About two million people of the population are affected by multiple personality disorder (What, 1995). In the U.S alone there are about 1.5 to two million people that are affected schizophrenia (Schizophrenia, 2001). As many people being affected by these two disorders, few people who know what the differences between the two are. There is a misconception that these disabilities are similar but they are not the same. Throughout my paper I will try to explain the differences and the affects of these two mental impairments.
             Multiple personality disorder (MPD) is also known as dissociative identity disorder (DID). The reason psychiatrists' use the word DID instead of MPD is because MPD is a misleading term. MPD is also known as having many personalities but the problem is that there is only one individual. To have many personalities there should be more then one individual. The term DID means multiple identities within one individual (What, 1995).
             DID is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct identity states repeatedly taking control of the consciousness and the individual's behavior. The individual with DID will at times give the alternate identities within himself their own names. These identities have characteristics that usually differ from the individual's primary identity. The dominant or main identity is referred to as the primary identity by psychiatrists (What, 1995).
             An individual experiencing DID will often have amnesia. They will not remember how they got from one place to another or random moments in the past. For example an individual will loss conscious because one identity takes over the other identity. When this symptom passes by, the individual does not remember what had happen for that specific period of time (Spira, 1996, p.138).
             A individual with DID may also experience depression, mood swings, suicidal tendencies, eating disorders, and sleep disorders such as insomnia, night terr...