A mental ailment, known as mental illness, is a disease that affects the brain. The brain is a member of the nervous system, which regulates all aspects of the human body, including cognition, emotions, thirst, hunger, and movement.
If a person’s brain becomes faulty, they lose consciousness and intelligence.
Dissociative Identity Disorder and Schizophrenia are two psychiatric illnesses. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a mental health condition characterized by a person who has two or more identities.
On the other hand, schizophrenia is a condition in which a person lives in his imagination rather than reality.
Key Takeaways
- Two or more distinct personality states characterize DID, while schizophrenia involves delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking.
- DID results from severe trauma, whereas schizophrenia is thought to have genetic and environmental factors.
- Treatment for DID involves therapy to integrate the personalities, while schizophrenia is managed with antipsychotic medications and therapy.
Dissociative Identity Disorder DID vs Schizophrenia
The difference between dissociative identity disorder (DID) and schizophrenia is that DID is a psychiatric condition in which a person has numerous personas without even acknowledging it. People with schizophrenia, on the other hand, have trouble distinguishing between reality and hallucinations. Both of these disorders are uncommon in humans.
Dissociative identity disorder (DID), formerly known as multiple personality disorder (MPD), is a mental state in which a person acts completely differently in terms of behaviour at different times without realizing it.
People who have been victims of child abuse or other traumatic events, such as wars, are more likely to develop this illness.
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that causes people to believe that their imagined existence is real. People with this condition are extra introverts who live in their world.
They have difficulty expressing themselves or sharing their feelings with others. This disease is extremely rare, affecting about 0.005% of the world’s population.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Dissociative Identity Disorder DID | Schizophrenia |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | DID is a mental disorder in which a person’s behavior pattern alters and he fully transforms into a different person in different conditions. | Schizophrenia is a mental illness in which a person loses awareness and lives in an imaginary state. |
| Victims | People who have witnessed ununpleasant situations, such as aggressive fights, are more likely to get the disease. | This condition can affect young people who are drug addicts in rare situations. |
| Symptoms | Memory loss, depression, and stress are some of the symptoms that a person suffering from this illness may exhibit. | Speech problems and emotionlessness are two symptoms of schizophrenia. |
| Dangers | DID victims attempt self-harm and, in the majority of cases, commit suicide. | Suicidal thoughts and obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD) are common among schizophrenia patients. |
| Treatments | Non-drug treatments, such as mental counseling, are effective treatments for this illness. | It can be addressed with prescribed drugs in addition to conversation treatments to keep the brain steady. |
What is Dissociative Identity Disorder DID?
Dissociative is an English word that means “disconnection” in the context of dissociative identity disorder. In everyday life, it is referred to as a daydreaming condition that can be ended when the daydreamer is distracted.
On the other hand, a person with dissociative identity disorder remains unconnected and has numerous personalities without acknowledging it. Some events in the victim’s life are permanently erased from his memory because he utterly forgets about them.
People who have been child abuse victims or witnessed unusual events such as conflicts and wars are more likely to develop this disease. Teenagers and adults are among the age groups most likely to be affected by this issue.
If family and friends observe symptoms such as memory loss, split personality behaviour, depression, or anxiety in a loved one, they should immediately take them to a psychiatric hospital.
Counselling therapy and motivation are excellent treatments for those people who are mentally agitated.
There are many risk factors connected with this illness. People who are affected by multiple personality disorders feel cut off from the rest of the world and fall into a profound depression.
Such worry tempts individuals to commit self-harm to escape their unhappy existence.
What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that is distinct from DID. People affected by this order tend to disengage from the real world and dwell in their fantasies. People begin to experience delusions, hallucinations, and strange behaviour as if they are mentally ill.
Though this sickness is scarce and affects a small group of individuals, it has long-term consequences if people become victims. Such people have trouble remembering day-to-day occurrences and find it difficult to join the real world; therefore, they are very introverts.
In most situations, victims with schizophrenia find it difficult to follow given instructions and directions and act childishly. Furthermore, these individuals lack confidence, have a speech impediment, and find it difficult to maintain eye contact while conversing.
If a person exhibits all of these warning symptoms, family or friends should visit a doctor and obtain a CT scan from a laboratory because if the disorder is not recognized early on, it can develop into real danger.
The consequences of the illness could be reduced if people see a doctor at the proper time.
Although this illness has no cure, patients can feel a little better with non-drug and drug-related treatments. Talk therapy and fostering good thoughts are examples of non-drug treatments. Antipsychotic drugs help patients to recover quickly.
Patients who do not receive treatment may develop other illnesses, such as OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and suicidal ideation. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder don’t listen to or agree with others, preferring to do things their way.
Main Differences Between Dissociative Identity Disorder DID and Schizophrenia
- Dissociative Identity Disorder possesses multiple personalities in a single person, which differ behaviour-wise. On the other hand, patients with Schizophrenia cannot realize the difference between fantasy and real life.
- People who have witnessed severe levels of hostility and violence are DID victims. Schizophrenia victims, on the other side, are over-thinkers and drug addicts.
- Memory loss, profound despair, and anxiety are all warning indicators of dissociative identity disorder. Lack of emotions, confidence, and speech difficulty are indicators of schizophrenia.
- Dangers associated with DID are self-harm and depression. However, because of schizophrenia, people further develop other mental ailments.
- Treatments to reduce the symptoms of dissociative identity disorder are therapies and other medications. Nonetheless, in the case of schizophrenia, treatments discovered are counselling and antipsychotic drugs, which keep the patient mentally stable.
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11920-008-0036-z
- https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/FullText/2009/12000/Auditory_Hallucinations_in_Dissociative_Identity.4.aspx
I’ve put so much effort writing this blog post to provide value to you. It’ll be very helpful for me, if you consider sharing it on social media or with your friends/family. SHARING IS ♥️