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Bailey Brodehl

Profesor Richardson

English 1201

January 17, 2019

Research Proposal

Mental disorders and the brain have always been interesting to me. My interest was

sparked when my sister began watching “Criminal Minds”. I would watch it with her and

throughout the episodes it would explain why the criminal did what they did and the story behind

it. I was so intrigued by the way certain events could affect a person so deeply that it would

control them. Sometimes it would from PTSD or from being just out right psychotic. I started to

get more interested in how the brain worked and how it would develop these disorders from past

events or from birth.

Even before my sister started watching that show I had volunteered at a camp for children

who had disorders and disabilities. When I was at this camp one thing became very clear to me:

these kids were very misunderstood by society. I wanted to understand them and how their brains

worked and what made them tick.

I had watched a movie, “Primal Fear”, in which the defendant had or seemed to have

multiple personalities disorder. This disorder was something I had heard of and did not

understand. It was like he had two people inside of him and it was an internal battle. I want to

research this topic because it is something that interests me. I want to understand people more in

order to help them and see what works for them when society is against them. I want to see what

their struggle is and find a solution that would help them be more accepted and to make their
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lives easier. I also want to see what causes this disorder. It is so intriguing to me how the brain

works and how it develops such disorders to cope with a situation.

I feel that this topic is often overlooked and misunderstood. Many people don’t even

know that this disorder exists and how it affects society. So, I feel it is important to understand

people with this disorder. I think that this topic is unknown to many and that it is hard to

understand. I think that doing more in depth research will be needed to actually understand what

these people are goind through. I believe that there is a way to help them live in society. I believe

that these mental disorders can be a struggle and I would love to find a way to make them less of

a struggle. I already know that multiple personalities disorder can be caused by a traumatic

incident. I also know that the people who have this disorder can have up to 15 alternate

personalities.

When researching this topic I hope to learn a little more about the disorder itself and if

there are ways to make their lives easier. I think I will start by researching the following research

questions:

How are the lives of people with multiple personality disorder affected?

What can society do to improve lives for people who have multiple personality disorder?

How is multiple personality disorder obtained and what are ways it can be treated?