disassociative personality
Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:40 pm
I am always interested in exploring Lizzie's psychological makeup. Yooper mentioned something about the possibility of her having created two identities- Lizzie and Lizbeth. That led me to read up on disassociative personalities and what I read I found very interesting. I found this in Wikopedia:
"A definition of dissociation:
Dissociation is a complex mental process that provides a coping mechanism for individuals confronting painful and/or traumatic situations. It is characterized by a dis-integration of the ego. Ego integration, or more properly ego integrity, can be defined as a person's ability to successfully incorporate external events or social experiences into their perception, and to then present themselves consistently across those events or social situations. A person unable to do this successfully can experience emotional dysregulation, as well as a potential collapse of ego integrity. In other words, this state of emotional dysregulation is, in some cases, so intense that it can precipitate ego dis-integration, or what, in extreme cases, has come to be referred to diagnostically as dissociation.
Dissociation describes a collapse in ego integrity so profound that the personality is considered to literally break apart. For this reason, dissocation is often referred to as "splitting" or "altering". Less profound presentations of this condition are often referred to clinically as disorganization or decompensation. The difference between a psychotic break and a dissociation, or dissociative break, is that, while someone who is experiencing a dissociation is technically pulling away from a situation that s/he cannot manage, some part of the person remains connected to reality. While the psychotic "breaks" from reality, the dissociative disconnects, but not all the way.
Because the person suffering a dissociation does not completely disengage from his/her reality, s/he may appear to have multiple "personalities". In other words, different "people" (read: personalities) to deal with different situations, but generally speaking, no one person (read: personality) who will retreat altogether.
Potential causes of dissociative identity disorder:
Dissociative identity disorder is attributed to the interaction of several factors: overwhelming stress, dissociative capacity (including the ability to uncouple one's memories, perceptions, or identity from conscious awareness), the enlistment of steps in normal developmental processes as defenses, and, during childhood, the lack of sufficient nurturing and compassion in response to hurtful experiences or lack of protection against further overwhelming experiences. Children are not born with a sense of a unified identity — it develops from many sources and experiences. In overwhelmed children, its development is obstructed, and many parts of what should have blended into a relatively unified identity remain separate. North American studies show that 97 to 98% of adults with dissociative identity disorder report abuse during childhood and that abuse can be documented for 85% of adults and for 95% of children and adolescents with dissociative identity disorder and other closely related forms of dissociative disorder. Although these data establish childhood abuse as a major cause among North American patients (in some cultures, the consequences of war and disaster play a larger role), they do not mean that all such patients were abused or that all the abuses reported by patients with dissociative identity disorder really happened. Some aspects of some reported abuse experiences may prove to be inaccurate. Also, some patients have not been abused but have experienced an important early loss (such as death of a parent), serious medical illness, or other very stressful events. For example, a patient who required many hospitalizations and operations during childhood may have been severely overwhelmed but not abused.
Human development requires that children be able to integrate complicated and different types of information and experiences successfully. As children achieve cohesive, complex appreciations of themselves and others, they go through phases in which different perceptions and emotions are kept segregated. Each developmental phase may be used to generate different selves. Not every child who experiences abuse or major loss or trauma has the capacity to develop multiple personalities. Patients with dissociative identity disorder can be easily hypnotized. This capacity, closely related to the capacity to dissociate, is thought to be a factor in the development of the disorder. However, most children who have these capacities also have normal adaptive mechanisms, and most are sufficiently protected and soothed by adults to prevent development of dissociative identity disorder."
In "Lizzie Borden Unlocked" online it says:
"She confided in her friend Alice Russell the night before the murders, "I feel as if I wanted to sleep with my eyes half open -- with one eye open half the time -- for fear they will burn the house down over us (Sullivan, 99)," and "I am afraid somebody will do something. I don't know but what somebody will do something."
When Alice Russell asked what, Lizzie said, "Well, I don't know. I feel depressed. I feel as if something was hanging over me at times, no matter where I am. When I was at Marion, the girls were laughing and talking and having a good time, and this feeling came over me, and one of them spoke and said, 'Lizzie, why don't you talk?' I don't know what was said after that (Sullivan, 97)." Lizzie Borden seemed only partially aware of the turmoil boiling inside her.
Certainly the mind of Lizzie Borden seemed to hold two entirely different personalities. While one kept awake with one eye open, the other, deep inside her, slept."
Perhaps the paradox of having the reality of wealth but the appearance of poverty drove Lizzie to develop two personalities to cope with this contradiction. Simultaneously, she appears the modest churchgoing spinster and the willful, extravagant heiress. A strong-willed, covetous nature masked as virtue was all part of the Borden legacy."
Lizzie never grasped the appropriate. When the police finally arrived after the murders, Lizzie acted more like a concerned citizen than a daughter in shock. Much was made of her disinterest. Adelaide Churchill, who had gone up for the sheets and found Abby, swore, "I never saw Lizzie in tears that morning at any time (Sullivan, 95)." Bridget swore that she never said Lizzie was crying at any time (Sullivan, 92). Captain Harrington declared, "She was not in tears at any part of the interview. Her voice was at all times steady (Sullivan, 111)." One can almost hear the tongues of Fall River wagging."
"A definition of dissociation:
Dissociation is a complex mental process that provides a coping mechanism for individuals confronting painful and/or traumatic situations. It is characterized by a dis-integration of the ego. Ego integration, or more properly ego integrity, can be defined as a person's ability to successfully incorporate external events or social experiences into their perception, and to then present themselves consistently across those events or social situations. A person unable to do this successfully can experience emotional dysregulation, as well as a potential collapse of ego integrity. In other words, this state of emotional dysregulation is, in some cases, so intense that it can precipitate ego dis-integration, or what, in extreme cases, has come to be referred to diagnostically as dissociation.
Dissociation describes a collapse in ego integrity so profound that the personality is considered to literally break apart. For this reason, dissocation is often referred to as "splitting" or "altering". Less profound presentations of this condition are often referred to clinically as disorganization or decompensation. The difference between a psychotic break and a dissociation, or dissociative break, is that, while someone who is experiencing a dissociation is technically pulling away from a situation that s/he cannot manage, some part of the person remains connected to reality. While the psychotic "breaks" from reality, the dissociative disconnects, but not all the way.
Because the person suffering a dissociation does not completely disengage from his/her reality, s/he may appear to have multiple "personalities". In other words, different "people" (read: personalities) to deal with different situations, but generally speaking, no one person (read: personality) who will retreat altogether.
Potential causes of dissociative identity disorder:
Dissociative identity disorder is attributed to the interaction of several factors: overwhelming stress, dissociative capacity (including the ability to uncouple one's memories, perceptions, or identity from conscious awareness), the enlistment of steps in normal developmental processes as defenses, and, during childhood, the lack of sufficient nurturing and compassion in response to hurtful experiences or lack of protection against further overwhelming experiences. Children are not born with a sense of a unified identity — it develops from many sources and experiences. In overwhelmed children, its development is obstructed, and many parts of what should have blended into a relatively unified identity remain separate. North American studies show that 97 to 98% of adults with dissociative identity disorder report abuse during childhood and that abuse can be documented for 85% of adults and for 95% of children and adolescents with dissociative identity disorder and other closely related forms of dissociative disorder. Although these data establish childhood abuse as a major cause among North American patients (in some cultures, the consequences of war and disaster play a larger role), they do not mean that all such patients were abused or that all the abuses reported by patients with dissociative identity disorder really happened. Some aspects of some reported abuse experiences may prove to be inaccurate. Also, some patients have not been abused but have experienced an important early loss (such as death of a parent), serious medical illness, or other very stressful events. For example, a patient who required many hospitalizations and operations during childhood may have been severely overwhelmed but not abused.
Human development requires that children be able to integrate complicated and different types of information and experiences successfully. As children achieve cohesive, complex appreciations of themselves and others, they go through phases in which different perceptions and emotions are kept segregated. Each developmental phase may be used to generate different selves. Not every child who experiences abuse or major loss or trauma has the capacity to develop multiple personalities. Patients with dissociative identity disorder can be easily hypnotized. This capacity, closely related to the capacity to dissociate, is thought to be a factor in the development of the disorder. However, most children who have these capacities also have normal adaptive mechanisms, and most are sufficiently protected and soothed by adults to prevent development of dissociative identity disorder."
In "Lizzie Borden Unlocked" online it says:
"She confided in her friend Alice Russell the night before the murders, "I feel as if I wanted to sleep with my eyes half open -- with one eye open half the time -- for fear they will burn the house down over us (Sullivan, 99)," and "I am afraid somebody will do something. I don't know but what somebody will do something."
When Alice Russell asked what, Lizzie said, "Well, I don't know. I feel depressed. I feel as if something was hanging over me at times, no matter where I am. When I was at Marion, the girls were laughing and talking and having a good time, and this feeling came over me, and one of them spoke and said, 'Lizzie, why don't you talk?' I don't know what was said after that (Sullivan, 97)." Lizzie Borden seemed only partially aware of the turmoil boiling inside her.
Certainly the mind of Lizzie Borden seemed to hold two entirely different personalities. While one kept awake with one eye open, the other, deep inside her, slept."
Perhaps the paradox of having the reality of wealth but the appearance of poverty drove Lizzie to develop two personalities to cope with this contradiction. Simultaneously, she appears the modest churchgoing spinster and the willful, extravagant heiress. A strong-willed, covetous nature masked as virtue was all part of the Borden legacy."
Lizzie never grasped the appropriate. When the police finally arrived after the murders, Lizzie acted more like a concerned citizen than a daughter in shock. Much was made of her disinterest. Adelaide Churchill, who had gone up for the sheets and found Abby, swore, "I never saw Lizzie in tears that morning at any time (Sullivan, 95)." Bridget swore that she never said Lizzie was crying at any time (Sullivan, 92). Captain Harrington declared, "She was not in tears at any part of the interview. Her voice was at all times steady (Sullivan, 111)." One can almost hear the tongues of Fall River wagging."