Eve White Case Study

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Eve White was a married woman who suffered from a mental illness called Multiple Personality Disorder also known as, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). In the early stages of her condition, Eve had not yet understand what was happening. She suffered from severe headaches and time lapse, and not remembering what had happened. Before the 1950s there had not been many cases of this mental illness, but then the numbers began to rise.
Although there was a case study of DID as early as 1906, movies about DID first became well known in the United States since the 1950s. The 1953 movie The Three Faces of Eve tells the story of Chris Sizemore, a real-life woman with the disorder. She was thought to develop DID in reaction to witnessing several terrible
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Eve White was shy and quiet, Eve Black was playful, drank, and flirted with many men. Jane was the last personality to emerge, she was more down to Earth and realistic. The portrayal did indeed meet the criteria for this mental illness. Her initial symptoms were how her personalities got through and transitioned. Eve would exhibit transitions between identities and at first was not aware of other persona. Typical symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder include: two or more distinctive personalities, gaps in personal history, transitions between identities, and being unaware of the other personalities. These symptoms lead to other emotions of depression, anxiety, passivity, dependence, and guilt. Eve White and her other identities exhibited many of these emotions making these portrayal all the more …show more content…
Her husband didn’t even believe that the illness was real and thought she was faking the whole time. Not only was Eve White having trouble so were the other identities. Eve Black would get into trouble with men and put herself into high risk situations. Jane fell in love with another man but felt that she should not marry anyone because of the mental illness. The emotions from these three completely different personalities are very much realistic, their characteristics embody the very emotions they display. To live with this mental illness would be very hard because you are no longer in control and at any moment another identity could take over. This movie was very eye opening because this mental illness could be easily misconstrued. Someone who does not have the illness or does not understand could easily think that the person is not being truthful, or is just seeking attention. It seems as though DID is an illness that is still not fully understood and is not always handled

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