The document discusses Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. It provides details on the diagnostic criteria, symptoms, prevalence, course, treatment, and portrayal in media. DID is characterized by distinct personality states and an inability to recall personal information. Estimates suggest it affects between 250,000-2.5 million people in the US. Long term treatment includes psychotherapy and medication. Celebrities like Britney Spears have been speculated to have the disorder due to exhibiting different personalities.
2. The Name of the
Disorder
• DID was called Multiple Personality Disorder until
1994, when the name was changed to reflect a
better understanding of the condition—namely, that
it is characterized by a fragmentation, or splintering,
of identity rather than by a proliferation, or growth,
of separate identities.
• Dissociative Identity Disorder is a subtype of
dissociative disorders.
– Other dissociative disorders:
• Dissociative amnesia
• Dissociative fugue
• Depersonalization Disorder
3. Descriptive Features
• Characterized by "switching"
to alternate identities when
you're under stress
• Feeling the presence of one
or more other people talking
or living inside your head
– Each identity may have their
own name, personal history and
characteristics, including
marked differences in manner,
voice, and gender.
4. Symptoms
• Presence of two or more distinct
identities or personality states
that recurrently take control of
behavior
• Inability to recall important
personal information
• The disturbance is not because
of direct physical effects of a
substance or general medical
condition
• In children, the symptoms cannot
be attributed to imaginary friends
or fantasy play
5.
6. Specific Culture, Age,
and Gender Features
• It has been suggested that the recent relatively high
rates of the disorder reported in the United States
might indicate that this is a culture-specific syndrome.
• In preadolescent children, particular care is needed in
making the diagnosis because the manifestations may
be less distinctive than in adolescents and adults.
• Dissociative Identity Disorder is diagnosed three to
nine times more frequently in adult females than in
adult males; in childhood, the female-to-male ratio
may be more even, but data are limited.
• Females tend to have more identities than do males,
averaging 15 or more, whereas males average
approximately 8 identities.
7. Prevalence in Society
• Some believe that the greater awareness of the
diagnosis among mental health professionals has
resulted in the identification of cases that were
previously undiagnosed. In contrast, others
believe that the syndrome has been over
diagnosed in individuals who are highly
suggestible.
• Although no controlled study has been conducted
in the United States, an estimate of the prevalence
of DID in the U.S. population is from 1 in 500 to 1
in 5,000, or between 250,000 and 2,500,000
people.
8. Course
• Dissociative Identity Disorder appears to
have a fluctuating clinical course that tends to
be chronic and recurrent.
• The average time period from first symptom
presentation to diagnosis is 6-7 years.
• Episodic and continuous courses have been
described.
• The disorder may become less manifest as
individuals age beyond their late 40's, but
may reemerge during episodes of stress or
trauma or with Substance Abuse.
9. Familial Patterns
• Several studies suggest that
Dissociative Identity Disorder
is more common among the
first-degree biological relatives
of persons with the disorder
than in the general population.
10. Groups
• There appears to be a biological component
given the fact that most people with DID
have a family history of the disorder.
• It has also been found that people who are
easily hypnotized are more susceptible to
DID.
• The stress comes from severe physical,
emotional, and/or sexual abuse at a
developmental stage in childhood.
11. Diagnostic Criteria
• Two or more distinct identities or personality states are
present, each with its own relatively enduring pattern of
perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the
environment and self.
• At least two of these identities or personality states
recurrently take control of the person's behavior.
• The person has an inability to recall important personal
information that is too extensive to be explained by
ordinary forgetfulness.
• The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological
effects of a substance (such as blackouts or chaotic
behavior during alcohol intoxication) or a general
medical condition (such as complex partial seizures).
12. Treatment
• There's no "cure" for dissociative identity disorder,
long-term treatment is very successful, if the
patient stays committed.
– Effective treatment includes
• Psychotherapy, cognitive therapy, medications, family
therapy, art or music therapy, and clinical hypnosis.
• Because oftentimes the symptoms of dissociative
disorders occur with other disorders, such as
anxiety and depression, dissociative disorder may
be treated using the same drugs prescribed for
those disorders. A person in treatment for a
dissociative disorder might benefit from
antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication.
13. Article Summary
• May 1, 2014
– A man in Greenville, South Carolina
sexually assaulted and killed his own baby
blames his crime on his alternate
personality.
• The man describes the personalities as
“One is Lloyd, and the other is the Bad
Side.”
• Lloyd claims that he it only a witness to
his other personalities wrongdoing.
http://www.wyff4.com/news/man-accused-of-sexually-assaulting-baby-
blames-multiple-personality-disorder/25740938
14. Psychologists
• Donald C. Goff, an
instructor in Harvard
University’s department
of psychiatry found that
the average number of
identities of past to
recent cases had
increased from three to
twelve.
15. Functioning in Everyday
Life
• Chronic identity dissociation may
result in serious impairment or inability
to function.
• Some people with Dissociative Identity
Disorders can hold highly responsible
jobs, contributing to society in a
variety of professions, the arts, and
public service -- appearing to function
normally to coworkers, neighbors, and
others with whom they interact daily.
• Dissociative Identity Disorder is a
coping mechanism to escape the fear
and trauma of the event that gave the
person the disorder.
16. Fun Facts
• Previously called multiple personality
disorder
• People with DID are above average
intelligence, and highly creative
• More than 75% of DID victims report
having personalities in their system who
are under 12 years of age.
• Personalities of the opposite sex or with
differing styles are also common.
Personalities within a multiple system
often hold conflicting values and behave in
ways that are incompatible with one
another.
18. Alison Dilaurentis and
Vivian Darkbloom
• Alison Dilaurentis is a character from Pretty
Little Liars that was killed in the first
episode. Her 4 friends discover after her
death that Alison has had an alternate
persona named Vivian Darkbloom. She
would put on a brown wig and change who
she was.
• The media portrays Alison’s disorder as
intelligent because Alison uses Vivian
Darkbloom to hunt down the person who is
stalking Alison. This is actually very
accurate of how a person with dissociative
identity disorder would act because their
intelligence is higher than normal. Even
though Alison is a lying dissociated girl,
she’s portrayed as a genius.
20. Britney Spears
• Troubled singer's 'favourite' identity appears to
involve talking with a British accent, inspired by
her latest boyfriend, Birmingham-born paparazzo
boyfriend Adnan Ghalib.
• Sources claim the singer, 26, is suffering from
dissociative identity disorder, which leads the
sufferers to take on various personalities to
dissociate them from reality.
• Those with the disorder take on different
identities to help them cope under severe stress.
• Britney is said to have been showing a variety of
different personalities. Besides "The British girl",
other alter egos include "the weepy girl", "the
diva" and "the incoherent girl”.
• Apparently when Britney "returns" from one of
her episodes, she has no recollection of what
she did or said during the time as her assumed
personality.
