ew all over the walls and when confronted, one could honestly see they do not remember the incident. There is also a lack of diagnosis among children, only nine reported cases were in 1990. During adolescence, a teenager will often turn to other things to deal with the stress of abnormal and excessive forgetfulness or blackouts. An adolescent with MPD can oftentimes exhibit signs of bi-polar disorder, insomnia, suicide threats and attempts, drug use, violent mood swings and panic attacks. When a teenager exhibits these characteristics, MPD is not the first diagnosis to be explored, rather, it is blamed on hormones or drug use. These things can only fuel MPD rather than calm it. Adulthood, or in the age range of 20 years to 30 years old is when a person with MPD is usually diagnosed. This is a time in a person’s life when the symptoms of MPD directly interfere with their lives. Not knowing where you are or how you got there is a big issue if you are trying to raise children or maintain a marriage. Also, as an adult, there is the freedom to seek help. Diagnosis of Multiple Personality Disorder is a complicated process. It involves many psychological tests on the patient as well as preliminary therapy to accurately determine if the patient has MPD. The International Society for the Study of Dissociation revised guidelines in 1996 concerning treatment options for persons with MPD. According to their website, www.issd.org, “A mental status examination augmented with questions concerning disassociative symptoms is an essential part of the diagnostic process.” This means there are specific questions and evaluations that have to be presented before a diagnosis is made. The patient is asked questions about hearing voices, forgetfulness beyond normal, amnesia, problems with identity, regressed memories and hypnotic episodes. Also according to the website, “Structured interviews for the detection of dissociative disorders a...
