Whats the difference between dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder) and schizophrenia?
Sometimes, people confuse dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, and schizophrenia. Schizophrenia does mean split mind, but the name was meant to describe the split from reality that you experience during an episode of psychosis, as well as changes in thoughts, emotions, and other functions. Dissociative identity disorder, on the other hand, does cause a split or fragmented understanding of a persons sense of themselves. Dissociative identity disorder is really more about fragmented identities than many different personalities that develop on their own. Most people see different parts of their being as part of the whole person. For people who experience DID, identity fragments may have very different characteristics, including their own history, identity, and mannerisms. A key part of DID is dissociationfeeling detached to the world around you. People who experience DID may have many unexplainable gaps in their memory, forget information theyre already learned, or have difficulties recalling things theyve said or done. Unlike portrayals of DID on TV or in movies, DID may not be obvious to others, and it can take a lot of time to come to the diagnosis. Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that causes hallucinations (sensations that arent real) and delusions (beliefs that cant possibly be true, in addition to other symptoms like jumbled thoughts, jumbled speech, and difficulties expressing emotions. People who experience schizophrenia may hear or feel things that arent real or believe things that cant be real, but these arent separate identities.