Dissociation and the dysfunction of mirror neuron system
In the last part of this particle, I would like to propose a hypothesis that formation of personalities in the individual with DID can be related to some type of disruption of the mirror neuron system.
Although we can hypothesize that each personality has its own
dynamic core as its neurological correlate, it is still unknown how and in what
situation these multiple dynamic cores are formed. It is our clinical
observation that many personalities are formed rather suddenly in a critical
and traumatic situation where an individual is under an extreme stress. When an
extreme emotion is experienced and dissociated, they become a part of “some
personality” who came for rescue (McDougall, 1926, P543, van der Hart et al.,
2006, p29) and this is how a personality forms. But how can it happen?McDougall,
W. (1926). An outline of abnormal psychology. London: Methuen.
van
der Hart, O, Nijenhuis, E.R.S, Steele, K. (2006) The Haunted Self. W.W.Norton
& Co. New York, London.
There have been theories regarding the process of “identification”
as a crucial mechanism for the formation of personalities (Howell,2014),
especially aggressive ones when abusive situation occurs. Although the original
notion such as “the identification with aggressor” (Ferenczi, 1933/1949)
was psychoanalytic and not on a biological basis, some type of cognitive error
might be involved in the behaviors of other person (especially the “aggressor”)
in the process, which might give rise to the formation of a novel dynamic core.
In this context, I consider that the theory of mirror neuron system is a very
useful tool in delineating this mechanism.
Ferenczi,
S. (1933/1949) Confusion of the tongues between the adults and the child (The
language of tenderness and of passion). International Journal of
Psycho-Analysis, 30, 225–231.
Howell,
E (2014) Ferenczi’s Concept of Identification with The Aggressor: Understanding
Dissociative Structure with Interacting Victim and Abuser Self-States. The American Journal of
Psychoanalysis 74(1):48-59.
There has been an explosion
of the studies related to mirror neuron for the past decades. Mirror neuron was
discovered in 1996 by Italian neurophysiologists in the University of Parma, led
by Giacomo
Rizzolatti, Leonardo Fogassi, and Vittorio Gallese (Rizzolatti, Craighero, 2004, Rizzolatti, Fabbri-Destro,2010). They
found that some neurons in the ventral premotor cortex of the macaque monkey responded when the monkey observed a person picking up
food, the same neurons that are activated when monkeys do the same behaviors.
By definition, A mirror neuron is a neuron that gets activated both when an animal acts and observes
the same action by another, thus "mirroring" the other’s behaviors of
the other, as though the observer itself is acting (Rizzolatti, Craighero,
2004,). Reportedly, mirror neurons have been found in human, primate species, and birds.
Rizzolatti,
G., Craighero, L. (2004). "The
mirror-neuron system" (PDF). Annual Review of
Neuroscience. 27 (1): 169–192.
Rizzolatti
G, Fabbri-Destro M (2010). "Mirror neurons: from discovery to Autism". Experimental
Brain Research. 200 (3–4): 223–37.
Iacoboni (2009) indicates that mirror neurons forms a system of neurons
(Mirror neuron System) with its relationship to various locations in the brain,
suggesting that it allows the subject to differentiate between self and others,
active and passive voice and fantasy and imagination. What is to be stressed is
that we acquire these distinctions through imitative activities.
Iacoboni,
M. (2009) Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect with Others.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
