Dangerous And Aggressive Man With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

In​ M​. Night Shyamalan​’s​ ​film​ Split​, a man named Kevin has dissociative identity disorder with twenty-four alter personalities. However, Dennis is the host identity because he is the one with the most prevalent identity and existence. With obsessive-compulsive disorder and overall violent traits, Dennis is an extremely dangerous host identity. For instance, the movie is centered around how Dennis kidnapped three teenage girls with the hopes of unleashing the Beast, another alter, onto them. He is the most perilous alter who has the intention of consuming the raw flesh of these girls and was successful for the most part.

The Beast’s character is incorporated simply to make the movie more exciting he can climb up walls, possesses immense strength, and overall is capable of things that human beings are not, such as being practically bulletproof. His primary goal is to save those whom are contaminated and impure by eating them when he goes to consume Cassie, one of the girls he kidnapped, he sees her self-mutilation scars and then deems her pure at the end of the film.

Furthermore, this character is described as another alter and the worst one at the other alters are actually afraid of him. Comparable to that of a superhero, the beast nevertheless thickens the plot but he is not at all realistic.

Prominent alter personalities include Hedwig, a nine-year-old boy, Barry, an artistic and stylish man, Dennis, a dangerous and aggressive man with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Patricia, an older woman who is in association with Dennis and has similar, but less aggressive traits.

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However, Kevin is the original identity and has been unable to exist for three years due to the alter personalities prohibiting him from ‘coming into the light’. Dissociative identity disorder is classified by the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states, each with a unique name, past, identity, and self-image. There is an inability to recall crucial personal information because it may have to do with another personality, but memories can surface at a later time.

An interesting thing is that personalities can shift to a different one in mere seconds. The onset of this disorder typically occurs around age eight because of severe childhood trauma. Treatment includes psychotherapy, “​Therapy can help people gain control over the dissociative process and symptoms. The goal of therapy is to help integrate the different elements of identity”(Wang). Split​ has many inaccuracies regarding dissociative identity disorder that only further stereotypes and stigmas. All of the personalities are aware of each other’s existence and refer to themselves as “we” and are all cognisant of every personality’s thoughts and past. Nonetheless, split​ portrays that the personalities are decided by Dennis who gets to ‘come into the light’, but can be suppressed by him as well.

Another feature that is just incorrect regarding dissociative identity disorder is that they all interact with each other for example Hedwig said how he was not allowed to do certain things because Patricia or Dennis would get mad and that they have rules. Because the personalities are intertwined with each other, there is no presence of one’s past being “buried” but rather that they have access to each other, their thoughts, and experiences. Also, with the severity of Kevin’s disorder, it is mentioned that he actually does have a stable job at a zoo and has worked there for a long time with no incidents at his workplace. This feels very unrealistic in that his personalities are constantly switching and no one at his work reported anything peculiar about him and also no incidents.

However, the alters could come into play in seconds which is true for that of someone who has dissociative identity disorder. His alter identities are of varying gender, values, etc. and it was revealed that he had been a victim to child abuse by his mother and that is when the onset of this disorder occurred. The identities do participate in psychotherapy which is an active form of treatment. There is a scene towards the end in which Kevin finds out that he had not existed for three years, meaning he thought it was years prior and then realizes the alters had taken over. At that moment, Kevin told Cassie to kill him and in that moment Patricia came through and tried to stop it from happening this shows the protection that the alters try to provide Kevin with. Overall, ​Split​ demonstrates a poor and stereotypical view of those with dissociative identity disorder. In contrast, in the sense of it being a thriller psychological movie, it was entertaining to watch however, when ​split​ is further analyzed it becomes a storm of inaccuracies.