Dissociative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder

Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence, Apr 06, 2001

Persons with dissociative identity disorder (DID) adopt one or more distinct identities. Each identity or personality is distinct from the other(s) in specific ways. There are cases in which a person will have as many as 100 or more identities, while some people only exhibit the presence of one or two. ("Co-presence" is the term used to describe the situation that exists when two or more personalities are simultaneously present with or without knowledge of each other's existence or current presence.)

Prior to the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder-IV (DSM-IV), dissociative identity disorder was referred to as multiple personality disorder (MPD); the birth personality was referred to as the original personality, and the condition was referred to as "split personality." With the publication of DSM-IV, these terms are now considered imprecise and are no longer used. The DSM-IV lists four criteria for diagnosing someone with dissociative identity disorder:

• The presence of two or more distinct "identities or personality states;"
• At least two personalities must take control of the person's identity on a regular basis;
• Exhibits aspects of amnesia, that is, the person forgets routine personal information;
• The condition must not have been caused by "direct physiological effects," such as drug abuse or head trauma.

Persons with DID usually have one personality that controls the body and its behavior. Psychiatrists refer to this personality as the "host." This is generally not the person's original personality or birth personality. The host is often initially unaware of the other identities and typically loses time when they appear. The host is the identity that most often initiates treatment, usually after developing symptoms, such as depression. The personality that seeks treatment--whether the host or not--is referred to as the "presenting personality."

The DSM-IV uses the term "alter" to describe the distinct identities or personality states that the client or patient with DID experiences. To be classified as a "personality state," the following conditions must be met: a consistent and ongoing set of response patterns to given stimuli; a significant confluent history; a range of emotions available (anger, sadness, joy, and so on); a range of intensity of affect for each emotion (for example, anger ranging from neutrality to frustration and irritation to anger and rage).

Psychiatrists refer to the phase of transition between alters as the "switch." The number of alters in any given case can vary widely. Alters are often of different genders, i.e., men can have female alters and women can have male. A 1986 study found that in 37% of patients diagnosed with then-MPD, alters demonstrated different handedness from the host. The physical changes that occur in a switch between alters is one of the most difficult aspects of dissociative identity disorder for psychiatrists to understand. People assume whole new physical postures, voices, and vocabularies.

Dissociative amnesia, referred to as psychogenic amnesia in DSM-III-R , is one of the dissociative disorders described in DSM-IV . Its diagnostic criteria are:

1) One or more episodes of inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature, that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness;

2) The disturbance does not occur exclusively during the course of another mental disorder, and is not due to the effects of a substance or a neurological and/or other general medical condition.

The symptoms of DID cause clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning. Memory disturbances, collectively known as amnesias, may be localized, selective, generalized, continuous, and/or systematized. For individuals with DID, the existence of amnesia is not necessarily the same in every personality state or personality fragment. For example, when one personality is aware of another but the other has no similar awareness, the condition is described as one-way amnesia. When neither personality is aware of the other, the condition is described as two-way amnesia.

Dissociative fugue (in DSM-III-R, psychogenic fugue) is given these diagnostic criteria in DSM-IV andis usually triggered by traumatic, stressful, or overwhelming life events:

• Sudden, unexpected travel from home or work, with the inability to recall some or all of one's past;
• Confusion about personal identity or assumption of a new identity;
• The disturbance does not occur exclusively during the course of DID and is not due to the effects of a substance or general medical condition;
• The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning.

There are no reliable figures on the prevalence of this disorder in children, although it has been reported with increased frequency during the 1990s. In diagnosing children, leaders in the field distinguish between children pretending to be other people, or trying out different roles during normal developmental. When behavior in young children becomes intensified, often following a trauma, the result may go beyond the trying out of roles to the creation of alter personality states.