A few days ago, I read a sensationalist news article that said multiple personalities are not caused by trauma. The research suggesting this was published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a not-too-well-known psychological journal, and was written by Lynn et al. (2012).
The authors first explain two models of dissociation: the post-traumatic model, which is the most conventional, and the sociocognitive model. The former is based on the idea that dissociation is a coping strategy for dealing with severe trauma, while the latter suggests that dissociation is a cognitive style influenced by suggestion from therapists, sensationalist media portrayals, and susceptibility to fantasy or hypnosis. The authors strongly favor the sociocognitive model, and present some evidence for this, such as the fact that dissociative amnesia cannot be objectified and, in fact, people with DID have a better memory for to-be-forgotten sexual words in a directed-forgetting task.
The authors do not say that there is absolutely no role for trauma in the origins of dissociation. In fact, they claim early trauma causes persons to be more fantasy0prone, which could predispose them to cued dissociation. They also state that sleep deprivation causes dissociation, and post-traumatic symptoms often impair sleep.
In my opinion, indeed, therapists should be careful not to suggest dissociation to clients, and I do not deny that some cases of DID have been created by untethical therapists. However, the authors go so far as to say that there is often no link between trauma and psychopathology when controlling for family history of mental illness. This is a nature-based view of psychopathology which I find rather unfulfilling. Besides, as a person who knew she had alters before ever having seen a therapist, I do not feel it is appropriate to say all cases of DID have been fabricated.
Besides, even if DID is a form of mass hysteria, this doesn’t make it less real. Women – and DID occurs mostly in women – still have a hard time in today’s society. Even if DID itself does not start when a girl is two-years-old and being sexually abused, this abuse, together with other, maybe less severe, acts of oppression, may cause her to develop a psychological coping mechanism that involves fantisizing and psychological traits usually seen as unstable. Mass hysteria is still hysteria, and hysteria is a real mental illness. I am not going to buy it that people with DID are naturally attenton-seekers who want to fabricate trauma in order to have a florious story to tell.
Reference
Lynn SJ, Lilienfeld SO, Merckelbach H, Giesbrecht T, and Van der Kloet D (2012), Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders: Challenging Conventional Wisdom. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(1):48-53, DOI: 10.1177/0963721411429457.
For more insight into multiple personality disorder – DID, see the recent New York Times best seller “Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case.”
[...] Is Dissociative Identity Disorder a Form of Mass Hysteria? (astridvanwoerkom.wordpress.com) [...]
My son has DID. Yesl His doctor DID diagnosis it, but it does not matter. He lives daily with “parts” that do things of which he is unaware. Even if the doctor did not diagnose it, his dealings with life would be the same.
I too have D.I.D as well as PTSD,. It is not a form a mass hysteria, and for a time it was very hard to control, i still don’t have it all the way controled, mine stemmed from childhood trama, repeated trama, I do agree that doctors shouldn’t diagnos this easily. I had my doctor go throught every test they could, until one of my more violant alters made himself known and attacked him.
DID is real and effect both the person that has it and the surport system that the person has. It totally amazes me that people that have no real exspearnce of it clam to know the truth.
sybil exspose was writen by a person trying to justify her own opionon and not the true facts of Sybil’s life.
DID is very real. There will always be people out there who, for whatever reason, cannot accept the atrocities that can and do happen in this life. To accept that DID is real, also means being willing to believe that extreme trauma/abuse of children is real. For some it may just be easier to bury their head in the sand than to face to truth.
I am a person with DID. And, as mentioned in this article, I started seeing a psychiatrist because the dissociation was interrupting my life and I had no idea what was happening. Nobody ‘suggested’ anything to me regarding DID or abuse of any kind. I know my truth, and that’s enough for me.
Well, before putting any stock into the reliability or validity of this article – we again, as with the book “Sybil Exposed”, need to take a look at whether this research is subjective or even ‘scientific’. Or is it again more rhetoric based on sources that are even more rhetoric coming from the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (please review their record of publishing anything that will discredit the validity of any therapist who treats dissociative identity disorder, the reality of and/or any survivor’s memory of abuse, and the validity of DID in general). We should see several articles much like this one, the book “Sybil Exposed”, etc. as the nearing of the release of the DSMV – which will further validate the diagnosis of DID with ‘scientific evidence’. Their only hope is that ‘someone’ out there will take them seriously and remove the dx from the DSMV – fat chance.
It only takes a quick look and scan of this article to see that it is written and published by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation folks. Elizabeth Loftus is the president of the Assoc of Psychological Science where this article is published. She is also on the board of the FMSF. Most every source is someone who is a member of or affiliated with the FMS also. Those who study DID, recovered memories, child abuse, etc. should become more familiar with the common names of those who belong to this group – as their research, books, etc. are agenda driven and not subjective. And, there is Debbie Nathan as a source in this article – surprise, surprise.
So, I feel that in order to comment here, I should actually ‘have’ to read this and respond to the actual article.
Okay, so the article follows as everything else published by them – prove their point that DID is not ‘valid’ as presented by ‘scientific evidence’ with their own articles and books as sources that were mere rhetoric with no scientific merit at all – mere opinions based on more opinions – (I have read Piper’s and other of the books – what a joke).
And, of course, this article does mention the DSMV –
“The data we have summarized have received only scant
attention in the clinical literature. Nevertheless, they have the
potential to reshape the conceptualization and operationalization
of dissociative disorders in the upcoming edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMV,
publication scheduled in 2013). In particular, they suggest
that sleep disturbances, as well as sociocultural and psychotherapeutic
influences, merit greater attention in the conceptualization
and perhaps classification of dissociative disorders
(Lynn et al., in press). From this perspective, the hypothesis
that dissociative disorders can be triggered by (a) a labile sleep
cycle that impairs cognitive functioning, combined with
(b) highly suggestive psychotherapeutic techniques, warrants
empirical investigation. More broadly, the data reviewed point
to fruitful directions for our thinking and research regarding
dissociation and dissociative disorders in years to come.”
I think that if any of this were truly pertinent, empirical testing would have already been considered – the FMS should feel lucky that their data has received even scant attention. If they wanted to receive ‘more’ attention or even be taken seriously, perhaps they could have, by now, done their own empirical studies and presented them as such. Difficult, I would say to provide empirical evidence that psychotherapeutic techniques and lack of sleep ’cause’ DID – ridiculous notion, in fact – isn’t it? Even common sense tells us that, though in a few cases these facts might ‘contribute’ to DID or dissociation – they are not the ’cause’.
So, we see at the bottom of the this article:
“Declaration of Conflicting Interests The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.”
Really? Why did the FMS folks find it necessary to include this statement? Conflict of Interest? With whom – there is no conflict of interest relevant to this article. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a valid diagnosis as is evident in the DSMIV and as we will see, in the DSMV.
Btw, I declare that I have no conflicts of interest with respect to my authorship of this comment.”
Please, do not consider this article having any merit at all – it is mere ‘opinion’ based on the FMSF’s on-going and antiquated propaganda to discredit the validity of DID, child abuse in general, therapist who treat survivors of child abuse, and to protect those accused of child abuse.
If you read all of that – thank you for listening.
Btw, my comment was based on the article –
“Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders: Challenging Conventional Wisdom” – where I assume this came from – sorry if wrong article – same folks – same journal – I could not find this actual article, but would love a link if I am wrong – thanks.
thank you to those that are responding to this article. I/we truely believe that it is time for those with DID/MPD to take back their life and educate those that what we exsperance is real. Those that can not be empathic or show compassion to those that are different are the blind and impared ones.
I have not been able to live my life or heal from my early childhood and adult truama. I do live almost daily with hearing voices but those voices are part of me that was sepereted by the truama that those around me forced me to endure.
During my childhood truama, I was sold to to adults. So when I am in a fear based state of mind, that part of me will do anything no questions asked to prevent server abuse. That was used to program me to service these adults on demand and not allow the information through my whole system.
the only time that information can be shared is when we heal the pain of the memiors of alters then the walls within thin to allow infromations to be shared willing within. So much of our truth is the reality of how are mind works.
The only way we can share and let you know is by telling our story, so that others that know what we live with will know that they are not alone no more.
we are here, we live in the shadows because those around us fear that we remember our abuse and because of it we live a different way.
Well I don’t think I can say anything but what my own experience(s) have been with D.I.D. Yes, it does exist, but I hardly understand it, other than what I have read in books. Me, I understand it as an involuntary condition of severe dissociation/ Post Traumatic Stress in a child whereupon the child leaves the body, after the mind shuts down, and someone else reanimates the body by possession of it, spiritually, mentally and physically. They have their wants, their needs, their purposes and their functions.
Who am I to say they don’t exist just as I do, or did simply because I can’t. They were there waiting to inhabit the body when I simply wanted to die. I know their names and some things about them nowadays after 23 years of re-remembering details about them, to get me by. I don’t get to know what they think or say unless they want me to. Perhaps they resent me? For anyone to imply that the condition does not exist, then perhaps God does not exist either? But I am not here to debate that either. All I know is, is that the condition does exist sadly said. At least for some. Some fake it, some do not.