s of dissociative identity disorder are fairly easy to recognize, as well. The least puzzling thing about dissociative identity disorder is what causes it.

There are many different theories on why people create or have mult

Therapy contracts ³should focus on the type and duration of the treatment, dangerous behavior, and therapeutic boundaries²(Putnam 1989) and the punishment if the contract is violated. Dangerous behavior is one of the most important issues that can be addressed, because often in cases of dissociative identity disorder internal homicides occur or are attempted. But to kill another personality, the personality must kill the host and in turn, it too will be eliminated, so measures preventing this must be contracted for the patients safety. Punishment is another tedious task in the treatment of dissociative identity disorder,because the therapist must establish appropriate punishments for each personality. (Braun 16-23 part2)

The symptoms of dissociative identity disorder are often fairly easily to identify. The most obvious symptom, but hardest to recognize, is the presence of multiple personalities in one body. They are very hard to detect unless you know the person well because most of the alter personalities will react rationally to the situation they are presented with. (Chase 187-194) Imaginary friends, for an adult or teen, and ³voices² heard in the head are some of the more recognizable symptoms of dissociative identity disorder. Other symptoms of dissociative identity disorder are blank spells, frequently misplaced personal objects, and referring to oneself in the first person plural sense. Any of these last three can refer to a variety of different things, but imaginary friends,as an adult or teen, hearing ³voices², and having alter personalities to deal

barriers peacefully between alters is also advocated by some therapists as a gradual way to establish internal communications without the use of the ³bulletin board.²(Ross 1989)

The next phase begins by the host recovering ³their² traumatic and severing the emotions that cause internal conflict or pain to the host. This is essential for the healing process to occur. To desensitizes the memory and hopefully remove a personality, the memory must be communicated to the host and he must mentally relive it and learn to cope with it if he wants to become one body with one mind. (Putnam 1989)

Therapists, after finding the safe areas, must devise a treatment contract and the ultimate goal of the treatment. Many feel that the goal of the therapy should be to incorporate all of the alters into one whole personality.(Putnam 1989; Kluft 1985 24) Still others feel that this could be quite problematic and even result in death, because one of the personalities might not be able to cope without the presence of a previous personality and kill itself and the host body. (Ross 1989)

The final component in the first stage of treatment is mapping the bodies internal system. This includes outlinin

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1860
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)