emedicine.com). For example, during a traumatic experience, a person may dissociate the memory of the place and circumstances of the trauma from their continuing memory, causing a brief escape from the anguish, and in some cases, a memory gap surrounding those circumstances (www.sidran.org). .
The most important factor in the diagnosis of DID is the patient's history. There may be a genetic predisposition to the tendencies of DID, however nothing has been scientifically proven. The childhood history, in terms of nurture, is the most contributing factor to this disorder. People with DID often faced uncontrollable dilemmas as children in which they were traumatized. When periods of suffering happen repeatedly, the child becomes conditioned to use dissociation as a defense to their helplessness in repeated harmful situations. .
Conditioned dissociation becomes a reliable way for a person to deal with stressful circumstances later in life, sometimes without knowing it. Because the dissociative escape is so effective, people who are very practiced at it may automatically use it whenever they feel threatened. These occurrences do not necessarily have to be ones of abuse or even of extreme measure. Dissociation may be triggered by everyday situations, such as a job interview, confrontations with certain persons, or any other circumstance that may cause them to become anxious. Even if a person hasn't had an abusive or extreme encounter for years, the pattern of defensive dissociation remains as a learned reaction to threatening circumstances. .
People with DID often experience an array of symptoms. Many of these symptoms are noticeable in the lifestyle of the person, such as sleep disorders, compulsions and rituals, phobias, headaches, self mutilation, and time loss or amnesia. However, it may be difficult for people with DID to recognize that their actions are not normal, or that they"re even doing these things.