality that doesn't get much attention.

Answer 7

Mine could be Jack Nicholson. The loopy insane maniac who after enjoying Mr. super King consecutively and not permit something plenty get to him could sometimes turn suitable out. For as Norman Bates infamously stated: "She only is going a splash loopy in specific situations (concerning his lifeless mom who he outfits up as) all of us pass a splash loopy in specific situations." Now wheres that Butcher's knife ba ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Answer 8

Its a disoreder. People sometimes just feel like they are the only people they can trust. ntill they finally cant even trust themselves anymore. It seems kind of unreal but it is. they can either hate there other personality or be in love with it. They sometimes arent even aware of the fact tthat they have one

Answer 9

yes my grandmother has split personality disorder it can be caused by traumatic events in which you create another personality to deal with the situation

Answer 10

Maybe they're two faced and they have different personalities in fron of different people. I seriously have no clue.