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Can a Person Be Bipolar & Have Multiple Personalities?

Bipolar disorder and dissociative identity disorder are two severe mental diseases that affect many Americans annually. Those suffering from dissociative identity disorder often suffer from bipolar disorder.

  1. Bipolar Defined

    • Bipolar disorder is a mental disease that causes mood swings and manic behavior. Without medication and/or therapy those who suffer from this disease often cannot control how they behave.

    Multiple Personalities Defined

    • Dissociative identity disorder is a disease that causes people to have multiple personalities or imagine things that do not exist. This is often caused by a traumatic event in their lives.

    Bipolar Symptoms

    • One who is bipolar can experience extreme happiness and extreme anger within minutes. Other signs include poor judgment, substance abuse, sadness, suicidal thoughts, racing thoughts, anxiety, insomnia and increased sex drive.

    Multiple Personality Symptoms

    • Some symptoms of dissociative identity disorder are suicidal tendencies, alcohol abuse, eating disorders and psychosis-like symptoms. Major signs include depression and mood swings.

    Connection

    • People who suffer from bipolar disorder do not always suffer from dissociative identity disorder, although DID patients generally have bipolar disorder as well. The two diseases are generally treated with the same medication and a person will attend therapy as well.

    Common

    • Not many people suffer with dissociative identity disorder. Only 1% of the population is diagnosed, but 7% go undiagnosed.

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