Go Tokyo Your Experience
Multiple Personality: Complex Mood States and Social Doubts in Reality
In film and television works as well as novels, ‘multiple personalities’ are often used as a suspenseful or thrilling setting, attracting audiences and readers. However, in reality, people with multiple personalities do exist, and their lives are far more complex than those depicted in movies and TV shows.
Recently, Japanese YouTuber Shinohara, who suffers from dissociative identity disorder (also known as multiple personality disorder), shared her story on a television program, revealing the real life and challenges behind this mental illness.
Xiaoyuan’s story: One body houses multiple personalities
Xiaoyuan is a 33 year old YouTuber who claims to have as many as 70 to 80 personalities in her body, sometimes even close to 100. Among them, about 10 personalities are relatively active and can be freely switched.
He shares his experiences through his YouTube channel “After Class” and tries to make more people aware of the mental illness of dissociative identity disorder.
However, despite bravely standing up to share his story, his YouTube channel is often questioned and ridiculed.
Many netizens believe that he is “acting” or suffering from “secondary illness”, and some even question the existence of multiple personalities in reality.
Xiaoyuan said that some netizens have made inappropriate comments, believing that if his personality is male, he should be able to expose his upper body, and these doubts have left him feeling helpless.
The feeling of personality transition: separated by a thin film
Xiaoyuan explained the feeling of switching personalities in the program. He described himself as if he were in a living room, with a circular frame in front of him with a diameter of about 2 meters and a thin film inside the frame.
When he touches another person’s personality through this thin film, a personality exchange occurs.
He even demonstrated in front of the camera the process of switching from the male personality “Autumn Man” to the female personality “Zhiyizi”, demonstrating the specific manifestations of personality switching.
The causes and challenges of multiple personalities
The causes of multiple personalities often stem from childhood trauma.
Xiaoyuan recalled that he developed different personalities at the age of 2 to 3, and the frequency of personality switching was further accelerated by physical punishment and campus bullying during his childhood. It was not until 10 years ago that he was officially diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder and began a lengthy treatment process.
One of the biggest challenges brought by this disease is the inability to share memories between different individuals.
Xiaoyuan often doesn’t know if she has eaten or taken a shower, and even the skills she has mastered at work may need to be relearned due to personality changes.
This constant memory reset has filled his life with troubles, especially making it extremely difficult to maintain a long-term stable job.
Expert advice: How to get along with individuals with multiple personalities
The experts in the program remind that the best way to deal with people with multiple personalities is to treat them like ordinary people and not deliberately pursue their emotional trauma. At the same time, it is best to make agreements with them in writing rather than verbally, as different personalities may not remember previous commitments.
As a real mental illness, multiple personality is not just a gimmick in movies and TV shows, but a challenge that many people must face in reality. Xiaoyuan bravely shared his story through his own platform, hoping to help more people understand this complex state of mind and life. Despite facing questioning and ridicule, he persisted in spreading knowledge about “dissociative identity disorders” to help society better understand this type of mental illness.
Xiaoyuan’s story reminds us that when facing mental illness, we need more understanding and tolerance, rather than questioning and prejudice. I hope that in the future, society can provide more support and care for these special groups.